More Farang Being Targeted For Crime In Isaan.

[bdenner]

Last Friday night the body of a farang was found on the side of the road alongside his bike about 5 km from Ban Dung. Police initially thought he was the victim of a ‘hit and run’ accident. We were shown photos of his body on Saturday during police attempts to identify him, no money or identification on his body!. From the blood on his head it was obvious he was upright when enduring head injuries??? We later heard the police are now looking for 3 youths seen to have followed him out of a karaoke bar just before his demise. We think he has now been positively identified but new to the area and unknown to us.

Our condolences to his family and may he RIP.

Some points here:-

1. He was seen to have shown a large wad of cash when paying his bin.

2. He was riding alone on a dark road at late night.

3. He was not wearing a helmet which may have given him a better chance.

During a group discussion about this event yesterday we determined that there has been some 15 farang home invasions in A. Ban Dung over the past 12 months, that we knew of. 12 of these were carried out at night and whilst the homes were occupied, in most cases gas or a chemical was used to knock the occupants out. Only one culprit is in the ‘monkey house’. From the evidence and using a little logic quite a number of these burglaries would have to be put down to an ‘inside job’. – Family, neighbours, contractors etc.

Time to think about better security and how we conduct our lives here in Isaan, the good times may be over.

[johnnyk]

It would be helpful to know where in Isaan. It is a large region.

[Totster]

It would be helpful to know where in Isaan. It is a large region.

bdenner

Senior Member

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From: Ban Dung --- Udon Thani

Member No.: 18,212

totster

[bdenner]

It would be helpful to know where in Isaan. It is a large region.

Gee, I think it's obvious!

C. Udon Thani

A. Ban Dung

103deg 15min 27sec East

17deg 41min 30 sec North.

[sezzo]

My wife told me a few months ago about gangs of people going around robbing houses in the same method that was mentioned earlier, but I have not heard of it being done close to us. She was concerned as we live on a farm with the nearest village being about 1km away. Also with having a "RICH FARANG" husband she thought our place would be a good target. Nothing has happened in that respect, thank goodness.

Maybe it has something to do with the 3 dogs that we have now. One of which is a large and getting larger German Shepherd. He has this habit of barking aggressively and chasing motorbikes and people along the fence of our place. Funny how he only has this reaction to thais. None of my farang friends raise any excitement or interest from him.

[Pilchard]

At the end of last year we had a similar spate of crime down here in Samui.

People being robbed while they slept. Pretty much all farang homes.

The gas theory was offered up back then also.

Also that the gang was travelling the south hitting one area and moving on before the boys in brown could rub the sleep out of their eyes.

How scary is that if you have a young child in the house !!!!

What kind of gas would they use and how would they stop themselves being affected ?

You see more and more window grills and steel security doors down here now.

[emwobberlydee]

There was a spate of burglaries in my home town in Surin Province, all those robbed were Thai and vulnerable (only female occupants / elderly). The explanation at the time was that gambling debts from the last World Cup needed to be paid. Seems to have quietened down since then.

[Nam Kao]

>>>None of my farang friends raise any excitement or interest from him

Dogs are smart

Well the victim here was not shot or knifed, i would venture to say a can of mace would haved him.

Or even a faster motocy.

Unfortunately a percieved wad of cash upcountry could be less than 20$US.

Its a shame we cannot legally conceal carry a pistol like in the US for self defense.

-nam

Edited December 18, 2006 by Nam Kao

[aussiecollin]

Last Friday night the body of a farang was found on the side of the road alongside his bike about 5 km from Ban Dung. Police initially thought he was the victim of a ‘hit and run’ accident. We were shown photos of his body on Saturday during police attempts to identify him, no money or identification on his body!. From the blood on his head it was obvious he was upright when enduring head injuries??? We later heard the police are now looking for 3 youths seen to have followed him out of a karaoke bar just before his demise. We think he has now been positively identified but new to the area and unknown to us.

Our condolences to his family and may he RIP.

