Lucky Frenchman reunited with belongings left in Phuket taxi

PHUKET: A lucky Frenchman, André Gilbert Etienne Cellier got all his valuables back yesterday afternoon (January 29) after leaving them in a taxi a week earlier.

Mr Cellier (2nd from left), shakes hands with taxi driver Chatri Saengnun, watched by tourist police officers and French Honorary Consul Claude de Crissey.

Mr Cellier reported to tourist police that he had left his money and important documents in the taxi he took from International Phuket Airport to Patong.

Among them were €3,300 (about B132,000) in cash, a cell phone, his passport, and other important documents.

Pol Maj Urumporn Koondejsumrit, Inspector of the Tourist Police, ordered his men at the airport to track the taxi down.

There was no need; the driver, Chatri Saengnun, had already reported finding Mr Cellier’s belongings. On Wedn4esday, at the Tourist Police Station in Phuket Town, Mr Cellier and his belongings were reunited.

Maj Urumporn told The Phuket News, “He [Mr Andre] said he was very happy to have his things back. He was not expecting to get them returned, and he was effusive in his thanks to the driver and everyone who had helped him.”