Taxi driver who stole from Brit at airport rounded up in Chaiyaphum

[webfact]

Taxi driver who stole from Brit at airport rounded up in Chaiyaphum

 

Picture: Daily News

 

CHAIYAPHUM: -- A taxi driver who stole 500 Euros from a British engineer at Suvarnabhumi airport has been arrested by crime suppression police.

 

It may have taken well over a year to catch the culprit but yesterday police had 37 year old Yothin Suwanwijit in custody, Daily News reported.

 

Seventy year old Paul Chaplet had hired the taxi driver back in 2015 to take him to Pattaya from the airport. While he was loading bags into the taxi the driver spotted a wallet resting on the top of the luggage.

 

He lifted 500 Euros from the wallet, ran away and disappeared.

 

Police obtained a warrant from the Samut Prakarn court and finally arrested Yothin in Chaiyaphum. He admitted the crime saying that when he saw the money he felt greedy and helped himself.

 

He then fled to the house of his wife up country. He was arrested yesterday by the side of the road in the village of Wang Katha.

 

He was charged with theft from the airport or receiving stolen goods in the hours of darkness.

 

Source: Daily News

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-04-03

[fruitman]

So he was an official airport taxidriver but he grabbed the money of his customer and ran away with it? Leaving the taxi at the taxistand? And it took the police 2 years! to find the driver??

 

[daveAustin]

Quote

He admitted the crime saying that when he saw the money he felt greedy and helped himself

This story makes we want to chuck. Yuk!

[ladada]

Well at least he admitted it. I wish nasty thai hi-sos had at least the shred of integrity (in minimal quantity) this guy at least has.

 

Theft is wrong, <insert promo about ride sharing services>, blah blah, but I more emphatic with this guy stealing 15k baht knowing the life they have.

 

 

[NanLaew]

34 minutes ago, fruitman said:

So he was an official airport taxidriver but he grabbed the money of his customer and ran away with it? Leaving the taxi at the taxistand? And it took the police 2 years! to find the driver??

 

I see that the fact that they have pursued and eventually caught this thief is somehow lost on you. Note that they have charged him specifically with "receiving stolen goods in the hours of darkness" which in Thailand's rather arcane laws elevates this simple opportunist theft from (the equivalent of) a misdemeanor to (the equivalent of) a felony.

[Prbkk]

Similar, if less dramatic, events occur to this day; authorities are utterly clueless when it comes to a solution to the airport taxi problem. The automated system affords no protection to consumers; there is no longer any direct oversight of the queues and the number of scamming drivers remains too high ( even accepting that it might only be 5 or 10 % of the total). 

[ladada]

Just now, Prbkk said:

Similar, if less dramatic, events occur to this day; authorities are utterly clueless when it comes to a solution to the airport taxi problem. The automated system affords no protection to consumers; there is no longer any direct oversight of the queues and the number of scamming drivers remains too high ( even accepting that it might only be 5 or 10 % of the total). ends up

Yeah, for new arrivals, the taxis drivers spot them a mile away and take the ticket from the customer, tell them the government has implemented a fixed fee to help customers (most time they say 600baht). It wont change because each infraction that actually makes it through the compliant process somchai gets a 500baht fine, or let's say he goes completely awol and goes physical, he gets 1000baht fine, the economics mean you'd have to be a dumb (or honest) driver to not rip off customers.. 

[Bluespunk]

17 minutes ago, ladada said:

Well at least he admitted it. I wish nasty thai hi-sos had at least the shred of integrity (in minimal quantity) this guy at least has.

 

Theft is wrong, <insert promo about ride sharing services>, blah blah, but I more emphatic with this guy stealing 15k baht knowing the life they have.

 

 

Do you feel empathy for the 70 year old guy he robbed?

Edited April 3, 2017 by Bluespunk

[AGareth2]

yet another reason for discontinuing with the 500 Euro note

[Torfinn Sporkland]

Not so much need for the taxis,.. take the train to Bangkok and the bus to Pattaya,.. far more convenient and cheap too,.

[worgeordie]

Just out of the Airport,then robbed,welcome to Thailand.

regards Worgeordie

[leeneeds]

How nice , he confessed, 

The abandoned wife 

the lost job  

 the new job 

now a lost job 

the victim, 

Greed is a very powerful,

and seems many a thai  taxi driver falls victim to this urge.

[darksidedog]

1 hour ago, NanLaew said:

I see that the fact that they have pursued and eventually caught this thief is somehow lost on you. Note that they have charged him specifically with "receiving stolen goods in the hours of darkness" which in Thailand's rather arcane laws elevates this simple opportunist theft from (the equivalent of) a misdemeanor to (the equivalent of) a felony.

It doubles the sentence. 12 months for theft, becomes 2 years if under the cover of darkness.

