But this was no ordinary thief. She had a specialty: stealing sunscreen lotion.
Alerted to a series of thefts from covenience stores in Patong, police tracked her down after identifying her from CCTV footage.
Spotted by officers, Dawreung made a bolt for it, down the road and into some woods. She was no match for Phuket’s finest, however, and they nabbed her after a short chase.
They seized 20 bottles of sunscreen and her motorcycle, and charged her with theft using a vehicle.
Sadly for this tale, it turned out that Dawreung was not addicted to sunscreen, nor did she have some unusual supersensitivity to sunlight. She admitted that she had stolen the lotion on other occasions, and sold it to market traders for a bit of cash.