A Thoughtful Thief

[ThaiPauly]

Whilst driving from BK to CM on Tuesday we stopped at a service station in Lopburi.

While we were there I (stupidly) left my Wife's handbag on a bench outside the shop. By the time we realised what had happened the bag was gone.

A cleaner picked it up to take it into the shop but was approached by a Thai Guy who said it was his Wife's so She gave it to him.

So for the last 3 days we have been renewing everything that was stolen, passports, ID cards. bank books, driving licenses, mobile numbers etc.

Late this afternoon my Wife got a call from her freind in Bangkok who said she had just received an EMS Package containing the Bag, and all the documents...no sign of course of the Camera , Mobile, Money or my Wife's jewellery.

My Wife's freind in Bangkok's address was in the bag ad the theif sent everything there and paid for the EMS charge with our money

I have just spent (today) 10.430 Baht to replace my passport, maybee I will get my money back , maybee I wont, but at least I will not have to go through the hassle of getting a replacement visa, has anybody ever had this happen to them?

Why do you think the theif returned the bag (which I had just brought as a Birthday Present) for my wife, along with all the documents,?

To make them feel better about their crime?

My Wife is now superstitious about using the bag once she gets it back because someone has had their theiving hands on it.

Its just a pity they never included their names and address

There is a bright side of course to this story in that I can now get my hands on money in my bank account, and may not have to pay for a new passport or new visa......but of course the dark side is that there is always an opportunist ready to pounce any place any time anywhere They hide in the shadows just waiting for someone to make a mistake

[blizzard]

moral of story is dont mkae mistakes.

only once in my life i left cash in my hotel room. of course it was stolen. live and learn.

[lannarebirth]

I'm sorry that happened to you and your wife TP. Same thing happened to me in Switzerland many years ago, except it was a backpack in that case, and they never returned anything. Yes, vigilance is the order of the day. Especially when not on our own home turf.

[fletchsmile]

If it was the thief who returned it to you: I can never fully understand the rational for this type of thing. But this type of thing doesn't seem to be uncommon here. Another one is when they take (almost) all the money from a wallet or purse, but leave say a hundred baht. i.e wallet has THB 4,500 in it. Take THB 4,400 and leave THB 100.

I do know the phrase "por gin por chai" is a a popular one, that is ingrained here. i.e. having "enough to eat and enough to use". Don't worry about being rich as long as you have enough to eat and enough to use. By leaving you THB 100 in a wallet they are leaving "enough to eat and enough to use", and not depriving you of it/this basic right.

BTW It's also possible that the person who sent it back to you was not the same person as the thief. e.g the thief just threw away the handbag after taking what they wanted. Someone else found it and did the right thing of returning it to you. Think about it, if you found a bag with an adress in it, wouldn't you send it back to the owner? I would.

Edited January 18, 2008 by fletchsmile

[ThaiPauly]

Yes Fletchsmile I would return it as well. but I would put a note inside wouldn't you?

[toptuan]

Maybe the thief was trying to fortify his "good" karma?

[Lakdee]

My wife lost her wallet last year in BKK. There were about 5000 bht inside, she gotta go pay some bills . But she lost the wallets before she could pay all bills.

She wallet and all important cards back by post few days later, but cash was gone. The package showed the name of sender. But she never knows whether he was the thief or not. She just said at least she got all cards back, at least she was lucky to get back.

She said some of her relatives who mistakenly forgot bags or lost their bags would get bags back but cash was removed also.

[swain]

I think you count yourself lucky and move on. As for the thief sending back the bag and your important docs, I think this makes a huge statement on the thief's character. Do you penalize a child for stealing bread so they can eat when they have no money. This person had a inner struggle going on. Clearly they did not make the right choice but maybe made the choice out of necessity. I have to say if I was going to be stolen from this is the best possible way for something like this to happen short of keeping it from happening.

[Briggsy]

Got my wallet emptied when very very drunk and asleep in Bangkok many years ago. Not much, maybe 1200 Baht. They left 20 Baht.

[mrbojangles]

Maybe the thief was trying to fortify his "good" karma?

That's exactly what i was thinking

[britmaveric]

It is a hassle to replace documents, expect the thief knows this and was doing right by you.

[suegha]

Interesting. I suppose there are only two options. 1. the thief sent it back. 2. after clearing it out the thief dumped it and someone else sent it.

whichever it is, it's intriging! also nice to get something back...

