Police pounce on bag snatchers

PATONG: Three bag snatchers were caught in Patong over the weekend soon after they ran off with gear belonging to a Russian couple on vacation in Phuket. The bag snatchers chose the wrong time to strike because police security was tight on Saturday as Pol Col Chalit Thintanee, Superintendent of Kathu police station, made the rounds of Patong’s beachfront with his team. The Russian couple were named as Alexei Kolsenikov, 40, and Lucan Silva Euria, 23. Pol Capt Serm Kwannimit of Kathu Police Station said, “We found them [the three robbers] with a purse, and they tried to escape from us. But we called on all officers to pursue them. “The three ran down to Patong’s seashore, where one of them pretended to fire an imitation pistol. One of our officers fired his gun into the air. That scared the men, and we were able to arrest them.” Police said the arrested trio were Uthit, 18, Narong, 19, and a 17-year-old, all from Isarn, who came to Phuket to work as building laborers. But their cash ran out, and they hadn’t been paid for their work, so they snatched the bag. “We had no money because we had worked for just seven days,” Narong allegedly told officers. The younger two were sent for a hearing in Phuket Juvenile Court.