Helmet heist: Foreign couple’s brazen theft to dodge checkpoint fines caught on CCTV

A security camera caught a foreign couple stealing two motorcycle helmets from a post office welfare house in the northern province of Chiang Mai in a bid to avoid being fined at a police checkpoint.

The director of the Mae Ping Post Office, Kraisri Thongwirat, discovered that two helmets belonging to the post office had gone missing yesterday, October 2. The two helmets had been left at his welfare house near the post office. They were red and white and had the Thailand Post logo on them.

To track down the thieves, Kraisri checked a security camera at the house and spotted the two foreign thieves on a red Honda Click motorcycle. The motorbike is presumed to be a tourist rental as it had no number plate.

In the video, a foreign man was seen parking the motorcycle in front of the welfare house at about 11.20am and entering the premises to steal the helmets. The foreign woman later walked to the front of the house and waited for the man. They helped each other put on the helmets and did not appear to be in a hurry.

Kraisri then filed a complaint with officers at Mueang Chiang Mai Police Station and gave the CCTV footage to the police as evidence.

According to Chaing Mai Traffic Police, the foreign couple may have been afraid of the 2,000 baht fine for not wearing helmets as the day of the incident was the first day of the police checkpoint operation in the area.

Police have issued an arrest warrant for the two foreign thieves but they have not yet been arrested.

According to Section 335(8) of the Criminal Law: stealing assets from a government office can result in imprisonment from one to five years and a fine from 20,000 to 100,000 baht.

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