Bit silly when the same law covers shoplifting from 7/11 when the lights in the store are on, but it wouldn't be Thailand if there weren't some stupidity.

[Mickmouse1]

The British loaded his luggage into the taxi? Did the driver take off with the luggage??

[Rhys]

....well not all do this.. from personal experience, I forgot my bag with my wallet, pp and other documents,  I went back to transport office and it was there, intact.

 

 

 

[Jonmarleesco]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

He was charged with theft from the airport or receiving stolen goods in the hours of darkness.

There's a law for theft from the airport? And seemingly he can be charged with receiving cash disguised as goods, which he himself stole. But only if he received them during the hours of darkness. Fascinating. 

[Jonmarleesco]

1 hour ago, Mickmouse1 said:

The British loaded his luggage into the taxi? Did the driver take off with the luggage??

He took off without the taxi.

[sambum]

Is it possible to "round up" or "round-up" a single person?

 

noun: round-up

a systematic gathering together of people or things.

"mass police roundups and detentions"

synonyms:assembly, muster, rally, rodeo

"a cattle roundup"

[TSF]

So in that photo, who's the bad guy? I can't see it so clearly but looks like the little dude in the yellow shirt (who bears a resemblance to Takky) is wearing cuffs. So he must be the bad guy, the taxi driver. And the other dudes are cops. So why does the fat cop have his arm around the bad guy, like that's his tirak??? Crazy country really is.

[djayz]

7 hours ago, AGareth2 said:

yet another reason for discontinuing with the 500 Euro note

What a daft thing to say... I'd rather carry around a few Euro 500 notes with me than a big bundle of 50s or 100s. 

 

The owner should have known better than to leave his wallet, or other valuables, unattended. 

[ratcatcher]

15 minutes ago, TSF said:

So in that photo, who's the bad guy? I can't see it so clearly but looks like the little dude in the yellow shirt (who bears a resemblance to Takky) is wearing cuffs. So he must be the bad guy, the taxi driver. And the other dudes are cops. So why does the fat cop have his arm around the bad guy, like that's his tirak??? Crazy country really is.

"So why does the fat cop have his arm around the bad guy, like that's his tirak??? Crazy country really is."

It's called a custodial cuddle. The big guy in the Atletico Madrid knock-off football shirt wants him to stick around for the photo op.

It is indeed a crazy country with hundreds of thousands of crazy tourists and expats all trying to live here.

[Moonmoon]

If i didnt read the news, i would thought the photo was of Somchai, Somboon, Somkid, Kritsanna and Boy during their daily booze outing. 

[fish monger]

11 hours ago, fruitman said:

So he was an official airport taxidriver but he grabbed the money of his customer and ran away with it? Leaving the taxi at the taxistand? And it took the police 2 years! to find the driver??

 

You forgot where you are...555555

[KenKadz]

My experiences with Thai taxi drivers have been professional for many years.

But Thai Visa leads me to believe that the majority of crooks in Thailand are taxi drivers.

Does official department have the statistics regarding numbers of legally licensed taxi drivers in major metro/tourist areas of Thailand compared to registered complaints in those areas?

[whaleboneman]

I think 500 euros for a taxi is a good deal.

[sanukjim]

21 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

Do you feel empathy for the 70 year old guy he robbed?

I feel like his stupidity added to the situation.What a dunce putting you wallet on top of the baggage unattended.

[HOAX]

So charges for "Theft from the Airport" or "Receiving stolen goods in the hours of darkness" differs from "Theft from McDonald's" or "Receiving stolen goods in the hours of sunrise"?


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[Bluespunk]

1 hour ago, sanukjim said:

I feel like his stupidity added to the situation.What a dunce putting you wallet on top of the baggage unattended.

He put his wallet down on top of his luggage while he sorted a bag out. 

 

Hardly unattended  and certainly not deserving of being robbed. 

 

The only person whose actions can be said to have led to the theft, was the thief. 

[sambum]

22 minutes ago, Bluespunk said:

He put his wallet down on top of his luggage while he sorted a bag out. 

 

Hardly unattended  and certainly not deserving of being robbed. 

 

The only person whose actions can be said to have led to the theft, was the thief. 

 I agree with you and sanukjim! The last place to put your wallet down - unattended or not - would be on top of your luggage - especially outside an airport! Even when I am making a withdrawal from the bank, my wallet is either in my hand, in my back pocket, or on the counter in front of me!

Having said that in an ideal world, no one deserves to be robbed in broad daylight (well, apart from obvious exceptions - other convicted thieves, other unconvicted thieves like certain politicians and "monks" etc!)

[hdkane]

Christ...children, men, and women are trafficked here as if they were property, and the police use all their resources to find a petty thief...Thailand is the retarded drunk cousin of the Asian community.