Thaksin, in a Statesmanlike broadcast this evening asks Thais to assist stricken tourists and not take advantage of their plight by pilfering their belongings.

A little late!

The gold shops on the beach road were emptied.

I havent heard anything regarding robbing of tourists.

A little late!

The gold shops on the beach road were emptied.

I havent heard anything regarding robbing of tourists.

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Returning tourists have reported being robbed

BANGKOK, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Thieves disguised as police and rescue workers are preying on southern Thailand's Khao Lak beach, where the tsunami may have killed up to 3,000 people, witnesses said on Wednesday.

They were emptying tourist luggage, looting hotel safeboxes and robbing villagers on the beach north of Phuket island, with most police in the area dedicated to search and rescue operations in the worst hit place in Thailand.

Some local people blamed Burmese fishermen who crew many of the boats in Thailand's vast fishing fleet for a $1 or $2 a day.

"We've been hit by both natural disaster and thugs," the owner of one of the dozens of resorts and hotels on the beach told Reuters.

"Some pretended to be police and walked inside some hotels and broke open safeboxes for guests," he said. "Money was taken from tourists' bum bags and their baggage was left open with nothing inside."

"Please send police here," an elderly woman told a Bangkok television station from her mobile phone on Khao Lak, a tourist magnet on the Andaman Sea.

"All the food and drink I've received from the aid workers have been taken away by those fishermen."

"People steal because they are hungry," Phang Nga governor Anuwat Methiwibulwut told Reuters. "We will send more aid relief and more police today."

Rescue workers have retrieved at least 1,200 bodies from the beach and district police chief Col Aroon Klaewvatee said the toll could rise to 3,000.

Some local people blamed Burmese fishermen who crew many of the boats in Thailand's vast fishing fleet for a $1 or $2 a day.

Thais don't steal!

from cnn

Meanwhile, police officers said 26 persons had been arrested for looting in Phuket, Phi Phi Island and the nearby province of Phang Nga.

Maj. Gen. Suwit Othong, Phuket's police chief, said 11 persons had been arrested for pilfering in damaged hotels and department stores, adding that they were refused bail for fear they would continue thieving during this time of chaos.

Other police reports said four boat drivers were arrested for stealing from souvenir shops on Phi Phi while 11 persons had been caught snatching television sets and other items from collapsed buildings in Phang Nga.

Thaksin earlier denounced the thieves as "despicable good-for-nothings" preying on people's sufferings, and authorities said any caught would face the maximum punishment.