Rice raid: Thief leaves school in a grainy situation in northern Thailand

A brazen thief in Nakhon Ratchasima left a local school in a predicament after stealing sacks of paddy rice intended for student lunches. The theft occurred at Baan Nong Wa En School in Bua Yai district, where the culprit broke into the school’s rice storage, making off nearly half of the stockpiled rice.

The incident was discovered by Wanmanee Thongprom, an assistant janitor at Baan Nong Waen School. He revealed that the stolen rice was meant to be milled for school lunch for the students. Upon opening the storage, he was shocked to find nearly half of the hundred sacks of stored rice missing.

A swift inspection of the area revealed the traces of an unknown number of perpetrators. They had used a cutter to remove the zinc ceiling of the storage and snuck away with the rice. Footprints were left behind as the thief climbed over the school wall to make their escape, leaving a trail of scattered rice from a likely torn sack, reported KhaoSod.

The stolen rice was part of a school lunch initiative for the students, contributed by the parents as a food fund complemented by government-provided meal support. The theft of numerous sacks of rice has thus posed a significant challenge to this endeavour.

Wanmanee has requested the police to swiftly apprehend the perpetrator and expedite the proceedings in this case, to prevent further distress and potential crimes elsewhere.

Two weeks ago, in a truly ‘food for thought‘ incident in Surin’s Isaan province, a baffled Thai homeowner recounted an odd story involving a thief who swiped his food cupboard, only to ditch it nearby, all thanks to an unexpected ‘muddy munch’ venture.

The Thai man, Weerayut Choowa, reached out to the Daily News to share his unusual story. Weerayut stated that he’d witnessed a thief stealing sacks of rice and other agricultural products before but he’d never seen a thief steal a food cupboard. To read more click HERE

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