Robber’s Delight

You may live in a high floor Bangkok condo with tight security. Your main means of transport is the secure Skytrain and life around downtown Bangkok seems peaceful and safe. But watch out.

The city may look completely different when you live in a single house in one of the labyrinthesque green sois. We got robbed five times within three weeks. Despite utmost care. Yes, we got an alarm system.

There’s a lot of despair out here in current Bangkok. The maid saw him, a small burglar with a cap. Maybe a drug addict. Each time going for the cash in a wallet, a mobile phone or a laptop. It adds up. Yes, we’re stupid.

How he finds the wallets? And leaving the credit cards untouched? At first my wife started talking about black magic. Until we got more and more evidence of a very talented burglar.

But save yourself the trip to the police. They wouldn’t move their arse, as too many similar muggings take place all the time all around Bangkok. After a first call they even pretended they didn’t find our house.

So we went there. And they thought me stupid farang wouldn’t grasp a word of Thai. They basically suspected me or my son for the robberies. It happens all the time, they assured my wife.

So much about the current state of Thai society. And no, it’s not the maid. We can make sure of that.

If the police would have added 1 + 1 they may have found out that it makes little sense for me to steal the stuff I gave my wife for Christmas.

Police didn’t even care that recently when the maid – the maid! – got her cash and mobile phone stolen we were out of town.

“Your husband, sure,” the policeman assured my wife.

But then again, first you have to be able to add 1 + 1. And the thief’s extremely audacious.

We got his traces along the fence and windows he entered. The police wouldn’t care. Recommended my wife to install a camera surveillance system. They’re not cheap. And what if you got a mug shot of one of the millions of Thais in the city or a migrant worker?

Maybe if you lie in your own blood on a floor the police would move. Along with an army of local news photographers.

And as a farang don’t even try to fight an intruder. Told me a lawyer: “If anything happens to a thief, you as the foreigner are always guilty. A stun gun? What if he has a weak heart? You’d go to prison.”

Pepper spray, maybe, he said. If you spray him inside your own house. But not sure.

You’re robbed in your own house – and have to step back.

A recent afternoon I spent with mixing cement, smashing old bottles of wine into broken pieces of glass – and decorating the top of the wall with it where we know the guy jumps into our premises.

Oh, and not to mention the regular robberies in our soi by guys on motorcycles in broad daylight. Guys snatching handbags, necklaces, anything.

Just don’t ask the police for help. One’s left to one’s own.

Or as my wife says: “Thailand is a great place. As long as you have no problem.”

You never had a problem?

We didn’t have for years. Just watch your back. You could be next.

I loved to have the doors and windows wide open. Especially now with this lovely season’s breeze and rains

Not any longer. The place is all locked up.




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May 28, 2009 | Filed Under Being Farang, Society 

Comments

18 Responses to “Robber’s Delight”

  1. robuzo on May 28th, 2009 11.15 am

    Can you get a dog? A nice maa Thai, so he won’t get in trouble for biting the thief.

  2. BangkokDan on May 28th, 2009 11.21 am

    Yeah we thought about that robuzo.

    Thing is they poison dogs – and how to implement a crash course so to say to train the dog in a relatively short time?

    But maybe a dog is the answer …

    BangkokDan

  3. Leosia on May 28th, 2009 1.20 pm

    Thais are adept at poisoning dogs, even for fun, but it might provide a mild deterrent for the opportunist thief if he cannot pass contaminated meat through a fence or gate. There’s been a dramatic rise in the number of robberies, rapes and murders in the last few months – but the police are too busy stealing money themselves to do anything about it. As well as the glass a live electric wire running along the top of the wall might provide a nice surprise.

  4. Pete, frogblogger on May 28th, 2009 1.35 pm

    Be careful, if a robber cuts himself climbing over the wall you’ll be accused of assault with a deadly weapon. That’s got to be worth a five stretch at the Bangkok Hilton.

