Brazen Daylight Theft- What Would You Do?

[thaibeachlovers]

The other day, I came out of the house to find a Thai man and his wife/ gf driving off with some property of my wife's family from the road outside of the house ( no breakin required ).

Had I been there sooner, I would have attempted to physically prevent them leaving, so it might have been fortunate that I was not able to do so!

As it was, I was able only to abuse them ( in English ) as they drove off.

What do you think would have been the best course of action in this situation?

What would be the best course of action in the event that I had arrived as they were loading the item onto the m'bike sidecar.

Would taking photos of them and the bike number plate be appropriate if they knew I was doing so?

Would calling them some really evil names in Thai be appropriate?

What do you think?

[Bung]

If it was on the roadside outside the house anyone in any country would consider it garbage. If it was something you wanted to keep it should have been inside the property.

Some more details would be helpful.

[MrRealDeal]

Calling people names is both inappropriate and childish ..... Attempting to stop them would be within your rights as would taking pictures and calling the police , following them at a safe distance while talking to the police would probabbly have been a good way to produce results with minimum risk to yourself.

[thaibeachlovers]

Calling people names is both inappropriate and childish ..... Attempting to stop them would be within your rights as would taking pictures and calling the police , following them at a safe distance while talking to the police would probabbly have been a good way to produce results with minimum risk to yourself.

Call me childish then!

As for attempting to physically stop them, it might be within my rights, but it might also have got me beaten up, which is why I said "so it might have been fortunate that I was not able to do so!".

I don't know how I could have followed them, as I don't have a vehicle, and I can't run fast enough to keep up with a m'bike.

[thaibeachlovers]

If it was on the roadside outside the house anyone in any country would consider it garbage. If it was something you wanted to keep it should have been inside the property.

Some more details would be helpful.

It was obviously not garbage.

What it was is irrelevant to this post.

So, what would you have done?

[MrRealDeal]

You would have been better off being polite and asking them to return the items and explaing to them it wasnt trash ..... giving them an easy way out to save face and pretend it was all a misunderstanding ...... being rude NEVER improves a situation although sometimes in the end you might previal inspite of it.

I kind of doubt you will accept anything except except high praise for your behavior though.

What I would have done is get back the items by doing pretty much the opposite of what you did.

[GuestHouse]

What exactly was it they took?

[bonobo]

I would have snapped a photo and given that to the police.

[Soutpeel]

If it was on the roadside outside the house anyone in any country would consider it garbage. If it was something you wanted to keep it should have been inside the property.

Some more details would be helpful.

It was obviously not garbage.

What it was is irrelevant to this post.

So, what would you have done?

Tell your wifes family what has happend and let them deal with it if the culprits are known.

Typically if something is left on the pavement out side a property, ie off the property it would seen as fair game, and this is how the culprits may have see it..in other words they dont see it as theft

Edited August 11, 2012 by Soutpeel

[chrisinth]

If it was on the roadside outside the house anyone in any country would consider it garbage. If it was something you wanted to keep it should have been inside the property.

Some more details would be helpful.

It was obviously not garbage.

What it was is irrelevant to this post.

So, what would you have done?

I would think that it was relevant to this post. There is a lot of difference to say, a parked motorbike and a black trashbag. both cases would call for different actions. As you have stated, it was not on their property but on the road.

Have you talked to all the family to make sure the accused didn't have someone's permission to move the object?

Have you informed the police?

[Heng]

Put out some more of your 'items' and lie in wait with a baseball bat.

[h90]

Put out some more of your 'items' and lie in wait with a baseball bat.

and put it on 220 volt

[arthurwait]

If it was on the roadside outside the house anyone in any country would consider it garbage. If it was something you wanted to keep it should have been inside the property.

Some more details would be helpful.

It was obviously not garbage.

What it was is irrelevant to this post.

So, what would you have done?

Was it next to a car to be loaded ?

If you leave stuff on the road in this country it's fair game to people who collect it. That's how it works.

[SlyAnimal]

imo best course of action would be to chase them down in your car/motorcycle. Most Thai's drive really slowly, so it probably wouldn't be any effort to keep up with them lol.

Unless of course you weren't sure that it was actually stealing (e.g. maybe MIL said they could have it etc). In which case a photo would be best, as could then hunt them down later lol.

[Rsquared]

@ SlyAnimal, he had no means of transport except his own flip-flop mobilisers.

