Four held for motorbike thefts

PHUKET TOWN: A police crackdown on gangs of teenage motorcycle thieves led to the arrest of four boys in two separate swoops early yesterday morning. In the first arrest, at about 12:25 am, Phuket Town Police nabbed 18-year-old Katha Kijnakom on Phang Nga Rd Soi 2 and charged him with stealing three motorcycles and trading in stolen motorcycle parts. Police said that under questioning, Katha confessed to stealing eight other motorbikes with the help of two friends, whom he identified by their nicknames as “Off” and “Neng”. Katha told police that the trio had been working together to steal motorbikes in Phuket Town for some time, adding that they dealt exclusively with Hondas. In the second case, about an hour later, a team of police officers led by Phuket Town Police Superintendent Pol Col Paween Pongsirin arrested 18-year-old Thaweepong Kerdpol and two 16-year-old accomplices after they were caught removing parts from motorcycles parked at Wachira Phuket Hospital. Wrenches and pliers were seized as evidence. Again, all of the motorbikes involved were Hondas. Col Paween added, “There have been many such cases in the past three months, during which time we have arrested 28 people in 13 different operations.”