Police nab motorcycle thief

PHUKET CITY: A prolific motorcycle thief was arrested on Sunday after stealing four motorbikes in Phuket within about four weeks.

About 5 pm on March 23, a passing police officer spotted Nakhon Ratchasima native Sankom Krai-am, 21, by the side of the road outside Soi Tawee Sup in Wichit removing a number plate from a Honda Click motorcycle, said Phuket City Police Superintendent Col Nos Svettalekha.

The officer approached Sankom and radioed Phuket City Police Station, who confirmed that the plate number and bike description matched that of a motorcycle reported stolen at 11 pm on Saturday, he added.

The bike had been thieved from outside the owner’s home in Rassada, he said.

Sankom was arrested at the scene and taken to Phuket City Police Station, where he confessed to stealing the Honda Click and three other motorcycles in Phuket, Col Nos added.

Sankom told police that earlier in March he had stolen a Honda Click from Koh Sireh and a Kawasaki Neon that he had hidden behind a tree in Saphan Hin, only for it to be discovered by a passerby who then alerted Phuket City Police, he said.

On Saturday, Sankom stole a black Suzuki Step in Wichit, he added.

“He would look for an unlocked motorcycle parked outside a house and wheel it somewhere out of sight. Sankom would then go and make a counterfeit key at his home so that he could return to the bike and ride away on it. He would either keep the bike or sell it for 3,000 baht,” said Col Nos.

Sankom, who was released from Kathu Police Station in December last year for stealing mobile phones in Patong, has been charged with robbing at nighttime, which carries harsher punishments than robbing during the day, said Col Nos.

He is being detained at Phuket City Police Station, he said.

The bikes are being held by Phuket City Police while the investigation continues, he added.