Some points here:-

1. He was seen to have shown a large wad of cash when paying his bin.

2. He was riding alone on a dark road at late night.

3. He was not wearing a helmet which may have given him a better chance.

During a group discussion about this event yesterday we determined that there has been some 15 farang home invasions in A. Ban Dung over the past 12 months, that we knew of. 12 of these were carried out at night and whilst the homes were occupied, in most cases gas or a chemical was used to knock the occupants out. Only one culprit is in the ‘monkey house’. From the evidence and using a little logic quite a number of these burglaries would have to be put down to an ‘inside job’. – Family, neighbours, contractors etc.

Time to think about better security and how we conduct our lives here in Isaan, the good times may be over.

Do you think there is a corelation between home invasion and the hit on the guy on the motorbile?

re your group discussion, was this centred around thugs targetting Farang houses or the case in point: a (drunk?) farang coming from a bar with a wad of cash? ie, are we vunerable coming out of a bar?

Do you think this is the same 'gang'?

Where exactly did this happen??

Colin

[Dave the Dude]

There was a spate of burglaries in my home town in Surin Province, all those robbed were Thai and vulnerable (only female occupants / elderly). The explanation at the time was that gambling debts from the last World Cup needed to be paid. Seems to have quietened down since then.

Thanks for that emwobberlydee

I'v just left my TGF at home in Surin whilst I go back to the UK to earn more money.Glad I fitted up Burgular alarm in home and shop.Kept testing very load siren many times so as many people as possible know of its existance. Good Luck and a happy xmas

[johnnyk]

It would be helpful to know where in Isaan. It is a large region.

Gee, I think it's obvious!

C. Udon Thani

A. Ban Dung

103deg 15min 27sec East

17deg 41min 30 sec North.

Too right!

I'll have to open my eyes when I get up in the morning

[Gary A]

Well guys. I have to say that I'm quite skeptical about the gas stories. That said if a thief wants to break into a house, he's going to be able to get in. I rented a house in Bangkok and thought it was pretty secure. The back door was locked with a dead bolt at the top and another at the bottom. A prybar apparently made short work of the deadbolts. The house was in a gated village. Security made regular rounds on bicycles. I was still robbed. A friend of mine had his small valuables in a fairly large Thai made safe. I got to see first hand how a Thai safe is made. The thieves managed to get into the safe with a hammer and a chisel. They cut the thin steel skin on the door, broke out the cement then cut the thin steel skin on the inside. I think maybe a loud alarm may be helpful but seeing the reaction to car alarms I'm not sure about that. Car alarms are ignored and only irritate the people who hear them.

As far as being mugged, the best protection is to not make yourself a target. Wearing a Rolex or gold chains is an invitation for the bastards. Flashing a roll of money is REALLY stupid. I saw a farang get robbed in Soi Cowboy, Bangkok. He was flashing a LARGE roll of cash when paying his tabs. Who rolled him? Another farang. Everyone was shocked and no one went after the thief.

What's the answer? I have no idea.

[jackspratt]

Its a shame we cannot legally conceal carry a pistol like in the US for self defense.

God forbid.......!

jack

[Mai Krap]

The gas for the most part is Lao Khao, Drunk forigners passing out and waking up ripped off. Im sceptical of the Ban Dung story til I hear a name attached to it for that matter. If you dont drink you automatically avoid about 95% of the problems in Thailand. For the most part other forigners are more likely to attack you than Thais unless you drink everynight and hang out with the drunk Thais out in villages and stuff.

I would say half the forigners houses Ive ever heard of that got ripped off were done up by members of their own family or staff or something, Its hardly ever some kind of random deal where someone follows you home from tesco but it could be related to moto taxis or tuk tuk drivers tipping off criminal elements if you use them for transpertation and they know your scedule and address.

Its great to be aware of whats going on around you and for sure you better not leave much laying around or it will disappear. A couple months ago A guy was telling me about 8 attacks on farang and it turns out it was one attack on A drunk guy and as far as I know he might of attacked first. A motercycle here will end your life much faster than some gas attack in A house the wind can blow straight through, If your talking A small train compartment or confined area gas is more likely, I just find it unlikely that gas is being used but I could be proven wrong.

