Foreign gang arrested for thefts from hotel guests

BANGKOK: -- Bangkok police yesterday arrested three Iranians and one Turkish national on charges of stealing property belonging to foreign hotel guests.

Tourist Police Commissioner Pol. Maj. Gen. Panya Mamen said that the four had been arrested in a Bangkok entertainment venue yesterday morning after several hotels had complained of their activities.

According to hotel owners, the four men had posed as tourists, telling hotel staff that they were sick and needed to go to their rooms before showing their passports, which they claimed to have left with tour companies.

After entering the hotel, the gang then used screwdrivers to pick the locks of other guest rooms, before using electric drills to break into safes storing tourists' belongings.

Pol. Maj. Gen. Panya said that police had been following the gang for the past three years, during which time the gang had carried out hotel raids on 15-20 occasions, taking property worth at least Bt15 million.

The gang members, who have been initially charged with illegal entry into the kingdom, posted their pickings to relatives abroad where they were then resold.

--TNA 2004-09-23

Pol. Maj. Gen. Panya said that police had been following the gang for the past three years, during which time the gang had carried out hotel raids on 15-20 occasions, taking property worth at least Bt15 million.

If they can find a way that they could notify potential victims of future terrorist that they intend to arrest in 2010 then my faith in the Police would restored.

Pol. Maj. Gen. Panya said that police had been following the gang for the past three years, during which time the gang had carried out hotel raids on 15-20 occasions, taking property worth at least Bt15 million.

Agreed, if it takes them 3 years to catch _known_ criminals then there is little hope.

Why wernt they arrested 2.5 years ago?

all pleading sick so as not have to show their passports. Though how many staff have the training to determine what is a genuine passport?

it sure took a while to catch them.

how many of the people who were robbed believed thais to be the crimminals?

I bet the Iranians don't try to get extradited back to Iran to face trial seeing as what they do to thieves in that neck of the woods.

put them in the ka toey cell at the bangkok hilton.

Pol. Maj. Gen. Panya said that police had been following the gang for the past three years, during which time the gang had carried out hotel raids on 15-20 occasions, taking property worth at least Bt15 million.

Agreed, if it takes them 3 years to catch _known_ criminals then there is little hope.

Why wernt they arrested 2.5 years ago?

It's quite possible that they've been tracking the crimes, but not the criminals for 3 years. It is easy, after a hotel calls the police, for the police to link one instance to the 15-20 previous instances. But it may be quite difficult to track down the criminals even if they have good descriptions from hotel staff. Even if they have photos of the criminals, with all the tourist, it is probably very difficult to get the right ones.

It sounds like they were using a similar MO in each incident. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to send out discreet warnings to hotel of the scam taking place. It happens at retail and financial institutions in the US all the time. The Thai national police have a similar broad jurisdiction as the FBI in the US and they are fairly prompt about warning other locations that have been victimized.

Not to rag on the Thais, but they could have done more IMO.......

It damages that all mighty face of the Thai tourist image....

~WISteve

put them in the ka toey cell at the bangkok hilton.

That's a fairly likely outcome for these Bozo's.

Makes you wonder about the CCTV systems that almost all hotels have in place. It all sounds vague too.......why would hotel staff let someone into a room with no ID ? In my experience most hotel staff remember pax faces pretty well. A few simple questions would show up a fraudster surely.