MONEY

Taxi driver returns Bt3 million found on city street to truck crew

Jessada Jantharak

The Nation

Police and an employee of Brink

BANGKOK: -- A taxi driver yesterday returned a bag containing Bt3 million in cash to the crew of a cash-delivery truck after finding it on a Bangkok street in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Pongsin Jirakulthawornpat, 45, returned the money to the crew of the truck belonging to Brink's (Thailand) Ltd at Jor Sor 100, an Army-owned traffic radio station.

The company started out providing delivery services for the gems and jewellery industry before branching out into cash and security services.

Pongsin said his taxi struck the bag, which had been left on a road leading to the Rama III Bridge, at about 2am. Since it was heavy and he was afraid that it would cause an accident, he decided to take it home. Later in the morning, he found that the bag contained money and alerted Jor Sor 100 to find its owner.

Pongsin said he used to work as a bank employee, and he recognised boxes inside the bag as being the kind that are used to transport cash to ATMs.

He said he decided to return the money because he knew that losing such a large amount of money would cause the person responsible a lot of trouble.

Tossaphorn Rewnak, 35, one of the three employees in the truck that lost the bag, said the crew had transported a total of Bt53 million in cash at about 1.45am yesterday for delivery to Siam Commercial Bank ATMs. While they were driving on Taksin Road, a man on a motorcycle waved them down and told them that one of the truck's two doors was open.

The crew found that one of their bags was missing and alerted Bukkhalo Police Station.

Police said the three employees gave conflicting information about the incident and that the truck's closed-circuit television camera was out of order. Police said they would investigate the case thoroughly.

A manager at Brink's said the company would reward the cabbie when it reopened for service after the New Year holiday.

He said the company had not yet made a decision on whether fault lay with the three employees or the truck itself. Officials from the firm were waiting for the results of the investigation, he said.

-- The Nation 2012-12-31

Good story of a honest man to end the year

Always good to hear a story like this. Just go's to prove there are a lot of good people in the world. I hope he gets at least 5% of the money.

Police said the three employees gave conflicting information about the incident and that the truck's closed-circuit television camera was out of order. Police said they would investigate the case thoroughly.

sounds a bit suss methinks ! 3 employees different stories CCTV "not working" 3 boxes of money "accidentally left at the side of the road sort of sounds like a little self rewarded bonus to me bet they are well pissed that the taxi driver found it before they were able to retrieve it !

Police said the three employees gave conflicting information about the incident and that the truck's closed-circuit television camera was out of order. Police said they would investigate the case thoroughly.

sounds a bit suss methinks ! 3 employees different stories CCTV "not working" 3 boxes of money "accidentally left at the side of the road sort of sounds like a little self rewarded bonus to me bet they are well pissed that the taxi driver found it before they were able to retrieve it !

Police said the three employees gave conflicting information about the incident and that the truck's closed-circuit television camera was out of order. Police said they would investigate the case thoroughly.

sounds a bit suss methinks ! 3 employees different stories CCTV "not working" 3 boxes of money "accidentally left at the side of the road sort of sounds like a little self rewarded bonus to me bet they are well pissed that the taxi driver found it before they were able to retrieve it !

Yes, based on the "facts" reported in the newspaper, it would appear to be a botched inside job where the three crooks had people who were supposed to pick up at the bridge and missed the handoff/pickup. The taxi driver stumbled along and "interfered."

Just what I was thinking, 3 different accounts of what happened, a dodgy door lock & CCTV not working in a cash delivery truck ??

Sounds like an end of year bonus was in the making.. privately !!

Hope the 3 employees get their just rewards and the taxi driver gets a bigger one..

Hopefully the Brink company will be generous..

Edited December 31, 201213 yr by fareastguy

The authorities were due to trot out one of these stories. There is one every year. It deflects from things like this

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/575849-phuket-tourist-killing-two-men-get-life-for-michelle-smith-murder/

and this

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/607598-two-russians-report-sexual-assault-and-armed-robbery-in-south-pattaya/

and this

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/537842-senators-worried-about-phuket-beating-cheating-intimidating-tourists/

Next year another taxi driver will "find 2 million Baht and return it to its grateful, rightful owner"

Far-fetched conspiracy theories aside, Brinks might not be enamoured that their money transporters have revealed the truck carries 53 million baht. I suspect more than a few persons less honest than the taxi driver find that interesting.

That's the one thing that crooks in this country never count on. .An honest person showing up to screw up their heist. Like what are the odds of that ever happening here? It's nice to know that there are still some honest taxi drivers out there.

Someday, someone in Thailand will figure out how to make a CCTV system that works. How many stories have there been (mostly from Phuket & Pattaya) that "the video camera was not working that day."

I always thought one guard was in the back with the money.

Two in the front.

Apart from the reward itself, Brinks should perhaps also consider giving the tax-driver a job, an honest man is hard to find !

Good on him !

Always good to hear a story like this. Just go's to prove there are a lot of good people in the world. I hope he gets at least 5% of the money.

What? I thought that according to the TVF frothers that all taxi drivers were redshirt agitators and incapable of such acts.

Nice to see you now see it differently.

About time we had such a story, Singapore's had theirs already this year.

