Gold Chain Snatchers (pattaya Mail)

[Liverish]

Do not display gold

Dear Editor,

I have been a Pattaya resident for quite awhile, and am dismayed at the serious increase in crime and in particular the ride-by stealing of gold or other items while on motorcycles.

Over the past year, I have been attacked three times and the most recent was serious. It happened at 4:00 p.m. on Thappraya Road. Two Thai teenagers pulled beside me and grabbed my gold chain and pulled me off the motorcycle, in traffic, causing cars to swerve around me and it could have been fatal for me.

Last night, my wife, while driving on the same road with a Thai passenger, had the same thing happen. She was more fortunate as she did not get pulled off or lose control of her motorcycle.

Obviously, the lesson here is do not display gold. I have personally talked to numerous people and they all have had, or know somebody who has had this type of problem recently. This type of crime is not unique in Pattaya, but the recent rise is of major significance. I have had discussions with the Pattaya police and the tourist police and they both indicate the increase is troublesome and difficult to control. Perhaps the reporting on a regular basis and a careful eye will in someway contribute to a solution.

Fred Huff

[cutethaigirl]

Have had experience the same.

Past the Ambassador Hotel on the road to Sattahip.

Left in the road bleeding.

Could have been much worse:-(

Not gold but a handbag across the shoulder.

Worry worry worry :-(

[IamMaiC]

When I was in Thailand Last My Father-In-Law told me if you leave udon thani and go somwhere else Do not Wear Gold Jewelry He was worried very much about this. He even told me don't wear Tourist bag around your waist keep some money in your pocket and your passport ID Drivers License Do not carry big wallet.

Sorry to hear about your experiences.

[Dickie]

This isn't so odd. No one with any sense displays riches out on the street when there are people who aren't so rich. As with handbags: those things are like a red rag to a bull. It's like that everywhere I've been.

[cutethaigirl]

It's like that everywhere I've been

Well it WAS NOT "like that" here before :-(

The original post was about "the recent rise"

[IamMaiC]

It's like that everywhere I've been

Well it WAS NOT "like that" here before :-(

The original post was about "the recent rise"

CTG how many people attacked you? Sad to hear you were just left there.

[mike100]

There is (or was) a gang working on Siam County Club Road.

Know two people who have been robbed near Park Village in the last three weeks.

Luckily both managed to stay on their bikes, but lost their handbags.

One girl had her ATM pin in her phone and her account was emptied by the following morning.

Both these incidences were at about 2-30 am.

Also heard from neighbors that they were not the only ones recently.

Be careful if traveling on a bike in this quite area.

[cutethaigirl]

CTG how many people attacked you? Sad to hear you were just left there

it was a boy and girl on another motor bike.

came along side.

made a pull at the bag

pulled complretely off the bike on the main Sukhumvit Rd

very lucky not driven over.

just left there until a man in the restaurant near the road came and then went to the hospital.

had to pay for that and to make the bike better too!

yes it was not the best thing to have the bag there .

this type of thing was not very common but now all the bad people that used to sell pills can not because of the Government making it hard so they have to be thiefs.

it is very sad.

saw in the newspaper yesterday more things the same every day according to the Pattaya Police :-(

[Dickie]

It's like that everywhere I've been

Well it WAS NOT "like that" here before :-(

The original post was about "the recent rise"

Accepted but wearing expensive stuff in any country is daft, unless everyone around you is wearing the same. Flashing "cash" in the streets of a low-income country is ludicrous, whether or not it "never used to be like this".