POLICE have arrested two Vietnamese who confessed to selling fake watches to tourists on Phuket as originals.
Tourists complained in such numbers that a special detail was sent from Surat Thani Region 8 HQ to assist Kathu Police Superintendent Colonel Arayapan Pukbuakao in a raid last night on a storehouse of watches in Soi Bowling, Nanai Road.
Soon after, officers arrested Tru Ong Van Done, 33, and Tong Van Con at an address in Soi Bangla. They confessed to selling the watches to vendors at Phuket west coast destinations in Patong, Karon and Kata who passed them on to tourists as genuine for between 5000 baht and 10,000 baht an item.
Police estimated the haul of 10,000 watches, including all the top brands, to be worth about five million baht. The men told police that the watches were shipped from China to Bangkok where they purchased them from a Chinese middleman.
Tourists complained in such numbers that a special detail was sent from Surat Thani Region 8 HQ to assist Kathu Police Superintendent Colonel Arayapan Pukbuakao in a raid last night on a storehouse of watches in Soi Bowling, Nanai Road.
Soon after, officers arrested Tru Ong Van Done, 33, and Tong Van Con at an address in Soi Bangla. They confessed to selling the watches to vendors at Phuket west coast destinations in Patong, Karon and Kata who passed them on to tourists as genuine for between 5000 baht and 10,000 baht an item.
Police estimated the haul of 10,000 watches, including all the top brands, to be worth about five million baht. The men told police that the watches were shipped from China to Bangkok where they purchased them from a Chinese middleman.
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really- the tourists actually they were buying 'genuine' items??
the word 'idiots' springs to mind!!
Posted by another steve on December 23, 2010 15:16
Editor Comment:
No springs, all digital these days.