Bag snatcher bagged

CHALONG: A 16-year-old punk recently found out the hard way that crime does not always pay. At about 11 pm on June 7, Chalong Community Volunteer Police collared a boy name Ouan (not his real name), after an unsuccessful attempt to rob an 18-year-old girl late at night. The victim, Phuket Vocational College student Primrita Saisen, was returning home by motorcycle along Chao Fa West Rd when she noticed a boy on a motorbike following very close behind. Riding pillion on her motorbike was her younger sister, name and age not reported. Despite the late hour and her duty to protect her young sister and the presence of a mysterious man riding unusually close behind them through the darkness, what did she do when her Samsung i700 mobile phone rang? She answered it, of course. Seeing his intended prey with only one hand left for controlling her bike, the spikey-haired young thug knew it was time to pounce. He pulled up alongside, leaned over and snatched the phone right out of her hand. Perhaps emboldened by the ease of that manouver, he did not fly off as most snatch-and-run specialists do. Instead, he decided he also wanted for himself Primrita’s shoulder bag and its contents. He yanked it hard, but Primrita fought back, tenaciously refusing to let go. Not surprisingly, the high-speed tug-of-war quickly caused both motorcycles to crash onto the road outside the Wiroj Gold Shop. A split second later, a pickup truck “travelling at high speed” smashed into Ouan’s 125cc Honda, leaving it a crumpled wreck on the tarmac. Primrita screamed for help – and it did not take long to arrive. Members of the Chalong Community Volunteer Police soon had the boy under control. Under questioning, Ouan confessed to having previously carried out three similar snatch-and-run crimes in Chalong Police District and four or five more in Phuket City Police district. Chalong Police Inspector Pol Lt Col Chokchai Suttimake said the boy faced charges of snatching aggravated by causing bodily harm and using a vehicle to commit the crime. Were Ouan an adult, he would face two to seven years in prison and a fine. As a minor, he will probably be back out on the streets by the time this is published.