Phuket residents up in arms over stolen underwear

Officers were called in after a teenage man was recorded on CCTV cruising the neighbourhood and then stopping his motorbike to snatch women’s underwear from in front of a house on Sunday night (Feb 28).

As the man made his getaway, a neighbour saw him and yelled out at him.

Woralit Poonthawa, whose wife’s underwear was stolen, told The Phuket News, that he had never had “this kind of incident” at this home before.

“Only me, my 40-year-old wife and our baby girl live here, and we are really worried about the incident,” he added.

Mr Woralit also said that he had already asked police to watch the area for the safety of residents as he said “it is a dangerous situation for children and women”.

Another resident in the village, Songsri Phakdee, who is the wife of the village headman, said that there had been a spate of underwear thefts in the village recently.

“Recently neighbors have been reporting that many items of their underwear have been stolen. Many residents are worried about the man hovering around here trying to steal underwear,” she said.

One resident reported seeing someone on his roof, Ms Songsri said.

Several roof tiles broke and the man fell to the ground, she added.

“At this stage, we have reported the incident to the police and they are still searching for the man. They believe he hurt his legs in falling from the roof,” she said.

Anas Komol, another resident in the village, believes he saw the man still cruising the neighbourhood as recently as early yesterday morning..

“At about 2am my brother and I were sitting and talking in front of his house, and I saw a young man, who looked to be about 20 years old, driving a motorcycle and parked it in front of a house nearby,” Mr Anas said.

Mr Anas said that he thought the man looked familiar and believes he recognised the motorbike’s licence plate. “I believe that he is a resident in the area, so it should be easy to track him down,” he said.

“As a resident in this area, I am worried about the safety of the local residents. Underwear has been stolen, something else could happen as well,” Mr Anas said.