PHUKET: Police are warning travellers to be wary of the notorious Bangkok-Surat Thani bus route after a backpacking Briton was robbed and stabbed.
The British man and his German wife were victims of a bogus bus, the officers said, one of several illegal buses that ply the popular route in Thailand from the capital to the south.
Many travellers have complained about having possessions and cash stolen on the route. Often, people in Bangkok who wish to travel to Phuket will be sold a bus ticket via Surat Thani.
In the latest demonstration that scammers still work the route, the 36-year-old Briton and his wife fell victim to violence as well as theft.
On June 27, police told Phuketwan, a bus bound for Bangkok from Surat Thani pulled over at a waystation in Samut Sakorn and about 20 passengers were asked to get off.
The couple also had to remove their bicycles. Amid some confusion, the bus drove off.
The couple discovered they'd left a backpack on the bus, police said. After the bus was alerted and arrived back at the waystation, Phuketwan was told, the British man discovered cash and a digital camera were missing.
In the altercation that followed, said police, one of the crew of the bus pulled a knife and stabbed the British man in the side.
The bus and its crew drove off, leaving the German woman to find her husband collapsed on the ground from the knife wound, police said.
Three hours later, with the British man being treated, police apprehended the bus and its crew.
They arrested the crew member who wielded the knife, a 16-year-old who as a minor cannot be named, Watcharin Jinda, 23, and Watchara Jidngn.
The 16-year-old admitted knifing the tourist but said the tourist struck him first. He was still carrying the knife, police said.
''Stealing is a regular occurrence along this bus route,'' a senior policeman said.
''Because the buses are illegal, the crew will pretend the bus has broken down or make some excuse so they don't have to go all the way to Bangkok, where they might be detected.''
Police are still looking for Samran Tongted, the owner of the bogus bus.
Irishman Kieran Moloney told Phuketwan on Phuket late last year of his nightmare experience on a bus going the other way.
Mr Moloney said he believed hundreds of others had been victims and was amazed that authorities did not seem keen to catch the thieves and restore Thailand's reputation for safe and secure travel.
Last week on Phuket, one of Thailand's top policemen, Deputy Police Chief Lieutenant General Pansiri Prapawat, listed the Surat Thani bus scams as among the problems that police will fix within the next three months, beginning with Phuket's scams and rip-offs.
The British man and his German wife were victims of a bogus bus, the officers said, one of several illegal buses that ply the popular route in Thailand from the capital to the south.
Many travellers have complained about having possessions and cash stolen on the route. Often, people in Bangkok who wish to travel to Phuket will be sold a bus ticket via Surat Thani.
In the latest demonstration that scammers still work the route, the 36-year-old Briton and his wife fell victim to violence as well as theft.
On June 27, police told Phuketwan, a bus bound for Bangkok from Surat Thani pulled over at a waystation in Samut Sakorn and about 20 passengers were asked to get off.
The couple also had to remove their bicycles. Amid some confusion, the bus drove off.
The couple discovered they'd left a backpack on the bus, police said. After the bus was alerted and arrived back at the waystation, Phuketwan was told, the British man discovered cash and a digital camera were missing.
In the altercation that followed, said police, one of the crew of the bus pulled a knife and stabbed the British man in the side.
The bus and its crew drove off, leaving the German woman to find her husband collapsed on the ground from the knife wound, police said.
Three hours later, with the British man being treated, police apprehended the bus and its crew.
They arrested the crew member who wielded the knife, a 16-year-old who as a minor cannot be named, Watcharin Jinda, 23, and Watchara Jidngn.
The 16-year-old admitted knifing the tourist but said the tourist struck him first. He was still carrying the knife, police said.
''Stealing is a regular occurrence along this bus route,'' a senior policeman said.
''Because the buses are illegal, the crew will pretend the bus has broken down or make some excuse so they don't have to go all the way to Bangkok, where they might be detected.''
Police are still looking for Samran Tongted, the owner of the bogus bus.
Irishman Kieran Moloney told Phuketwan on Phuket late last year of his nightmare experience on a bus going the other way.
Mr Moloney said he believed hundreds of others had been victims and was amazed that authorities did not seem keen to catch the thieves and restore Thailand's reputation for safe and secure travel.
Last week on Phuket, one of Thailand's top policemen, Deputy Police Chief Lieutenant General Pansiri Prapawat, listed the Surat Thani bus scams as among the problems that police will fix within the next three months, beginning with Phuket's scams and rip-offs.
