PHUKET: Serial gold shop robber Krittisak ''Den'' Hedkeaw returned to Phuket yesterday to reenact his largest heist, attracting a big media audience.

The 25-year-old, who admitted to four gold shop thefts to support his luxury lifestyle, showed police how he surveyed a number of gold shops before settling on Phuket's Thong Thanet gold shop, near the Slaughterhouse Intersection in Chao Fa Road East.

At that stage in June last year, he had spent almost all the cash gained from selling the jewellery stolen in his first three raids - the first in his home province of Suratthani followed by two more in Bangkok.

He had visited Phuket three times before settling on the target gold shop and planning a getaway.

In his raid on the Phuket gold shop, Khun Den escaped with necklets worth 5.7 million - enough to sustain his liking for a quality lifestyle. His four raids tallied 11 million baht.

In the raid on Phuket, Khun Den wrestled a handgun from the daughter of the shop's owners. His motorcycle, rented from Patong, was dumped not far from the shop and he caught a motorcycle to the mini-bus station in Phuket City's Phang Nga Road,
leaving town with his loot.

Khun Den was arrested in Bangkok on Thursday after a long police investigation by police from Region 8.