Teenage tycoon’s stolen motorbike empire gets punctured in Pattaya
Gang’s bold rides end as police dismantle teenage theft ring
He styled himself the “Little Tycoon” and ran a lucrative racket flogging stolen motorbikes but this teenage crime boss’s empire in Pattaya came crashing down in a cassava field after a dramatic police sting.
Thai police busted a notorious motorcycle theft gang in a remote Bang Lamung plantation, arresting two suspects including a 17 year old ringleader nicknamed “Little Tycoon” and recovering six stolen bikes.
The sting, launched at 2.30pm, yesterday, July 16, saw officers from Bang Lamung and Nong Kham police stations swoop on a cassava plantation in Soi Takhian Tia, after learning the gang was preparing to smuggle hot bikes to Laos.
Two suspects, 20 year old Paween Behkhee, and the teenage kingpin known only as Aom, were arrested at the scene after attempting to flee. A third man, 21 year old Wann, managed to escape into nearby forest and is still on the run.
Pattaya News reported that police recovered three stolen motorcycles being loaded into a bronze Toyota van, plus another three bikes already hidden inside the vehicle, believed to be en route to clients.
The op was led by Police Lieutenant Colonel Suphawat Lathapreecha and Pol. Lt. Col. Ritthikrai Karakol, who had been tracking the gang following a string of thefts across Chon Buri worth over one million baht.
Aom, the teenage mastermind, is no stranger to the law. He was previously shot during a confrontation with police in Bangsaen after allegedly pulling a gun while fleeing arrest. After recovering in just five months, he allegedly returned to crime, earning the nickname Little Tycoon thanks to the riches he amassed shifting stolen bikes.
Police say the gang used online apps to coordinate delivery runs. During the bust, the van driver, 52 year old Thongkham, received a call from a client instructing him to head to Nakhon Ratchasima to collect another bike, before abruptly hanging up.
Thongkham told officers he was hired via an app by someone using the alias “Enough to Fix, Airline,” and was paid 3,500 baht per bike to transport them to an abandoned chicken coop in Ubon Ratchathani.
He claimed he had no idea the bikes were stolen, saying: “I usually check the documents, but I got suspicious when they told me to collect them from a forest.”
Police are now hunting the remaining suspects and working to trace buyers on the other end of the chain. All seized vehicles are being held as evidence.
“This is a major breakthrough in dismantling a regional bike theft ring,” said a senior officer. “We won’t stop until every link in this chain is brought to justice.”
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