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THE PHOTO tells it all: the Russian tourist and the hungry thief. Olga Ivanova, 24, will be flying home today while Phuket police continue to question Noppadon Lertkarn, 18, about robberies along one of the island's most popular beachfronts.
Ms Ivanova and three friends hired beach lounges at Karon yesterday and left a bag on one of the small tables. They had chosen to go for a swim near the tsunami tower at Karon, opposite the Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort and Spa.
The Russian visitors didn't know it, but the spot they chose was close to the scene of last week's slash-and-run crime involving Swedish tourist Emelia Andersson, 22, who was knifed on the first day of her holiday. She spent most of it in hospital, instead of at a luxurious private pool villa.
For Ms Ivanova, who arrived on Phuket on April 26, her Phuket beach vacation was almost at an end when the bag-snatcher struck about 5.30pm yesterday. Locals saw what happened and pursued the thief.
Within minutes, Khun Noppadon, a sad, bedraggled figure, was hauled out from a roadside drain and taken to Chalong police station. Yesterday evening, a tearful Ms Ivanova, who told police she was a DJ back home in Russia, had her bag and its contents returned.
Inside the bag, police found a wallet, an iPhone, the key to a rented car, five US dollars, 1240 baht and three Russian pawn shop tickets.
Khun Noppadon told police he stole out of desperation because he does not have a job and he was starving. He had had nothing to eat for two days.
He said this was the first and only time he had been forced to turn robber.
No knife was found. However, police were intending to question Khun Noppadon further about the attack on Ms Andersson, which took place in the same area a few days earlier.
Ms Andersson suffered a serious knife wound to her forearm when the slash-and-run robber cut the strap of her bag and took off along the beach road.
Senior Phuket police recently told Phuketwan that violent robberies involving knives and guns on the island were increasing because of a growing underclass of jobless young people with no other means of support.
Thais are most often the victims. Attacks on tourists remain relatively rare. While Phuket remains a relatively safe destination for tourists, the island's low-season economy is in a less-than-desirable state because of political unrest in Bangkok.
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Good on ya! Not only are the Tuk Tuks screwing the tourists but the bars and restaurants in Karon are overcharging, too. Almost every night some visitor is conned and threatened into paying a bar bill well in excess to what it should be. The bars target the Swedes and Russians. That said, it was even tried on me but I have a system of retaining either the bottle tops or the top sticky label of the beer bottle and always, with friends, insist on numerous bills.
Posted by Nip on May 13, 2010 10:52