Leaking policeman gets into hot water

PHUKET TOWN: Stopping to pass water can be a dangerous business, as an Immigration Police officer found out on Monday. Pol Snr Sgt Maj Wichien Petphang-nga told the Gazette that he was driving, in plain clothes, toward the center of Phuket Town when he heard the call of nature. He decided to stop at the Sanamchai football field, opposite the Provincial Hall, to answer it. While unzipped, he noticed two men apparently talking with a woman. He soon realized that the two were in fact robbing her. Being a good policeman, he yelled at them. They turned, and the woman, who had already been relieved of her valuables, made a run for it. Seeing a chance for more easy money, the two then approached Sgt Maj Wichien, stuck a gun and a knife in his face, and relieved him of a gold chain, his watch and 2,500 baht in cash. The bandits, who were both wearing ski masks, then frog-marched Sgt Maj Wichien to his car and took the keys from him. As they walked away toward their pick-up truck, parked close by, the plucky policeman took his 9 mm pistol from the glove compartment and opened fire, hitting one of the felons, who then dropped the keys. The bad guys managed to get to their truck and drove away at high speed. The intrepid officer checked every hospital, looking for the injured robber, and found him yesterday in the Phuket International Hospital with a nasty cut running through his ear and across his cheek. He then contacted fellow officers at the Phuket Town Police Station. Pol Capt Anukul Nu-ged named the injured man as Prathueng Intarachuenchom, 33, proprietor of a small furniture shop on Damrong Rd in Phuket Town. He said that police had handcuffed Prathueng to his hospital bed and had mounted a round-the-clock guard on him. Capt Anakul said that Prathueng confessed to robbing both Sgt Maj Wichien and the unidentified woman who, he revealed, had also gone to the football field to water the roses. He identified his partner in crime as “Gai”, but said he knew nothing more about him except that “Gai” had taken the gun and knife used in the robbery, as well as all the valuables taken from the victims. Pratueng has been charged with robbery.