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Krabi, out of charms way, is usually not noted for attacks

Police Nab Thumb-Cut Gang as Tourists on Phuket Await Doctor's Verdict

Tuesday, March 27, 2012
PHUKET: Two youths have admitted to being involved in cutting off the thumb of a young German tourist in a savage knife attack in Krabi City at the weekend.

Krabi police arrested the two youths and two others who between them admitted to four attacks on tourists. Two of the youths are aged 16, one 18 and the fourth only 15 - too young to be named.

Ina Heilig, one of the three 21-year-old Germans who were targetted in the latest attack, said today on Phuket: ''That's good news.''

Her friend Hanna Zerlant had a thumb cut off when she waved her hands as a peacemaker during the attack on a Krabi City street about 2am on Sunday.

The two young women and Sina Beckert, who suffered cuts to her forehead, a finger and an elbow, were taken by ambulance from Krabi City to Phuket City where doctors at the Bangkok Hospital Phuket performed emergency surgery to reattach Ms Zerlant's thumb at 7am on Sunday.

When Ms Zerlant heard the news of the arrests today, doctors were making an assessment of whether her thumb surgery will be a success.

The emergecy surgery was only possible because a quick-thinking Scottish nurse who was on the street in Krabi City when the attack took place organised for the thumb to be picked up off the pavement, packed in ice, and transported with the three young Germans on a two-hour trip to Phuket.

The young Germans said their attackers were laughing during the assault. ''They wanted to hurt us,'' said Ms Heilig. The thieves rode off with a small amount of cash, a camera and a mobile telephone.

Krabi police said today that the four youths had admitted to four attacks on tourists ''for fun.'' ''We wanted the money to have fun,'' one told them. Three of the boys are from Krabi and the fourth from Phang Nga.

All four are likely to be sentenced to a detention centre. Sentences in the case of under-age criminals usually do not match those meted out to adults.

Police took possession of a long Sparta knife they believe was used in the crimes.

The young German tourists expect to head home about the end of the week.

Comments

Comments have been disabled for this article.

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Well seeing that the three young Thai's who admitted murdering Norwegian Simen Knudsen in Phuket a few years ago got off these xxxx will probably be recommended for a Nobel peace prize.

Posted by nip on March 27, 2012 18:50

Editor Comment:

Can't vouch for your 'got off' comment, nip. Probably your opinion?

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Well done Krabi Police.

No country can prevent all crimes from happening but to see swift action in catching the suspects and justice being meted out serves both as a deterrant to would-be criminals and gives a much needed boost to tourism safety reputation.

Now if we can somehow transplant this from Krabi to Phuket...

Posted by Steve C. on March 27, 2012 19:09

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Great job to the officers involved. Hope the surgery is a success and a speedy recovery.

Posted by Jon on March 27, 2012 19:30


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