[majenta]

Yes have had this happen to me! Came to Bangkok for a holiday 5 years ago and accidently left my wallet in a trolley at Tesco Lotus...

Of course when I went back 10 mins later to find it, it was gone so had to cancel all my credit cards. After arriving back to my home

country my wallet containing all my credit cards and drivers license minus money was air mailed to the addres of my travel agent as

I had kept their business card. A very thoughtful thief indeed.

[swain]

Almost gives you a nice warm and fuzzy feeling... NOT! You were violated ... clear and simple. I left a wallet in Brasov Romaina with all my cash credit cards and travelers checks ... in a bar after getting pissed, and the person who was cleaning the table ran it out to me and I was already five blocks away. Major idiot I know...(me not the person doing the cleaning) This I can get warm and fuzzy over... someone who lied and said this is my wifes bag when it wasn't is something all together different. By the way I tipped the person who ran out my wallet 3 months salary equivalent .

[isabelle17]

It does seem strange that the thief would bother to return your wifes handbag.

My friend left her bag in a disco one night. I didn't bring my bag because I didn't want mine to get stolen. She learned her lesson after her bag was stolen. But the thief left her passport! Took everything else of course.

I accidently forgot my bag on the beach one day. It was sitting there for hours and then I realized I stupidly left it that and I panicked. My friend went back to get it for me and sure enough, it was still there with everything still in it. I was very...very...lucky.

Anyway, if people stay in Thailand long enough, I am sure most people experience getting something stolen.

[rak sa_ngop]

Anyway, if people stay in Thailand long enough, I am sure most people experience getting something stolen.

Shouldn't this read:

Anyway, if people stay on Planet Earth long enough, I am sure most people experience getting something stolen???

[Old Croc]

I once left a backpack (the girlfriend let me know that it was me not her) containing our passports, tickets, money, etc on a chair in a restaurant at the top of Mt Rigi in Switzerland.

We were several minutes into the journey down on the alpine railway before we noticed. We managed to persuade the driver to stop the train and let us jump off - into a metre deep snow drift. We made our way through that to a track leading back up the hill. By the time we got back to the top I was puffing like a steam engine and well aware that my dream of climbing Everest would never come to fruition.

Fortunately the bag was still right where we left it and, after a wait, we caught the last train for the day to the bottom of the mountain.

Needless to say, the documents were never out of sight again on that tour.

[Ulysses G.]

I hate to say this, but to me, the thief seems like a pretty good guy - for a thief.

Number one, he probably thought that if he didn't steal your money, the room cleaner would and maybe he needed it.

Two, he had the balls to claim the bag for himself and he could go to jail for it. In his mind, he "earned" the cash.

Three, he returned the things that he couldn't use. How many times have you heard someone with a stolen wallet say that they don't care about the cash, they just want their other documents back?

All in all, this fellow was more good than bad!

[burman]

The thief obviously dumped the bag, and it got sent back by someone that found it.

[ThaiPauly]

I hate to say this, but to me, the thief seems like a pretty good guy - for a thief.

Number one, he probably thought that if he didn't steal your money, the room cleaner would and maybe he needed it.

Two, he had the balls to claim the bag for himself and he could go to jail for it. In his mind, he "earned" the cash.

Three, he returned the things that he couldn't use. How many times have you heard someone with a stolen wallet say that they don't care about the cash, they just want their other documents back?

All in all, this fellow was more good than bad!

More GOOD than BAD?

I really cannot belive you wrote this drivel UG.

If you hated to say it you should not have said it.

Next time you see my Wife you tell her what a nice guy he is and explain that he really must have needed the gold heart on a chain that I brought her as a wedding present, why should she need it anyway, she was wearing her Bhudda chain at the time, surely she does not need TWO Or all of the photos we took on our first trip to Hong Kong and our Christmas Day at Tuskers.

If it was indeed him that returned the stuff, all he is trying to do is relive some of his guilt thats all, he had to get rid of the bag as it was a Xmas present to my Wife It is a brand name and cost a lot, if he had sold it for a few hundred baht in Lopburi it would have stood out like a sore thumb, and he could have got caught, which is smart, he has obviously done this before.

Its too late to worry about the documents now, virtually everything has been replaced and its doubtful that the Embassy will give me a refund.

How nice a person he was to releive the cleaner of the bag who was taking it into the shop. Yes had he been caught he could have gone to prison which is exactly where scum like him belong.

I'll be in Tuskers from 2pm onwards tomorrow and would enjoy the opportunity of debating this matter in person UG

[cmsally]

I think almost definitely, someone found it after the thief took the valuables and took the trouble to send it to the address they found.