The biggest single thing to tip you off is dead dogs, If your dog dies or the neigbors beware, beware, beware, Criminals are just dumb enough here to poisen the dog and come back that night. I and many on the forum know well what happend when A bar owner came down and found machetes and A broken window where some guys poisend the neigbors dog and broke into his home, thank God he did not wake and confront them.

Noise is and light is what keeps the bad guys back, Get geese and parrots and place the cages around the place and if you build a new home for God sakes learn from the old Thais, they are very smart people, build some kind of pole house. They didnt want tigers walking up to the window and you dont want thieves doing it. Make it hard for them to get to you.

Chainsaws are illeagal in Thailand but if you can get a small 18 or 20 incher I will gaurentee you can run off A small crowd with one thats started barring they dont have a gun. A baseball bat is standard with most Americans but any chemical spray or insecticide spraying with A household hammer in combination will give you some extra fight. The first choice defense for most guys is to just pretend they are sleeping and hope for the best. Chok Dee

[turnpike]

wow!

go ahead, conceal your weapns, buy your mace/tasers, triple bolt your doors, wear gas masks to bed, bar your windows, keep the pit bulls hungry, have your in-laws security checked, keep a baseball or cricket bat under every pillow, put poisoned tipped broken glass and razor wire on top of your concrete walls,check your burglar alarms 3 times a day, blah blah blah.

this is not paradise people,it's just thailand, if you flaunt it, are stupid, drunk, or just a plain old farang a**hole, you're going to get yours, whether it's here or anywhere. i've only lived here for a couple of years, am i that naive? i really don't think so.

i've had the week old pump off of my newly drilled well stolen, and i know there are yabba-heads out there,but if you think it's any better in canada, the u.k., the u.s.a, aus or europe , by all means, lets get the hel_l out of here.

frankly, i'm a lot more concerned about the paranoia in this thread than i am about crime in isaan...

[bdenner]

The gas for the most part is Lao Khao, Drunk forigners passing out and waking up ripped off. Im sceptical of the Ban Dung story til I hear a name attached to it for that matter. ----------------- Chok Dee

I tried to get more details yesterday, all I know is that there is a farang body lying on a slab with injuries NOT consistant with falling off a bike. It has not been confirmed yet but believed to be a 38 year old Norweagen. I believe some of his family are on there way to positively identify him and do whatever.

According to bar staff he only had 4 beers before leaving and did not appear to be intoxicated.

[Mai Krap]

wow!

go ahead, conceal your weapns, buy your mace/tasers, triple bolt your doors, wear gas masks to bed, bar your windows, keep the pit bulls hungry, have your in-laws security checked, keep a baseball or cricket bat under every pillow, put poisoned tipped broken glass and razor wire on top of your concrete walls,check your burglar alarms 3 times a day, blah blah blah.

this is not paradise people,it's just thailand, if you flaunt it, are stupid, drunk, or just a plain old farang a**hole, you're going to get yours, whether it's here or anywhere. i've only lived here for a couple of years, am i that naive? i really don't think so.

i've had the week old pump off of my newly drilled well stolen, and i know there are yabba-heads out there,but if you think it's any better in canada, the u.k., the u.s.a, aus or europe , by all means, lets get the hel_l out of here.

frankly, i'm a lot more concerned about the paranoia in this thread than i am about crime in isaan...

I agree with most of what youve said here. Its like urban myths or something, one thing happens and the paranoid crowd sees the end of the world.

Just to keep it real there are Farang murdered for money and other reasons here every year. Many of them never see it coming although some would consider it predictable outcomes from behavior that people on this forum have been warned about since the first time I clicked onto it many years ago. It pays to be careful but even that is not always enough, If cornered you need to be prepared to defend yourself.

[bannork]

Last Friday night the body of a farang was found on the side of the road alongside his bike about 5 km from Ban Dung. Police initially thought he was the victim of a ‘hit and run’ accident. We were shown photos of his body on Saturday during police attempts to identify him, no money or identification on his body!. From the blood on his head it was obvious he was upright when enduring head injuries??? We later heard the police are now looking for 3 youths seen to have followed him out of a karaoke bar just before his demise. We think he has now been positively identified but new to the area and unknown to us.

