Chiang Mai:- A Malaysian man was arrested Tuesday for having stealing a big bike motorcycle from a farang and his Thai wife in Chiang Mai’s Hang Dong district.

Pol Maj Gen Banthit Tungkhaseni, commander of Chiang Mai Immigration Police, said Tan Hou was arrested at a hotel in Chiang Mai’s Fang district.

Banthit said Tan found a post of Gary Schack that he wanted to sell his Kawasaki Z1000 motorcycle for Bt460,000. Banthit said Tan pretended to want to buy the motorcycle and came to the couple’s house on Sunday and asked to test-ride it.

He deposited his identification card as a guarantee and fled off with the motorbike, an expensive helmet and expensive gloves of Schack.

Banthit said it turned out that the ID card was a fake one. The immigration police had learned from Malaysia that the man had committed similar frauds in more than ten cases in Malaysia.

The Thai police would coordinate with Malaysian police regarding to the legal actions against Tan, Banthit added.

Banthit Tuesday summoned Schack and his Thai wife, Sairung Schack to testify against the Malaysian man.

Before police could arrest the Malaysian man, Sairung’s sister, who uses a Facebook name of Koonae Tayana, posted on her wall, asking for help and tips from other Facebook users on the whereabouts of the man.

The sister recounted that the Malaysian man took a taxi to Sairung’s house in the Home-in Park housing estate in Tambon Nongkwai on Sunday and asked to test-ride the bike.

The post offered a reward of Bt50,000 for information that would lead to the arrest of the Malaysian man.

The power of social networks ;-)

Sad to see cities like chiang mai and chiang rai are also being the target for criminals these days and Farangs are being victimized quiet often

For those who think the Royal Thai Police are ineffective, this is a lesson. They did a great job following up on the information given them about the thief's whereabouts and arrested the thief, recovered the bike and delivered it back to Gary.

So let's hear a few thanks for the Police instead of the continual bashing they get. Apart from one time recently when I had a half hearted attempt for tea money for speeding on a Bangkok tollway (foiled when he saw our dash cam recording him!), I have found Thai police to be generally very helpful.

So where is the bike?... Did they recover it and return it to the owner?

well done Thai Police. *salute*... with the exception of just 1 incident when I (mea culpa) 'accidently' went up the toll road in BKK, and then refused to pay the 'summon' on the spot, I found the Thai police (highway) helpful.

Ya 50000baht will light some fires under the RTP asses

Perhaps the bike's still missing, awaiting the B50k reward

I am glad alls well that ends well like I have mentioned before not enough checks are made on people entering the country there must be stricter controls .

does anyone read postings anymore before firing off into print, doubt it, THE BIKE WAS RETURNED TO THE OWNER OK !!

For those who think the Royal Thai Police are ineffective, this is a lesson. They did a great job following up on the information given them about the thief's whereabouts and arrested the thief, recovered the bike and delivered it back to Gary.

So let's hear a few thanks for the Police instead of the continual bashing they get. Apart from one time recently when I had a half hearted attempt for tea money for speeding on a Bangkok tollway (foiled when he saw our dash cam recording him!), I have found Thai police to be generally very helpful.

They didn't do a "great job". They did their job. Took a phone call with a location of the suspect and arrived and arrested him. Almost certainly they will want a piece of the 50000 baht reward.

I am the owner of the bike.

The Malaysian guy is now behind bars pending the court case.

Regardless of the outcome/sentence he gets, sooner or later he will do it again. He has a history of similar offences both here and in Malaysia. he stole a bike in CM 2 years ago and was caught in Chiang Rai. That got him 3 months in jail. The list of offences just goes on and on.

The officers at Immigration 5 were such a big help, I have nothing but praise for them.

I was extremely lucky this time to have the bike returned to me.

In addition to the above, the immediate support and help offered by the biking community both Thai and Farang ( people we didn't even know ) also helped lead to his arrest. For this we thank each and every one of you

Another good job by the police but it's odd that the owner's Thai wife didn't recognise that the person presenting a Thai ID card wasn't a Thai?