Very, very unlikely it was the thief..

I suppose gas stations in Lopburi don't have CCTV, otherwise it might be caught on candid camera!

[meadish_sweetball]

Sorry to hear about this ThaiPauly, I know what it feels like to have personal affects like three years' worth of irreplaceable photographs and custom-designed jewelry stolen.

I don't think the thief was a good guy, but getting something back has to be better than nothing at any rate?

Moral of the story is never let your guard down completely.

[ThaiPauly]

I suppose gas stations in Lopburi don't have CCTV, otherwise it might be caught on candid camera!

They do actually have CCTV but only inside the shop and at the pumps, nothing covering the area just outside.

To be fair to the Police they sent 3 men over, and they did look at the CCTV and saw people moving just outside the window but could not discern anything.

The cleaner identified a white D-Max Pick -up and they did stop 2 while we were at the Police Station but niether belonged to the theif.

The only fun I got from the whole incident was driving 2 armed officers back to the Police Station at 160k in the outside lane (coz thats where they told me to drive).....I did ask if I could go "Ril Ril" and they said "Dai"

I also got pulled for speeding a hundred kliks later as we had spent 5 hours at the Police Station, the Policeman immediatley said I had to pay 200Baht , but let me off after I showed him the Report...who says the Thai Police are bad eggs...not me for sure

[ThaiPauly]

Sorry to hear about this ThaiPauly, I know what it feels like to have personal affects like three years' worth of irreplaceable photographs and custom-designed jewelry stolen.

Moral of the story is never let your guard down completely.

Thanks Meadish...I shall never touch my Wife's handbag again

[isabelle17]

Anyway, if people stay in Thailand long enough, I am sure most people experience getting something stolen.

Shouldn't this read:

Anyway, if people stay on Planet Earth long enough, I am sure most people experience getting something stolen???

sorry. I guess yeah, that makes more sense. Okay, replace thailand with "the world" then. Although, personally, I tend to worry about my belongings getting stolen in thailand. more so than I do in my home country. But then again, thats just me..

[TopDogger]

What a nice guy, I bet he will be patting himself on the back for months over this and telling his mates how honest he is for returning it...

[meemiathai]

I suppose gas stations in Lopburi don't have CCTV, otherwise it might be caught on candid camera!

They do actually have CCTV but only inside the shop and at the pumps, nothing covering the area just outside.

To be fair to the Police they sent 3 men over, and they did look at the CCTV and saw people moving just outside the window but could not discern anything.

The cleaner identified a white D-Max Pick -up and they did stop 2 while we were at the Police Station but niether belonged to the theif.

The only fun I got from the whole incident was driving 2 armed officers back to the Police Station at 160k in the outside lane (coz thats where they told me to drive).....I did ask if I could go "Ril Ril" and they said "Dai"

I also got pulled for speeding a hundred kliks later as we had spent 5 hours at the Police Station, the Policeman immediatley said I had to pay 200Baht , but let me off after I showed him the Report...who says the Thai Police are bad eggs...not me for sure

Sorry for being impolite.

But a potential murderer calling a petty thief a bad person? So you really think you yourself are a better person than the thief, driving at 160k per hour just because there were police officers(under protection illegally) in your car?

Your comments are laughable.

Edited January 19, 2008 by meemiathai

[Wrong Turn]

moral of story is dont mkae mistakes.

only once in my life i left cash in my hotel room. of course it was stolen. live and learn.

I'm sorry about the OP's theft.

But one thing I never, never, do, is put any important documents into a bag, backpack, suitcase.

I keep these items on my person (on my body).

Usually a money belt that is under my underwear.

Good luck, though, and hopefully you can get your money back for the passport.

[meemiathai]

Ain't it funny farangs so often enjoy the thrills of a third world country or a developping country yet when the consequences of the same reason do not favour them they start complaining like the sky is falling?

Sorry TP, just teasing you.

[meemiathai]

moral of story is dont mkae mistakes.

only once in my life i left cash in my hotel room. of course it was stolen. live and learn.

I'm sorry about the OP's theft.

But one thing I never, never, do, is put any important documents into a bag, backpack, suitcase.

I keep these items on my person (on my body).

Usually a money belt that is under my underwear.

Good luck, though, and hopefully you can get your money back for the passport.

Same for me.

So, touch wood, never happened to me. But 6 billion people, bound to be different ones?