Police put brakes on car rental thief in Bangkok

A car rental thief was arrested in Bangkok today after twocking more than 100 motors from car rental shops throughout several provinces of southern Thailand.

Members of the Haad Yai Airport Car Rental Business Association in the southern province of Songkhla, and car rental shops in Pattalung, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Krabi, Phuket, Yala, and Narathiwat filed complaints with police that their rental cars had been stolen. The car dealers said their rental fees were unpaid, they could not track down their cars and they lost at least 1 million baht.

The car twocker was reported to be a 42 year old man called Muhammad-armin Salaja, aka Bang Mad or Bae Min.

One of the victims, a 42 year old man, told the media that Muhammad-armin had a gang. Sometimes he rented a car by himself and sometimes he sent one of his gang members to rent a car. They had documents that looked reliable and put down a deposit every time they rented.

The victim added that Muhammad-armin earned his trust by saying that the car was being rented for a covert mission under the Internal Security Operations Command. He also showed pictures of himself and big-name politicians to authenticate his story.

The victim stated that he did not receive any rental fees and later discovered some of his vehicles in pawn shops. Many other victims weren’t as lucky and are still looking for their vehicles. Muhammad-armin would sell the cars to the pawn shops for 100,000 baht each.

Muhammad-armin’s long twocking run came to an end today when officers finally nicked him at a shopping mall in the Nong Chok district of Bangkok. Police escorted the car thief back to Songkhla for questioning.

Muhammad-armin ignored reporters and a crowd of angry victims waiting for him outside Songkhla’s Khor Hong Police Station. Some victims were enraged and angrily approached Muhammad Armin, demanding their cars back.

Muhammad-armin told his victims…

“I will talk to you all later. The cars are with Noi (who is believed to be a friend or member of his gang).”

The victims urged police to conduct further investigations to arrest other suspects in the alleged criminal gang’s activity.

An investigating officer revealed Muhammad-armin is in police custody and will not be allowed bail.

He was charged under Section 341: Whoever dishonestly deceives a person with a fake statement or conceals the truth in order to obtain property or an asset of another person shall be punished with imprisonment of up to three years, a fine of up to 60,000 baht, or both.

The investigation is ongoing.