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Phuket tourist Valeriya Verbitskaya, 23, remembered the numbers

Phuket Bag Snatchers Nabbed at Police Checkpoint

Thursday, September 30, 2010
PHUKET police have arrested two young men they say snatched the bag of a young Russian tourist - and owned up to three similar offences.

Valeriya Verbitskaya, 23, became the bag-snatchers' latest victim on Monday when the pair pounced from their motorcycle as she walked along the beach road in Karon.

Chalong officers nabbed Kitdanai Boonsawat, 22, and Kananan Sawangwong, 21, at a checkpoint at Karon yesterday on their black and white Honda Click.

Miss Verbitskaya was sharp enough to remember part of the rear registration number, which is what brought her assailants to notice. Miss Verbitskaya was called in from her holiday at the Sugar Palm Resort in Kata-Karon and identified the pair.

A camera, though, and the 400 baht in cash in her bag have gone. The men told police they had sold the camera to a second-hand shop for 1300 baht.

The men said they were both unemployed and fathers, and had to steal to feed their children.

They admitted to other bag-snatchings in the past couple of weeks, two in Patong and a third in Kamala.

Yet to be solved is the unusual case involving an Australian woman whose assailant said ''Good morning, madam,'' before attempting to snatch her bag as she rode a pushbike in Rawai on Monday. The woman refused to give up her bag and was dragged along a roadway for 25 metres.
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Phuket Tourist Tells Police of Karon Bag Snatch
Latest A stretch of Karon beach is developing a reputation for bag snatches as a Russian tourist has her bag grabbed by two men who sped off towards Patong on a motorcycle.
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Comments

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> and had to steal to feed their children

Good education for the children, so they learn to steal is better than to work. Logic at its best.

Posted by Fritz Pinguin on September 30, 2010 20:07

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"The men said they were both unemployed and fathers, and had to steal to feed their children.''

They ever think of selling their motor bike?

Posted by mikey on September 30, 2010 22:43

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Yet more crooks who are caught for one crime and confess to others.....very honest are the criminals of Phuket sometimes. I'd love to be a fly on the wall when they're being interrogated. (not that I would have any sympathy for them). Anyway well spotted BIB, nice cop!

Posted by Chalongian on September 30, 2010 23:34

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Kudos to the cops here.

Posted by Philip on October 1, 2010 07:13

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mikey - if they sold the motorbike how would they be able to make their getaway??

Think it through!!

Posted by another steve on October 1, 2010 08:27

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"sold the camera to a second-hand shop for 1300 baht" - while there is a market for stolen goods thefts like this will continue; we had all our electronic items stolen earlier this year, told 'no chance of recovery'. Is there no controls on these second hand dealers, they are just as crooked as the thieves.

Posted by Genghis on October 1, 2010 15:22


Monday December 23, 2024
Horizon Karon Beach Resort & Spa

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