I agree with "bonobo", most of us carry a camera with a speaking device attached, so you could have snapped off a few happy snaps, and shown them to your relo's........I'm sure the culprits would've been easily identified and ...........the wisest thing for you to do is step back and let the locals handle it.

I know it goes against our morals.........but the first words of advice I received before I came here was "don't get involved in any conflicts!"

Just sayin'

[travelmann]

A vaguer story I have never heard.

[YipYipYa123]

i still want to know what these alledged thieves actually stole

was it a bag of garbage on the side of the road ?

why are we not allowed to know any detail ?

[SimonD]

The guys you really gotta watch out for are the ones with the big yellow truck. They come around twice a week, lift anything outside the house that isn't nailed down, throw it in the back and then just drive off - waving as they go! Someone really should do something about them!

Brazen!

[jacktrip]

You would have been better off being polite and asking them to return the items and explaing to them it wasnt trash ..... giving them an easy way out to save face and pretend it was all a misunderstanding ...... being rude NEVER improves a situation although sometimes in the end you might previal inspite of it.

I kind of doubt you will accept anything except except high praise for your behavior though.

What I would have done is get back the items by doing pretty much the opposite of what you did.

please sir, may you return my items.

give me a break, there was a theft occurring here.

[ronz28]

Police report and pay them to investigate/get the stuff back. Price was a couple of cartons of cigarettes a long time ago, I wonder what the going rate is now for the police to investigate a theft & see to it that the items are returned.

[bino]

The OP is being deliberately vague about what was stolen. Whatever it was, It obviously wasn't worth securing inside your property. As another poster mentioned, anything left on the side of the road is fair game.

What the OP should do- get over it. Learn to keep anything you don't want mistaken for trash / abandoned inside the gates of your property.

[Bung]

Until what we know was stolen how can we comment on what action to take?

Was it valuable or worthless?

Was it left out there because you forgot to bring it in at night? Or was it something you always left out there?

Too many variables.

The OP doesn't want to say so I think he is feeling foolish for leaving something of value outside at night.

If it was left on the roadside it couldn't have been worth much so I would just tell the family forget about it.

I'll open the speculation:

A hoe or shovel left on a pile of sand.

[MrRealDeal]

You would have been better off being polite and asking them to return the items and explaing to them it wasnt trash ..... giving them an easy way out to save face and pretend it was all a misunderstanding ...... being rude NEVER improves a situation although sometimes in the end you might previal inspite of it.

I kind of doubt you will accept anything except except high praise for your behavior though.

What I would have done is get back the items by doing pretty much the opposite of what you did.

please sir, may you return my items.

give me a break, there was a theft occurring here.

No actually their were items that were on the side of the road that many people would assume were being discarded , possibly thieft , even then being polite would have served him best in Thailand. Did you think it was the flat screen TV getting some sun by the side of the road or some stuff that could be mistaken for junk ?

[Heng]

Maybe he doesn't want to admit it was just scrap to sell to the junk man? Had a foreign neighbor clearly waiting for the recycle truck to come around once and we happened to but up at 5am that day and 'waved good morning' on our way out of the soi.... he returned the good morning and casually then went over to the trash can and threw the whole bag of perhaps a hundred plastic bottles in the trash.... as if he had been saving all of those bottles for awhile just to throw away at once. Really, it's nothing to be embarrassed about. Recyling is good.

[pattayadingo]

I have to agree that the lack of information on what was taken does make this too vague.

Yes, what is left outside is generally considered refuse for collection, bet it plastic bottles, a washing machine or a wardrobe. I left a wardrobe outside my gates because it was damaged. It had gone in 24 hours. The same with anything that is of no use to me.

So, OP, what was so valuable that was taken?

[Shot]

What was it?

[MrRealDeal]

It would seem that the overall answer to your question would be ....... Don't leave things on the side of the road that are valuable to you

How you can operate a computer and not already understand that is a mystery to me.

[VintageTQ]

^^

What he said

[Beetlejuice]

If it was on the roadside outside the house anyone in any country would consider it garbage. If it was something you wanted to keep it should have been inside the property.

Some more details would be helpful.

It was obviously not garbage.

What it was is irrelevant to this post.

So, what would you have done?

I would not have done anything, other than blame myself, my wife or both of us for being so stupid as to leave our property outside the confines of the premises.

This logic pertains to anywhere in the world, it`s only common sense.

Just place it down to experience and lessons learned.

Please let us know when you are having another give away sale and at what times the items will be placed outside ready for collection?

[KhaoNiaw]

What did your wife and her family members say about it?