Russian tourist, Karolina Rusaleeva, 35, reported to Patong Police at 11:45pm on Friday that she had been a victim of a bag snatch at the entrance of Soi Suk Charoen off Phra Mettha Rd.
Ms Rusaleeva was walking from a nearby 7-Eleven store back to her hotel room when a man rode past her on a motorbike and snatched her shoulder bag.
Police tracked down the culprit, unnamed in the police report, and arrested him at Sweet Leaf marijuana shop in Patong on Saturday (Jan 13). Officers recovered the stolen items during a subsequent search of his rented room at a small hotel in Karon.
Among the items recovered were the shoulder bag, Airpod headphones, Ms Rusaleeva’s Russian driver’s license, B3,000 in cash, a silver necklace and a silver ring.
Officers also seized as evidence the shirt, shorts, shoes and red half-face helmet worn by the Colombian while committing the bag snatch.
Police also seized the black, Phuket-registered Honda Click motorbike used to commit the theft.
Patong Police confirmed that the Colombian man was to be charged with “snatching property by using a vehicle to facilitate the commission of an offense or taking that property or to escape arrest.”