Broken leg foils car thief’s escape

PHUKET CITY: A man suspected of stealing two cars and electrical equipment in a wave of thefts tried to escape through a third-floor window at Phuket City Police Station today and ended up in Wachira Hospital with a broken leg. The man specialized in robbing the homes of foreigners, police said. Pol Capt Akanit Danpitaksat, Sub-Inspector of Investigation at Phuket City Police Station, told the Gazette that the two stolen cars were found at the home of Adison Hongwiengjan, 26, in Soi Thanuthep, Chalong. “A Mitsubishi was stolen about four months ago,” he said. “The owner parked it on Poonpol Rd [in Phuket City] and it disappeared. Yesterday, someone informed the police that the car was in Soi Thanuthep.” Police said Adison was also suspected of carrying out burglaries at two houses in Kamala, three in Chalong and two in Phuket City, most of them the homes of foreigners. The man confessed to stealing the cars and 183 electrical items, including CD players, computers and TV sets, found in his house. He attempted to hide the cars under cloth covers, police said. The brown Mitsubishi is awaiting its owner at the police station car park while the owner of the other stolen car, a black Honda Prelude, reclaimed the vehicle at Chalong Police Station today. Vibeke Ulmann Weincke, 45, from Denmark, Managing Director of Sun Orient Tours, told the Gazette that her car was stolen from Nai Harn beach on February 18. “People told me that cars were never stolen in Phuket,” she said. “I got my car back today – nothing damaged. I’d like to say ‘Thank you’ to the police. They have done a good job.” She added, “I will still park my car in the same place but I plan to change the lock.”