Tourist police pull out all the stops to reunite Qatari tourist with a Casio he left in a taxi

[webfact]

Picture: Siam Rath

 

Police colonel Piyarach told how he and his men instructed their patrols to swing into action and return a Casio watch in a bag that a Qatari tourist had left in a taxi.

 

The incident threatened to ruin the tourist's holiday but the police came up trumps in their detective work and the visitor to the kingdom was left beaming from ear to ear thrilled with the police, the Thai people and Thai taxi drivers. 

 

Pol  Col Piyarach revealed to Siam Rath that he got a call about 2.30 pm on Sunday about the plight of Mohammad Hardy.

 

The Qatari national had been travelling in a taxi from Central World to Lang Suan in the Lumpini police jurisdiction.

 

Then one of a tourist's worst nightmares began - forgetting a valuable, cherished item in a taxi in a foreign land. Where to turn?

 

Subordinate officer Pol Capt Chanok Chaiprasertsakul took up the investigative challenge from this point and hit on the idea of utilizing CCTV to solve the mystery of the missing watch in a bag.

 

Chanok managed to catch the taxi in question on footage from a hotel near the Qatari's address.

 

It was working and clear as day and armed with the number of the cab - 4799 - he then made representations to the Department of Land Transport that registers all drivers and their cabs.

 

Thank goodness they did. 

 

Soon the investigation took a final twist as the driver was located. He was called chauffeur Wijit Naphaeng by the media.

 

A meeting was arranged at the Tourist Police office for the official handover of the Casio in a bag.

 

When this was done Mohammad Hardy was effusive in his praise for everything Thai.

 

"The Thai police are so kind, " he observed, "and Thais are lovely, their smiles are great, I love Thailand and the Thai taxi drivers", he added. 

 

This followed more good news from the weekend when a group of Saudi ladies were reunited with a bag they left in a taxi they took from Suvarnabhumi Airport. 

 

It appears that the Tourist Police are doing everything to play their part in assuring that forgetfulness doesn't spoil anyone's holiday - especially now that tourists are flooding back into Thailand. 

 

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[kcpattaya]

It is so thick, this propaganda... ????

[pokerface1]

Looks like the RTP have hired a PR company for staging tourist happy endings 

lm sure this will be a daily occurrence from now on. People have long memories so lots of brain washing will be needed. 

[steven100]

This months Lottery numbers -   4799   for sure   ????

[lujanit]

How come this isn't a story about an honest taxi driver handing the bag in?  We are long overdue for one (or more).

[Geoffggi]

41 minutes ago, webfact said:

Police colonel Piyarach told how he and his men instructed their patrols to swing into action and return a Casio watch in a bag that a Qatari tourist had left in a taxi.

Was it a genuine Casio ...........LOL

[JonnyF]

What's with all these 'good taxi driver' stories.

 

Has there been more gold chain snatching ladyboys that I haven't heard about?

[Gottfrid]

This was the best commercial ever!

[ChrisY1]

Must have taken some time to invent this "amazing" story of lost valuable from a taxi being recovered safe and well....Casios are so incredibly rare nowadays!

[chuang]

This Casio must be???? worth millions....

[ChaiyaTH]

Next stop in Pattaya, he gets robbed by some ladyboys and never comes back.

[stoner]

this place is such a clown show. never stops giving. 

[ThailandRyan]

15 minutes ago, chuang said:

This Casio must be???? worth millions....

20k thb all the way down to 250 thb

[Denim]

Late news coming in :

 

Mr Hardy was later robbed by a gang of lady boys and once more parted from his Casio and his gold chain. 

 

Police are looking for 4 lady boys with black hair and brown eyes one of whom ( not clear ) answers to the name of Somchai. The other three are believed to be named Anne , Kate and Susan.

[sqwakvfr]

Next time at least let it be a Tag Heuer or even a Rolex.

[scorecard]

3 hours ago, Geoffggi said:

Was it a genuine Casio ...........LOL

How come the tourist didn't have his watch on his wrist?

Guess he carried a spare watch in a bag just in case he needed a watch on both wrists.

 

 

 

[scorecard]

5 minutes ago, Denim said:

Late news coming in :

 

Mr Hardy was later robbed by a gang of lady boys and once more parted from his Casio and his gold chain. 

 

Police are looking for 4 lady boys with black hair and brown eyes one of whom ( not clear ) answers to the name of Somchai. The other three are believed to be named Anne , Kate and Susan.

Where was Ms. Calypso Highlights?

[worgeordie]

The other side ,Police refused to take any action when 

a 14 year old girl was abducted , and driven to the South,

it was reported her dirt poor parents ,got no joy until they

contacted the media ...so it seems a Casio is worth more

than 14 year old girl.

regards worgeordie

[2baht]

.....now, had it been a Rolex..............

[david555]

1 hour ago, chuang said:

This Casio must be???? worth millions....

Most probably  the Casio was in the bag ..... accompanied with other "paper" items  ...... which for security reasons of hope to recovery could not become named ....????

[Hans Johnson]

Well that must have been exciting for the tourist police.  I hope the gentleman gave a huge tip for retrieving his Casio. 

[Burma Bill]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

return a Casio watch in a bag that a Qatari tourist had left in a taxi.

Excuse my ignorance, but I thought Casio watches were not in the price range of genuine Rolex ones. I purchased my genuine Japanese Casio watch (not a G-Shock model) for 1,000 baht in Central Plaza (Khon Kaen). Perhaps it was of sentimental value to the Qatari.

[cdnhawk]

If they were smart, they would make it a Rolex to look even better. They look silly hunting down a Casio,

[cardinalblue]

Anyone else keep their watch in a bag?

 

I wonder what the cabbie would have done with the bag had he not been monitored by security camera? 

[kidneyw]

2 hours ago, cardinalblue said:

Anyone else keep their watch in a bag?

Maybe just bought it.

[CanadaSam]

Are casio watches worth more than 100 baht or so?

[ThailandRyan]

7 hours ago, david555 said:

Most probably  the Casio was in the bag ..... accompanied with other "paper" items  ...... which for security reasons of hope to recovery could not become named ....????

Wonder if they recovered the missing Saudi gems at the same time....

[phetphet]

Must have cost the taxi driver more in petrol than it was worth to return it. ????

[JoseThailand]

I hope that was worth it. 

[Boyn]

Come on we are supposed to believe this,the BIB would not put in that much effort for a full on bank robbery if they are gonna bull***t at least make it a really expensive watch,