Robbery gangs stab two

PHUKET TOWN: Two Thai men were stabbed and nearly died in separate robbery attempts by teenage gangsters early yesterday morning. The incidents both occurred between 2 and 3 am, one in Saphan Hin, and the other in Koh Sirei port. Police said that in the first incident Chaiyot Mookdasakulpiman, 18, was walking along the Bangyai canal near his home in Saphan Hin when five or six teenagers on two motorcycles passed by. The group made a U-turn, then surrounded K. Chaiyot and demanded that he give them all of his cash. He refused and started to walk away. He was grabbed, and the group searched him for money. When he attempted to resist, he was stabbed in the stomach. “He was severely injured, but somehow made it to a nearby restaurant to ask for help. Someone in the restaurant called the hospital and the police,” said Pol Maj Sanya Thongsawat, inspector of Phuket Police Station. Pol Col Chalit Thinthanee, superintendent of the Phuket Town police, said that the group are suspected to be part of a junior gang calling themselves the “Bang Niew Gang”, who claim a territory along Phuket Road from the Bang Niew Chinese Temple to the end of Saphan Hin. “They are believed to be a different gang from the group who stabbed another man from Udon Thani at about the same time on the same day,” Col Chalit told the Gazette. The second man, Somparn Ralok, 23, had just arrived three days earlier in Phuket from the northeast to work in Koh Sirei port. More than five men accosted K. Somparn while he was eating at a stall next to his residence. “One of them yelled at K. Somparn, saying that he’d better hand over his money because no one disobeyed them in this area unless he wanted to die. The gang claimed that they always got what they wanted,” Maj Sanya said. “K. Somparn tried to ignore them, but the gang beat him and stabbed him three times in the stomach.” Both K. Chaiyot and K. Somparn nearly died from loss of blood, and are now hospitalized in Wachira Phuket hospital. Meanwhile, a police investigation is in progress. “We have most of the information we need. I believe we will arrest the two gangs within the week,” said Col Chalit.