And if she wasn't there at the time, the owner was crazy to let a complete stranger ride off with a near half-million baht's worth of bike and his gear without taking a very substantial deposit.

Another good job by the police but it's odd that the owner's Thai wife didn't recognise that the person presenting a Thai ID card wasn't a Thai?

He was Malaysian and presented a fake Malaysian ID.

But I agree, I'd want more than that to let someone toddle off with my property, with the fake shit you can buy on Khao San these days. I'm sure it's a lesson learned for the victim and hopefully a lot of other people.

does anyone read postings anymore before firing off into print, doubt it, THE BIKE WAS RETURNED TO THE OWNER OK !!

I was taught - "Think before you ink!"

Inflammatory post and a response - removed.

For those who think the Royal Thai Police are ineffective, this is a lesson. They did a great job following up on the information given them about the thief's whereabouts and arrested the thief, recovered the bike and delivered it back to Gary.

So let's hear a few thanks for the Police instead of the continual bashing they get. Apart from one time recently when I had a half hearted attempt for tea money for speeding on a Bangkok tollway (foiled when he saw our dash cam recording him!), I have found Thai police to be generally very helpful.

Sorry, but nothing much at all to do with effective policing.....from facebook page of owner;

Gary Schack Good news, the bike has been retrieved and Malaysian guy and his girlfriend have been arrested in Fang. Although I still don't have the full details yet, from what I do know they were spotted and photographed opposite a PTT station last night in Fang. They did manage to get away but with help of some local young bikers they later tracked the bike down in a Fang hotel carpark. The guys from immigration 5 sent a team and caught the prick in the hotel room around 3 am this morning. They are now almost back in Chiang Mai with one of the officers riding the bike back. Now just waiting for them to call us. Will update with more info later this morning

Sad to see cities like chiang mai and chiang rai are also being the target for criminals these days and Farangs are being victimized quiet often

Not just any old criminals, but FOREIGN criminals. That kind of makes it even worse.

Sad to see cities like chiang mai and chiang rai are also being the target for criminals these days and Farangs are being victimized quiet often

Not just any old criminals, but FOREIGN criminals. That kind of makes it even worse.

All the criminals are foreigners, didn't you know?

It used to be you couldn't outrun Motorola when VHF radios first came out. Now it's FaceBook you can't outrun. Glad to hear they caught this guy, but I am still curious what he was planning on doing with the bike.

"A Malaysian man was arrested Tuesday for having stealing a big bike motorcycle from a farang and his Thai wife in Chiang Mai’s Hang Dong district."

Another valuable gem of TV top quality journalism - putting grammar aside, could you guys please stop calling non Thais "farang" at least in your articles, please? Thank you!

Final wash - 4 times in court and sentenced to 2 years in total.

Will be interesting to see if this time he actually does get deported when his time is over....

By his own admission , last time after serving 3 months for the same offence he bribed the immigration officer at the airport and was released...

does anyone read postings anymore before firing off into print, doubt it, THE BIKE WAS RETURNED TO THE OWNER OK !!

quite clearly NO....

was reading through and thinking to myself <deleted> - read before you spruik.....

was in on an earlier thread about elephants I think and it was suggested due to the completely insane comments being made by a poster that IQ tests should be introduced to TV members before they are allowed to post - me thinks this is an idea that should be explored further but I am only a newbie so my opinions don't really count lol...

It used to be you couldn't outrun Motorola when VHF radios first came out. Now it's FaceBook you can't outrun. Glad to hear they caught this guy, but I am still curious what he was planning on doing with the bike.

not sure just putting this out there - - maybe he was planning on STEALING IT!!!

It used to be you couldn't outrun Motorola when VHF radios first came out. Now it's FaceBook you can't outrun. Glad to hear they caught this guy, but I am still curious what he was planning on doing with the bike.

not sure just putting this out there - - maybe he was planning on STEALING IT!!!

Or putting it on a boat in Chiang Saen headed for ports that pay.