Our condolences to his family and may he RIP.

Some points here:-

1. He was seen to have shown a large wad of cash when paying his bin.

2. He was riding alone on a dark road at late night.

3. He was not wearing a helmet which may have given him a better chance.

During a group discussion about this event yesterday we determined that there has been some 15 farang home invasions in A. Ban Dung over the past 12 months, that we knew of. 12 of these were carried out at night and whilst the homes were occupied, in most cases gas or a chemical was used to knock the occupants out. Only one culprit is in the ‘monkey house’. From the evidence and using a little logic quite a number of these burglaries would have to be put down to an ‘inside job’. – Family, neighbours, contractors etc.

Time to think about better security and how we conduct our lives here in Isaan, the good times may be over.

bdenner, on which road was the karaoke from Bandung? I ask because I think it's unusual for a farang to be travelling around Bandung by himself, more likely to have a missus in the area, in which case why hasn't she been to the police enquiring where he is?

To go to a karaoke alone with a wad of cash really sounds foolish. Perhaps it was more than robbery though.

Regarding household robberies, this is the only advantage of being a poor farang, there's nothing worth stealing, only our cows. But that's the reason we have dogs, a great alarm system.

[farang2002]

Well guys. I have to say that I'm quite skeptical about the gas stories. That said if a thief wants to break into a house, he's going to be able to get in. I rented a house in Bangkok and thought it was pretty secure. The back door was locked with a dead bolt at the top and another at the bottom. A prybar apparently made short work of the deadbolts. The house was in a gated village. Security made regular rounds on bicycles. I was still robbed. A friend of mine had his small valuables in a fairly large Thai made safe. I got to see first hand how a Thai safe is made. The thieves managed to get into the safe with a hammer and a chisel. They cut the thin steel skin on the door, broke out the cement then cut the thin steel skin on the inside. I think maybe a loud alarm may be helpful but seeing the reaction to car alarms I'm not sure about that. Car alarms are ignored and only irritate the people who hear them.

As far as being mugged, the best protection is to not make yourself a target. Wearing a Rolex or gold chains is an invitation for the bastards. Flashing a roll of money is REALLY stupid. I saw a farang get robbed in Soi Cowboy, Bangkok. He was flashing a LARGE roll of cash when paying his tabs. Who rolled him? Another farang. Everyone was shocked and no one went after the thief.

What's the answer? I have no idea.

Maybe a mail-order stungun. 150,000 volts might snap the thief out of his bad habits!

[bdenner]

bdenner, on which road was the karaoke from Bandung? I ask because I think it's unusual for a farang to be travelling around Bandung by himself, more likely to have a missus in the area, in which case why hasn't she been to the police enquiring where he is?

To go to a karaoke alone with a wad of cash really sounds foolish. Perhaps it was more than robbery though.

Regarding household robberies, this is the only advantage of being a poor farang, there's nothing worth stealing, only our cows. But that's the reason we have dogs, a great alarm system.

The bar is on the 2096 just past the A.Penn turn off opposite the cattle sales yard. It is mainly frequented by the Thais spending a little of their profits! He was found 5 km further South toward Nong Mek. I know nothing about him or his private life other than he had only been up here for a few days and, from what the bar staff are saying he was alone in the bar and left alone. I will not speculate, just wait until the police release more details.

[Mai Krap]

bdenner, on which road was the karaoke from Bandung? I ask because I think it's unusual for a farang to be travelling around Bandung by himself, more likely to have a missus in the area, in which case why hasn't she been to the police enquiring where he is?

To go to a karaoke alone with a wad of cash really sounds foolish. Perhaps it was more than robbery though.

Regarding household robberies, this is the only advantage of being a poor farang, there's nothing worth stealing, only our cows. But that's the reason we have dogs, a great alarm system.

The bar is on the 2096 just past the A.Penn turn off opposite the cattle sales yard. It is mainly frequented by the Thais spending a little of their profits! He was found 5 km further South toward Nong Mek. I know nothing about him or his private life other than he had only been up here for a few days and, from what the bar staff are saying he was alone in the bar and left alone. I will not speculate, just wait until the police release more details.

