Overweight, elderly foreigner can be seen spotting the woman’s cash. He moves toward it while she is still at the counter. He places a sandaled foot over it even as she stands nearby. Feigning to pay the cashier, he puts his hands in his pockets and then bends down as if he has dropped the cash. He calmly puts the woman’s cash in his pocket. The blatant dishonesty of the man is shocking.
Thai police are hunting down an elderly foreigner who committed an act of theft at a Pattaya supermarket this week when he stole ฿2,000 from a Thai woman ahead of him at a check out. The despicable and dishonest nature of the man’s actions, all caught on color CCTV footage, shocked staff at the supermarket this week and angered the Thai woman. The woman had returned to the supermarket after discovering the cash missing from her purse to find evidence of a western foreigner deliberately setting out both to conceal her cash from her and then stealing it by expertly putting the money into his pocket.
Only weeks after a saucy Frenchman was arrested for the brazen theft of an expensive mobile phone at a Pattaya shopping centre comes another story of a foreigner behaving despicably in Thailand. Video footage has emerged of an elderly foreigner deliberately and craftily stealing ฿2,000 from a hard working Thai woman at a checkout. The incident occurred at the Friendship Supermarket in South Pattaya this week.
Victim of the crime is a 32 year old Thai woman who works in the Pattaya office of a property firm
The victim of the crime is a 32 year old Thai woman who works in Pattaya as an office worker with a property firm. The woman is originally from Korat in Nakhon Ratchasima province. Her name is Pratumrat Maymum, nicknamed Jeab. The Thai woman reported what is clearly an act of theft to Thailand’s popular Channel 8 TV station in order to smoke the foreigner out after police lost his trail outside the supermarket while tracking him down using surveillance technology.
Clear and in colour, the CCTV footage that recorded a despicable act of dishonesty and theft
Luckily for Jeab, the CCTV system at the Friendship Supermarket was perfectly positioned to catch the knave as he stole her money while she checked out this week. She can be seen in the clear, color CCTV footage at the shop taking out her wallet to pay for the goods she is purchasing when suddenly a light bundle of notes silently falls to her side (see video below). She does not see it but then an alert, elderly foreigner quickly spots the cash lying on the ground at her side. The video shows him clearly becoming animated at the prospect of retrieving the woman’s cash. He instinctively begins to inch closer to her. As Ms Maymum or Jeab moves away, beyond the counter, to collect herself at an angle to the man, he moves in and deliberately places a sandaled foot over the cash.
Devious thief securely put the Thai woman’s cash in his pocket with ease and nonchalance
The thief and surely this man is one and of the most devious kind to boot, then waits until the checkout assistant asks him for his cash. Feigning to reach into his pocket and then as if he himself had dropped the cash, he reaches down and picks up the bank notes left on the ground and places the cash securely in his pocket. By his time, Jeab has moved on.
Overweight and elderly foreigner is a western man dressed in khaki shorts and sandals
The man is overweight and looks to be in his sixties. He was wearing a light brown checkered shirt with short khaki pants and brown sandals. He has blond brown hair. He is certainly a western foreigner although it is not clear whether he is a tourist or an expat living in Pattaya. It appears he may be a tourist as staff at the Friendly Supermarket report that they have seen before at the store in recent times. He was seen purchasing a lot of toilet roll signaling he is probably still staying in the area.
Thai woman rushed back to the supermarket to find her cash after realising it was missing
The Thai woman immediately realised that the money was missing when she returned home. ฿2,000 (€55/$63) might not sound like a lot of money to most western people but to a Thai person, it is half a week’s salary and for some even less well of Thais, it is a the major portion of a week’s salary. A panicked Jeab immediately returned to the supermarket to find out what had happened to her hard earned cash. In Thailand, respect for the law means that people do not automatically keep cash they find. Whether it is respect or fear of the law is another matter but the law is upheld. So the Thai woman held hope of retrieving the lost money when she returned to the supermarket.
More incidents like this involving western foreigners are damaging trust and goodwill
And she might yet be proved right. In the absence of honest and scrupulous behavior, Thailand now has CCTV in most public places. The shop management were not long in retrieving the CCTV footage. The video will come as a shock and disappointment to most western foreigners not only in Pattaya but across Thailand. Such incidents tarnish the good reputation of foreigners who visit Thailand and live in the kingdom. The word of mouth publicity attending to this story will cause some Thai people to trust foreigners just a little less. Generally, western foreigners are held in high esteem by the majority of Thai people. They are seen as generally noble, kind and generous. In recent months and years however the number of such stories is on the increase. It is a situation that is perplexing many foreigners and expats who live in Thailand and those who are regular visitors.
Angry Thai woman filed a complaint with police in Pattaya after watching the crafty theft
An angry Jeab immediately called and filed a complaint with the police in Pattaya. Officers are now anxious to hunt down this thief who deserves everything the law can possible thrown at him for his despicable and underhand action. He should undoubtedly be jailed or face the stiffest possible sanctions provided for under the law in Thailand. It can only be hoped that he does not just get off with paying the money back or with some half baked apologies. This is a highly dishonest man, an individual who stole money from under the gaze of a hard working Thai woman.
Footage of the theft shocked the Thai woman
‘After I saw the footage, I was very angry because he clearly intended to steal my money. The staff also said that he’s the regular customer, so I think he has been staying around the neighbourhood,’ Jeab told the media this week as the search for the man continues. ‘It might be a small amount of money for some people, but for me it’s a lot,’ the Thai woman explained. Jeab was shocked when staff at the Friendly Supermarket took the trouble to retrieve the footage from her time at the checkout and played it back. The video shocked all concerned.
Jeab wants to see the greedy and overweight foreigner punished for what he did. ‘I hope the police will catch and punish him as soon as possible, so other tourists will know that it’s not that easy to steal in the country,’ she said.
Pattaya police now hunting down the elderly foreigner who evaded CCTV coverage outside
Pattaya Police are now hunting down the man. They have revealed that because the foreigner thief did not get a taxi when he went outside the store, they could not track from that location as CCTV coverage outside the shop missed the man. This why the police are appealing to the public to identify the culprit so that he can be arrested and receive justice. ‘It’s not easy to identify him from the video but we are appealing for anybody who recognises him to contact police. He will be punished according to the law,’ said Police Captain Nakhonrat Nonsrisard. He revealed that whatever cameras were in the area had lost track of the man.
Jeab herself is in a relationship with a western foreigner for the last two years
In a twist to the story, it has emerged that the Thai woman who was the victim of the crime is herself in a relationship for the last two years with a western foreigner. Jeab’s boyfriend is a man named Robert Gulliver. This week, she went out of her way to highlight that the despicable behavior of this westerner is not typical. ‘Everyone is different. It doesn’t depend on where you’re from.’
The Thai women simply wants to see a resolution to the story. She said she was not sure what punishment that man should receive. She felt it depend on the man’s attitude and whether he accepted what he did was wrong or not.
Jeab spoke to the Thai website Thaivisa.com. She was asked if she normally tended to trust foreigners given that she was in a relationship with a foreign, western man. She rejected this. ‘No, I trust myself. People should respect no matter if they are a girl or a man, farang or Thai.’
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