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Duck heist leaves one dead in Thailand

Asia-Pacific News

Dec 31, 2008, 3:04 GMT

Bangkok - Thai thieves killed one man and severely bludgeoned another in a daring midnight duck heist in Ayuthaya province that netted 1,600 fowl, news reports said Wednesday.

Duck herders Kampaeng Saengchan, 58, and Montri Suebjabok, 48, were attacked by unknown assailants at midnight Monday as they kept vigil over the 1,600 birds in Nakorn Luang district of Ayuthaya province, 90 kilometres north of Bangkok, police said.

The duck rustlers tied up both men and beat them severely, killing Kampaeng and leaving Montri with head injuries and both arms broken.

Montri told police that an unidentified woman had approached them Monday asking to buy the ducks, but they told her the poultry did not belong to them, reported the Bangkok Post.

At midnight Montri was awoken by a flurry of blows delivered by three men. He survived the attack by pretending to be dead as the thieves took off with the ducks.

Wichan Sriam, the owner of the pilfered birds, told police that this was the second poultry theft he had suffered this month.

He said in mid-December 500 ducks had been stolen from his farm. Authorities have recorded a steep rise in thefts and burglaries since Thailand's economy started to slow down two months ago in response to the US financial crisis.

There has to be an easier way than stealing fowl.

"The duck rustlers tied up both men and beat them severely, killing Kampaeng and leaving Montri with head injuries and both arms broken."

This is the chilling part. The men were tied up. Just theft due to hardship caused by an economic slowdown does not explain the beatings.

While black humor may be appropriate in some cases, many members find it inappropriate here so posts and their responses have been deleted.

I saw this in the paper. It's very sad and difficult to understand. Unloading all the ducks can't be very easy. Seems like a good way to get caught.

Wifes Brother has a few hundred ducks and 4 pigs he too had some stolen recently so he built a fence all around and got a load of dogs. I think it will get worse next year.

I saw this in the paper. It's very sad and difficult to understand. Unloading all the ducks can't be very easy. Seems like a good way to get caught.

Its not difficult to understand at all really. People who do this ofetn have no respect for anyone or thing, they are the school bully who thinks they can do what they want when they want, there are many people like this in life they understand only one way to stop them is to kill them forget re education. Its easier to steal and sell a few hundred ducks than to save to buy them as ducklings and raise them for a few years.

Very sad. Absolutely no need for this level of violence. The 'have-nots' stealing from the 'haves' will only get worse as the economy heads south.

RIP Khun Kampaeng, 58 years old.

It could be that more law abiding Thai's will fell it necessary to purchase firearms to defend life & property. If this gets any worse.

Feel sorry for the victims.

It's not so surprising to hear of the frequency with which robbery victims are killed when one considers the heavy penalties which are applied to thieves who are caught. Far less risky to make sure there are no witnesses. That doesn't excuse it, but it may explain it.

Please be careful out there, folks. This isn't a time to be walking around with a lot of money, or at least to show it.

I'll bet the attackers were doped up on yabaa. VERY unThai what they did...

The 'have-nots' stealing from the 'haves' will only get worse as the economy heads south.

There are many factories in the area. The ones I hear about are laying off quite a few workers these days. But can't help wonder if the crime here is drug-related. Farmers I know (also in the area) have problems with drug addicts stealing farming equipment.

These two men, the poorest of the poor, duck farmers, sleeping out to keep soi dogs and snakes away from ducks, were tied up and savagely beaten. It is stated that both men had both arms broken. If it were simply a case of murder why would they not have just beaten them about the head? People are killed everyday in Thailand, there is nothing new about that, however the needless act of savagely beating these men stands out as a bigger story to me.

Monsters and Critics, was also pointing out a sharp increase in violent crime in Thailand over the last two months that parallels the economic crises that PAD and GOV refuse even exists. In my opinion we are going to see more and more of this kind of thing for many reasons. The biggest reason is that people who are given authority in Thailand to prevent such crime and take action against criminals simply refuse to take any responsibility to protect the public.