PHUKET: A bandit robbed a Phuket gold store of 2.5 million baht in necklets and rings because his wife needed a heart operation costing 300,000 baht, police said today.

The wife of the bandit was arrested on arrival at a bus station in Bangkok last night with gold worth 1.9 million baht in her possession.

She told police that she needed the heart operation, which was why her husband pulled the robbery in Phuket City with another man on Monday.

And she told police that her husband, Kosol, of Mon extraction, was holed up in a house near Phuket's Kathu waterfall.

However, when about 50 police attempted to surround the house overnight, a dog barked and Kosol managed to escape.

Today police continued to stake out the house with plain clothes officers also scattered around the old bus station in Phuket City.

Kosol and a second man, who has yet to be named, escaped with gold valued at about 2.5 million baht.

However, security cameras captured their getaway.

Kosol's mother, sister and daughter were at Phuket City Police Station today helping officers with their inquiries.

But Kosol's mobile telephone was no longer active.

His wife, named Musa, aged 31, was taken from Bangkok to Southern Region police headquarters in Surat Thani