Facebook to the rescue: social media helps catch Phuket motorbike thief
Despite the countless negatives of social media, sometimes, it can be used as a force for good, this time to catch a motorbike thief.
Facebook helped police catch a motorbike thief in Phuket, The Phuket Express reported last night. The motorbike owner reported his stolen motorbike to Patong Police and also posted CCTV footage of the incident on the Facebook group Newshawk Phuket.
The footage clearly showed the suspect’s face. Rawai locals recognised the suspect’s face, as well as the motorbike. The locals then reported the theft to the police, who arrested the suspect in Rawai.
The suspect motorbike thief was identified as 30 year old Chanchai, from Songkhla. Chanchai now faces charges of theft.
The Facebook page Phuket Times posted a screen grab of Chanchai during the theft, as well as photos of the motorbike and its license plate.
This news comes after a case of five stolen motorbikes was reported in Thailand just last month.
In Pattaya, five stolen Honda Wave 110 motorcycles were found deep in a forest where no one might ever look. According to the vice village headman, the motorbikes were found with broken handlebars and stripped seats and were discovered hidden in the forest. The motorbikes were recovered in the forests of the Takhian Tia sub-district in the Bang Lamung District of Chon Buri. Residents believed that the stolen vehicles were hidden to be smuggled across borders.
A witness claimed that he had seen a pickup truck carrying two or three motorbikes pass by the forest a few days before the discovery was made. The driver was spooked when he spotted people in the area and the truck sped off. No one caught the license place number though. Authorities suspected it might have been a large gang snatching motorbikes, hiding and stripping them, and then transporting them across borders for resale. It was not exactly clear how long the motorbikes had been in the forest.
