Patong tuk-tuk driver charged for not returning iPhone

The tourist, named by police as Merdzana Pepic, reported her phone as missing at about 6am on Saturday (Mar 11), said Patong Police.

Ms Pepic had taken a tuk-tuk from Bangla Rd to the Patong Hill Hotel, where she was staying, police reported.

But when arrived she realised that her iPhone 14 Pro Max, which in Thailand starts at B29,000, was missing. She believed she had left it behind in the tuk-tuk, she told police.

Patong Police were able to track down the driver yesterday (Mar 12) by using the phone’s location-tracking capability.

Officers traced the phone to in front of the Pornprateep Hotel on Thaweewong Rd (the Patong beach road), where Ms Pepic identified the tuk-tuk she had taken early Saturday morning.

A search of the tuk-tuk found the phone hidden behind a cushion on the driver’s seat.

The driver, Kritsada Damchan, was asked to join officers at Patong Police station to explain how the phone came to be in his possession.

At the police station, Kritsada confessed that he had found the phone after dropping Ms Pepic off at the hotel, and decided to keep it.

Kritsada was charged under the article of “theft or receiving stolen goods”, Patong Police confirmed.

Ms Pepic thanked the officers for their quick action in having her phone returned, the report said.