Provincial Police Region 2 deputy chief Pol Maj-General Chettha Komolwattana said the 34-year-old man, Nikolay Rybalov, was suspected to be the helmeted large-built foreign man who assaulted the booth’s 30-year-old female employee by holding her down.
The suspect reportedly punched her in the face 13 times until she passed out before getting away with a bag full of cash on a Honda PCX motorcycle.
The robbery, which took only a minute, occurred at around 8am and was caught on CCTV camera. Police traced the suspect to a housing estate in Bang Lamung district where he stayed and impounded the rented motorcycle used in the crime. The man escaped in a car before police arrived in the house.
Rybalov was apprehended at 7.30pm at the international airport while waiting to board a flight to Moscow.
The victim was rushed to a local hospital where she is being treated for brain concussion.