Always good to hear a story like this. Just go's to prove there are a lot of good people in the world. I hope he gets at least 5% of the money.

What? I thought that according to the TVF frothers that all taxi drivers were redshirt agitators and incapable of such acts.

Nice to see you now see it differently.

Give it a rest already. Only ***** can turn a feel good post into a political one where you slam someone else.

Edited December 31, 201213 yr by sbk
keep it nice

he returned them so he is an honest man.....But i wonder if when he was working at the bank he found out about the exploding dye bombs they put inside those boxes. Happy New Year

If I find a sack of money on the street I would assume the owner would not like it anymore. Of course I would have kept it.

One should never ass-u-me.

Always good to hear a story like this. Just go's to prove there are a lot of good people in the world. I hope he gets at least 5% of the money.

What? I thought that according to the TVF frothers that all taxi drivers were redshirt agitators and incapable of such acts.

Nice to see you now see it differently.

Give it a rest already. Only ***** can turn a feel good post into a political one where you slam someone else.

I have not slammed anyone, and was merely pointing out what has been stated ad nauseum in the tvf.

I was commending the epiphany. So it van be considered a laudatory post.

Good on yer mate,honesty isn't dead in the L.O.S. after all, suffers from credibility gap though

Apart from the reward itself, Brinks should perhaps also consider giving the tax-driver a job, an honest man is hard to find !

Good on him !

Very True....he deserves it.

these boxes can't be opened easily without the security to trigger a "paint" bomb on the bank notes, i'm sure it would all have been different if the bank notes were inside the bag

Someday, someone in Thailand will figure out how to make a CCTV system that works. How many stories have there been (mostly from Phuket & Pattaya) that "the video camera was not working that day."

I was just about to say the same thing. The hub of faulty CCTV systems.

That's the one thing that crooks in this country never count on. .An honest person showing up to screw up their heist. Like what are the odds of that ever happening here? It's nice to know that there are still some honest taxi drivers out there.

They must also not have been counting on a dishonest person stealing the cash either as well as thinking the middle of a busy road on a bridge would be a good place to stash the money for later retrieval.

Not really sure how much of a feel good story this is.....Like other posters I am finding it a bit hard to believe that the triple magical combo occurred of the CCTV not working, the rear doors not latched, and boxes of money bouncing out. Would be nice to know if the boxes had dents on them from bouncing down the road. Looks like an inside job gone wrong. If so this may qualify as a World's Most Stupid Criminals crime, with the pick up guy not at the right spot. However I am sure Brinks is going to try to portray this event as an accident in order to salvage their reputation as money transporters. Anyway kudos to the taxi guy.

Would it not be logical, based on the information in the story, to assume the conflicting statements from the workers were simply about whose fault it was or who was responsible for making sure the door was secured? Or is it more logical to assume that one of the workers left the door open on purpose and hoped one of the bags would fall out and hoped it would fall at an opportune moment for a conspirator to grab who they would split ($50k each) the money and then go on the run the rest of their lives while leaving $1.6 million behind? Bottom line is this is not the first time money from an armor car/money transport has fallen out on a highway in the world and won't be the last. However in this case you had two citizens who took action out of concern for the workers who would face serious problems if the money was lost, as opposed to thinking of themselves or just not getting involved.

By the way ... logic would dictate there was nobody in the back area of the truck where the door was open otherwise there would be no need for the motorbike to alert them the door was open and there would be no question that the person in the back was responsible and likely threw the bag out (on the middle of a busy roadway).

And if you think a non-working or recording camera (especially in a vehicle) is strange then you haven't been around (especially in Thailand) too much. Absolutely no mention of the camera being disabled or that it is checked daily or anything else to even hint at it being purposely disabled. Only a guess but would bet it never worked and was there for show.

Edited December 31, 201213 yr by Nisa

Yes, Nisa, much more likely to have been an unsecured door. But logic never interferes with the good old conspiracy theory which TV posters love to produce in great numbers.

the honest taxi driver maybe knew if he opened the box, he money would be rendered useless... so why keep those pesky boxes and the possibility of being sprayed all over with dye ?

hope he gets a cut ... let's not hope from the armoured trucks gang friends that were supposed to do the pickup

this story is so fishy or it shows the lack of anything in thailand .... we lost a bag with 3 million, mai pen rai, we have 50 million more ...

Yes, Nisa, much more likely to have been an unsecured door. But logic never interferes with the good old conspiracy theory which TV posters love to produce in great numbers.

No doubt somebody screwed up (we all do sometimes) but agree to jump to a conclusion of dishonesty seems strange when the folks they hired were probably hired for their honesty above almost anything else. Being from the US, I personally find the average folks in Thailand to be very honest and generous and find Bangkok to be a much much safer city than large cities back home. If people visiting here and living here could learn one thing from general Thai culture it should be to try to think and see positive and not try to think bad or find negative in everything.

Bottom line is no matter what transpired to cause the money to leave the vehicle, you had a taxi driver return the money ($100k) and that is a good story. Why the need to bring ugliness to it except this is what many of us westerners are programmed to do.

Armored Transport truck.

53 million baht cash.

Video camera out of service.

Door swings open and 3 million baht falls out, unnoticed by the 3 Thai 'guards'.

I can smell the scent of Pla-Raa coming through the computer monitor.