Train passengers say they were drugged, robbed

– Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community

PHUKET: Nine passengers on a southern overnight train believe they were drugged by a thief who got away with 10 mobile phones and Bt2,500 in cash, Songkhla’s Hat Yai Railway Police said yesterday.

The victims – among some 30 passengers – reportedly slept only a carriage away from the tightly guarded “women and children” car.

After the report of the theft on the Bangkok-Sungai Kolok express, the train stopped at Hat Yai Station to let police inspect the 10th air-conditioned sleeper car in which the nine victims were robbed.

Paramilitary volunteer Pathom Pinakorn said he and several others slept deeply as if they were drugged when they normally would have had a shallow sleep because of the train’s vibration. He woke up at 6am and saw his phone missing, and eight others also lost phones.

Hat Yai Railway Police deputy inspector Pol Captain Phanomnoi said the theft possibly took place between 3am and 6am when the train ran between Surat Thani and Thung Song stations. He declined to confirm speculation that the passengers had been drugged, pending results of physical examinations.

— Phuket Gazette Editors