[sub]Phuket Bag Snatching Gang – Travel Alert[/sub]
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THAILAND | Thursday, 21 June 2012 | Views [812][/sub]
[sub]Visitors to Phuket in Thailand should be aware to two serious incidents involving bag-snatchers and thieves this week.[/sub]
[sub]On Thursday June 21[sup]st,[/sup] an Australian woman (a travel agent on an inspection trip) was stabbed to death by thieves who attempted to take her handbag as they rode past on a motorbike.[/sub]
[sub]Witnesses say the 60 year-old woman struggled to hang on to her bag and was slashed with a sharp blade.[/sub]
[sub]Two days previously an Austrian man riding his motorbike back to his accommodation was accosted by motorcycle thieves. They pushed him to the ground, and when he tried to fight back he was stabbed in the side, puncturing a lung. The thieves made off with 200 baht ($6AUS).[/sub]
[sub]While these two incidents are particularly violent, bag-snatching by thieves on motorbikes is common in Thailand. Victims are often injured if they try to hold on to their belongings and are dragged along the road. Deliberately and violently assaulting their victims is a new and worrying twist on this crime.[/sub]
[sub]The best advice for travellers is not to venture out with anything of value in their bag. Take only enough cash for the day, and keep credit cards on your person –preferably in a money belt under your clothes or in an inside pocket that can’t be grabbed. If your bag contains items only of little value it’s an easy decision to let the thieves have it.[/sub]
[sub]Drowning Deaths[/sub]
[sub]Visitors are also warned to use extreme caution before entering the water at this time of year. Monsoonal conditions have created heavy surf and there a large number of rip currents on the beaches.[/sub]
[sub]5 tourists have drowned on Phuket beaches in a month.[/sub]
[sub]Large stretches of beach are unpatrolled, and those unfamiliar with surf conditions are urged to stay out of the water.[/sub]