From what youve said so far it sounds very unfortunate, Like you I will wait and see what the cops say and then try to figure out what happened.

[Martin]

"frankly, i'm a lot more concerned about the paranoia in this thread than i am about crime in isaan..."

I understand that sentiment, but 'paranoia' may be a mis-diagnosis.

Paranoia is "an abnormal tendency to suspect or mistrust others".

In a culture/society/milieu that one hasn't been brought up in, it is normal to recognise that one is vulnerable, because one doesn't understand the dangers and may blunder into them.

I look back on my first couple of years here and recognise that I was unnecessarily fearful.

But that was followed by a period when I felt quite confident that my earlier fears had been totally groundless.

Then I walked into a trap set up by some villains out from Udon and was robbed of my mobile phone. The local police were most apologetic that it had happened to 'their' farang, but there was no way that they could have known about the set-up until somebody (in this case, me) reported it.

Now I am aware that it is neither as bad here as I used to fear, nor as totally safe as I came to think.

I would feel a lot more at risk back in the West, though.

[Mai Krap]

I agree about the paranoia but I see so many here who have no fear at all when they should. I just recieved A call tonight that some friends were having A childrens birthday party and heard a loud noise, when they investigated it one farang tourist was laying dead in the street and A Thai youth was laying in the ditch and he soon died on the scene. Evidently the tourist was trying to turn the motercycle and the Thai crashed right into him full speed. This happend on Ko Chang Island and it happens plenty there, It was the farangs first day on the island.

[kevc]

There was a spate of burglaries in my home town in Surin Province, all those robbed were Thai and vulnerable (only female occupants / elderly). The explanation at the time was that gambling debts from the last World Cup needed to be paid. Seems to have quietened down since then.

We were burgled a couple of months ago, our Husky dog was poisoned and a week later we were robbed at 3.30 am while ewe were asleep they unlocked the bedroom door while we were sleeping we woke up when it creaked open and our other dog which they mustn't have known about probably because we don't let him out on the road he's treated like an farang dog and stays in the house barked and chased them away. It was only later that I thought how different it could have worked out obviously they had machetes or crow bars do break through two doors. The local school principal is a good freind of mine and he was talking to the Chief of Police in Nang Rong he said it's not just Farangs but anyone who may have mone, yesterady on TV they stole rice and chickens from an old guy in a wood hut I suppose scum can be found anywhere.

[Loz]

wow!

frankly, i'm a lot more concerned about the paranoia in this thread than i am about crime in isaan...

Hear Hear!!

C'mon, It makes a lot of sense that if you look dumb and unfriendly, you will become a mark. This is true anywhere.

I like the comment, "If you avoid drink in Thailand, 95% of your problems are behind you". Never a truer word spoken.

A little bit of realism is what this thread required. I welcome the warnings, sure. But lets be realistic about the "at risk" category, yeah?

[King Dong]

I like the comment, "If you avoid drink in Thailand, 95% of your problems are behind you". Never a truer word spoken.

Peoples houses are being targeted because they drink to much

[Bottlerocket]

Well, the word's out. Just keep your heads up, be careful about your behaviour, look over your shoulder every once in a while, assess your surroundings and who occupies it. Seems pretty run o the mill to me. Maybe a panic button over your bed to turn on some floodlights and a siren if you're really worried about it. Being robbed sucks and it's totally creepy if they're in your house while you're sleeping.

Sorry about the bloke with his head damage and all. The sun'll rise tomorrow.

[Bellatrix]

A group of us had just finished eating dinner at the market the other night, and one of the Japanese boys had some sticky rice left on his plate. A Thai man walked past and took the rice straight off his plate and ate it. You can't be too careful.

[jackspratt]

My TGF tells me this guy is being discussed on a Thai site. It says he is German, and was riding his motor bike too fast.

http://www.udonthani.com/udnews/04440.html

jack

[Gary A]

My TGF tells me this guy is being discussed on a Thai site. It says he is German, and was riding his motor bike too fast.

http://www.udonthani.com/udnews/04440.html

jack

I wonder what happened to his wallet and money? Something smells.