The Thai newspapers are always funny, as Thailand seems to have more than its fair share of stupid criminals. Don’t get me wrong, though. They’re not just Thai. We get a lot of dumb foreign criminals too.
The three latest stupid criminals in Thailand are, unfortunately, British. Three men who ran out of money (and have obviously never heard of getting a job!) so decided to solve their financial problems by stealing ATM machines in Pattaya.
During their first attempt, they managed to badly damage an ATM machine at a Bangkok Bank in Bo Win. Their attempt involved tying a rope to the back of a truck, then attaching it to the ATM machine and trying to pull the machine out of the wall. Needless to say, they caused damage to the ATM machine but couldn’t get the machine off the wall.
They tried twice more at other banks in the Pattaya area, and this time managed to get the machines but couldn’t figure out how to open them to get the money inside. (The stupidity really is colossal at this point).
Being the idiots they are, they also bought ropes that are only available at one shop in the area. As any farang (western foreigner) will tell you, we stand out like sore thumbs in Thailand. So it didn’t take long for the shop owner to tell the police exactly who had bought the ropes. The Pattaya police figured out where the three British men were staying and went to arrest them.
Two men, Alexander Milbourn, 25, and Shaun Edward Tracy, 34, were arrested at the house they were renting. The third man had disappeared before the police arrived.
Looking at the men involved, (see Bangkok Post photo here) I have to say I just don’t get it. They’re young, able bodied and they speak fluent Thai. Wouldn’t you think people with enough brains in their head to learn to speak Thai, and to be young enough to get a job, would do just that? Instead of trying a hair-brained scheme that a 12-year-old could tell you wouldn’t work.
Besides, if you love Thailand so much that you want to live here (they apparently have been here for 10 years), why on earth would you want so spend your last years in Thailand in a Thai jail, then be deported back to the UK and never allowed admittance again? The stupidity is simply mind-boggling.