PATTAYA - A 22-year-old sales woman filed a police complaint after her security camera recorded a strange man breaking into her fourth floor apartment while she was out early Monday night.
The complainant, Pratthana Thongmalee, told police that when she returned one of her two cats was visibly frightened, prompting her to examine her security camera footage.
Ms Pratthana, who is from Songkhla, is a sales representative for a housing estate in Pattaya.
She went downstairs to buy food from an outlet near the five-storey apartment building in Bang Lamung district about 6.55pm, she told Pol Col Ying Orwansaengthong, an inspector at Nong Prue police station.
When she returned to the room where she lives with her two cats, one of them was very agitated and was hiding beside the bed. When she picked it up, the cat was trembling and appeared extremely frightened, behaviour it had never exhibited before.
Ms Pratthana then discovered that her security camera had been moved off a low cabinet onto the floor and unplugged. (continues below)
The camera recording clearly showed a man wearing a white t-shirt and black pants, aged 20-30 years, entering her room through a window from the building's outside fire escape.
The intruder walked around inside the room, panicking her cats, which rushed off in different directions.
The suspect turned on the light before the recording was cut off.
Ms Pratthana said she checked her belongings and nothing had been stolen. She suspected the intruder had intended to harm her and felt fortunate she was not in the room at the time.
She was certain she did not know and had never even seen the man before, police said.
Ms Pratthana decided to move out immediately, changing her address, because she no longer felt safe in that apartment. She asked police to find the intruder and bring him to justice.