Owner of the Sathu Charoen Yont shop, Somchai Chanthawatthanakij, and two of his relatives were badly injured during the attack at dawn yesterday. Somchai later told police that he suspected the attackers were not ordinary robbers, given that they had severely beaten him and his relatives.

According to Somchai and witnesses, the three men were dressed in factory workers' attire and brown jackets with hoods, and one did not have a mask. The robbers entered the shop, fired a warning shot before tying up all three victims and ransacking the shop. They fled with Bt500,000 (S$21,200) in cash, a notebook computer and two mobile phones.

Meanwhile, the Gold Traders Association of Thailand warned all gold shops to beware of customers wearing face masks.

The head of a taxi cooperative also complained that taxi drivers wearing masks got hailed less often, because prospective passengers preferred drivers whose faces were fully visible. Withoon Naewphanich, chairman of the Siam Taxi Cooperative, called on the Transport Ministry to issue a statement saying that the ministry wanted all taxi drivers to wear masks. -The Nation/ANN