A prolific underwear thief who stole thousands of bras and pairs of knickers during a 20-year crime spree has finally been caught in Thailand.

Nattawut Songchai, 38, had around 600 undergarments before he was arrested at an apartment in Bangkok on February 12, police said, but has admitted to stealing many more over the years.

He was arrested after a female resident from the same apartment block reported that the underwear she had hung out to dry had gone missing on the evening of February 11. 

Police shamed the underwear thief by forcing him to pose with his haul of bras, pants, and pyjamas, which appear to have been hung up and stored in cupboards in his flat.

Songchai told cops he has been stealing women’s underwear since he was a teenager, and has now vowed to change his creepy ways after he has ‘served his time’.

Police finally caught Songchai, they said, after ‘Investigators examined surveillance footage and found a man walking on the street then climbing up the apartment.

‘He stuck his hand in a gap between the wall and the metal mesh to steal the underwear,’ Colonel Payap Somboon, superintendent of the Bang Yi Khan Police Station said. ‘He then returned to his room in the same apartment,’

Officers converged on Nattawut’s room and detained him for questioning.

 They found inside 516 bras, 72 pairs of pants, and three sets of women’s pyjamas.

Speaking to police officers, Nattawut said he had been stealing women’s underwear since he was 18 years old ‘because he liked to smell them’.

The pervert told cops: ‘I’ve had a thing for women’s underwear since I was 18, back when I worked in construction in Samut Sakhon province.

‘At night, I would sneak out of the campsite and snag two to six pairs at a time. I sniffed them while masturbating, and kept my collection a secret from my co-workers.

‘I was caught stealing underwear about 10 years ago, but I made a deal with the victim to avoid arrest. I continued stealing underwear after that.’

He said he had been working as a handyman at the Goyee Apartment in Bangkok, where the owner provided him with lodging and a 2,000-baht monthly salary.

Nattawut continued: ‘I had been staying there for a year while continuing my habit of stealing underwear until I was eventually caught. I promise I’ll quit once I’ve done my time.’

Officers have now remanded the perverted burglar in custody.

Police Colonel Payap Somboon said: ‘He said he cannot stop stealing knickers because he’s addicted to it. The court will deal with him and decide what to do.’