Stolen mobile phone returned after crazy journey

A lucky tourist got his mobile phone back after leaving it in a taxi in Phuket where the driver threw it away in anger. The incident took place on New Year’s Eve, with police receiving a complaint and filing a report in the wee hours of January 1. A man from Kuwait reported leaving his phone in a minivan taxi of a tour company.

The Kuwaiti man said he had contacted the driver of the minivan asking for his phone to be returned, but the driver said he hadn’t seen it or taken it. So the man filed a report with the Wichit Police about his lost or stolen mobile phone. While the police did not release the name of the driver or the tour company for which he worked, they did call the taxi driver in for questioning.

Under interrogation, the driver admitted to taking the Kuwaiti man’s mobile phone according to the Phuket Express. He said that his customer spoke badly of his driving and that it so enraged him that he swiped the mobile phone and threw it on Karon Beach.

But that’s not the end of the mobile phone story. Police were able to use the GPS tracker to trace the journey of the phone once it landed on the beach. It led them to Chalong where they put together the full story.

A foreigner found the phone in the sand while celebrating New Year’s Eve on Karon Beach. He told police that he somehow surmised that it was just an abandoned phone, available for the taking. Enjoying his good luck, he pocketed the phone and went home.

The mobile phone was recovered after its wild journey around the island. Police did not immediately confirm whether the taxi driver or partying foreigner will be charged with any crimes. But the phone has now been safely returned to the Kuwaiti tourist who thanked the police for their diligence.