Cambodian pickpockets busted

BANGKOK, April 4 (TNA) -- Tourist police arrested Cambodian pickpockets who stole hundreds of thousands of baht a week. Pol Maj Gen Surachet Hakpal, deputy commissioner of tourist police, said police arrested five Cambodian pickpockets and their Thai accomplice and seized from them 52 mobile phones worth about 1 million baht. According to him, the Cambodian gang visited Thailand on weekends to steal from people at downtown department stores including Platinum Fashion Mall in Pratunam area of Bangkok. In each theft, they had the Thai accomplice follow closely a victim before a Cambodian approached the victim, committed theft and passed on stolen valuables to other gang members. The gang stole about 40 mobile phones per day. They sold the mobile phones at 3,000-5,000 baht in Cambodia and earned about 300,000-400,000 baht a week, Pol Maj Gen Surachet said. The gang had committed the crime in Thailand for a long time and its Cambodian leader, Nin Lainin, had been arrested in Thailand and jumped bail. (TNA)