It took all but 12 minutes on Sunday for Wat Thai Washington, D.C., a temple located on Layhill Road in Silver Spring, Maryland, to be burglarized in broad daylight.
In surveillance video footage, three men can be seen casually climbing the side steps into the Thai Buddhist temple around 10:55 a.m. before heading out the way they came — only with a small security safe containing $20,000, plus some gold jewelry and documents in tow.
“This event took only 12 minutes. Really quickly. They are professional,” said Punnee Kasemphantai, a board member of the temple.
The temple has been serving the Thai Buddhist community in the D.C. area since 1975 and experienced a burglary only once in its past. Typically, there is not that much money kept in the temple.
“Usually, we don’t keep cash in the temple, but that day, on Sunday, I planned to go to the bank on Monday,” said Ruangrit Thaithae, a monk at the temple.
Temple leaders said that they provided Montgomery County police with vivid surveillance camera video of the three suspects.
“Three people came in, one looking around and tried to see the way to get inside. … They went upstairs to the third floor while we were on the second floor,” Kasemphantai said.
The temple leaders said that they’re hopeful police will find those responsible and recover the stolen money and goods.
The temple leaders warn other religious centers in the area to be cautious but said that the crime won’t derail plans to celebrate Songkran, or Thai New Year, on Saturday, April 13.
WTOP’s Ciara Wells contributed to this report.
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