Vandalised tourist service centre gets makeover in Pattaya

An abandoned vandalised tourist service centre in Pattaya has been cleaned up after several crimes in the area.

Pattaya Police, along with City Councilman Nikom Sangkaew, worked together to change the light bulbs and clean up the police box opposite the Royal Garden Plaza on Beach Road.

The box has barely offered any services since 2019. Photos by Pattaya Mail show the box with graffiti splattered all over it. But Police Lieutenant Thongin Panyanam said that officers would be stationed on the beach again to provide immediate services to tourists.

Nikom said the cleanup came after a number of crimes committed by transgender thieves nearby the centre.

Pattaya has become a haven for gold necklace thefts this year, mainly involving opportunist ladyboy thieves and Indian tourists. Dozens of incidents have been reported and it is a surprise a war has not broken out between the Indian tourists and ladyboys.

In August, an Indian tourist was robbed of 12,000 baht cash and other assets on Pattaya’s infamous Walking. The 33 year old Vishal Vajbhaw claimed that two ladyboys robbed him after he rejected their “services.”

In July, Pattaya police announced that an Indian tourist reported that a transgender woman stole his 30,000 baht gold necklace.

Earlier this month, two transvestites also stole a gold necklace from a Russian tourist.

We’ll have to wait and see if having officers stationed in more public spaces helps reduce the number of these crimes.