Tourism News

Tourism News Phuketwan Tourism News
facebook recommendations

NEWS ALERTS

Sign up now for our News Alert emails and the latest breaking news plus new features.

Click to subscribe

Existing subscribers can unsubscribe here

RSS FEEDS

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.
'Polite' Phuket Snatcher Tormented Me: Victim Tells
Latest An expat Phuket resident has told how an attacker pulled her bicycle over, dragged her along a road and repeatedly tried to snatch her bag. The attack followed a 127,000 baht raid on her yacht.
'Polite' Phuket Snatcher Tormented Me: Victim Tells

Phuket Man's Plea to Bar: 'Let My Children Sleep'
Closing Hours The issue of law enforcement and ''24 hour opening'' on Phuket has been raised by a man who says his children cannot sleep because a neighboring bar stays open until 6am each day.
Phuket Man's Plea to Bar: 'Let My Children Sleep'

Phuket Pair Die on Drive to Greet Daughter's Flight
Airport Tragedy A couple heading to greet their daughter at Phuket airport died in a double fatality when their vehicle hit a pole, climaxing a horror day on Phuket roads.
Phuket Pair Die on Drive to Greet Daughter's Flight

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.
Phuket Tourist Tells Police of Karon Bag Snatch

Phuket Warning Signs for a 'Pattaya Future'
Phuket Insight The view from Australia is that Phuket has new competitors and some problems that could cause a major tourism breakdown unless the government steps in soon.
Phuket Warning Signs for a 'Pattaya Future'

Comments

Comments have been disabled for this article.

gravatar

> 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

gravatar

"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

gravatar

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

gravatar

Kudos to the cops here.

Posted by Philip on October 1, 2010 07:13

gravatar

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

gravatar

"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


Saturday April 20, 2024
Horizon Karon Beach Resort & Spa

FOLLOW PHUKETWAN

Facebook Twitter