  5. Adam F. on May 28th, 2009 2.55 pm

    Dan, a surveillance system is cheap if you get away from the dominant paradigms of a huge camera setup and dedicated DVR box. You can do something more affordable with a few cheap webcams, the proper software on even the most rudimentary PC, and an always-on connection like DSL to upload images or movies to a remote server (so they don’t get stolen along with the computer…)

  6. jajar on May 28th, 2009 3.02 pm

    Fist thing first, hahaha for the photo of your blog. It really reminds me of how stupid our policemen are. For the burglar case, I suggest that you install a curved steel to all of your window and door frames. It may makes the burglar’s job, more or less, harder. Hope thing’s getting better for you.

  7. BangkokDan on May 28th, 2009 3.24 pm

    For who’s unaware of it, jajar is referring to this weird identikit picture.

    Just checked. Still no traces of blood on my cement-glass-mix.

    And one has to add: If the Thai police only want to, they can do an excellent job. If they want to.

    BangkokDan

  8. whoopla on May 28th, 2009 3.26 pm

    I used to laugh at people who volontarily lived in cages, but now I have joined them. My landlady gave me the option to remove the decorative bars that marr an otherwise lovely view of the river, but upon learning from neigbours who had been attacked through window entry on a high floor, I am now a monkey in a cage. This approach is fast becoming a worldwide phenomenon as the poor get poorer, and the haves are working harder to keep what they have. Gated cities, enclaves, the cage I live in, a cage with a view!

  9. Pete, frogblogger on May 28th, 2009 5.42 pm

    whoopla, like that image, a “cage with a view”! Sad reflection on the way things are going …

  10. JJ on May 28th, 2009 5.52 pm

    When I first arrived here I wondered why houses have such high walls and fences around.

    My then half-year old son’s little gold chain with his name engraved got stolen while playing outside …

    Stealing from a baby.

    I quickly learned my lesson.

    But then again, Thais can be very helpful and I really trust my Thai friends. You’re in trouble? They help you.

  11. Pete, frogblogger on May 30th, 2009 4.41 am

    Don’t know if it’s a problem mainly in the likes of Pattaya and Bangkok, but (touch wood) never a hint of a problem in Chiang Mai. Very rarely hear of expats having break-ins, or muggings or the like, there …

  12. geomark on May 30th, 2009 7.16 pm

    A mean dog is good, but must be well trained not to accept food from strangers or eat food found on the ground. Too easy to poison otherwise.

  13. BangkokDan on May 30th, 2009 8.17 pm

    What are you implying Pete!

    Guess we hit the jackpot.

    Still no blood traces on my cement-glass-mix.

    BangkokDan

  14. Blogger falls victim to Thailand’s recession crimewave on June 1st, 2009 11.57 am

    [...] getting burgled five times in three weeks, Thailand blogger, Bangkok Dan, is growing weary of his role as impromptu crime [...]

  15. BangkokDan on June 3rd, 2009 10.24 am

    Done, we’re electrified. Whoever wants to enter our property has to overcome an electrified fence with an 8,000 volt electric shock of a high voltage pulse. Nah, not lethal and completely legal.

    Thanks again for the help and support.

    Maybe we were just naive all those years with open windows for fresh air and such … Upon closer inspection basically all the houses around here have bar-secured windows.

    BangkokDan

  16. jayltp on June 4th, 2009 6.39 pm

    Glad you found a decent solution. How much did the fence cost you? Do you have any contact details?

  17. BangkokDan on June 5th, 2009 6.09 am

    @jayltp Contacted Mike Rust of Wasp Security, you’ll find the contact details above in a comment. Not cheap I have to say, but peace of mind is back. The system looks professional, the three guys installing it did a decent job. Can’t see any wires in the house and the fence is clearly signaled with warning signs. Good luck!

    BangkokDan

  18. Greg on June 6th, 2009 7.58 pm

    That sucks man, it really stings when you’re at a disadvantage and you can’t do a damn thing to change it. Few months ago, some neighborhood punk decided to start throwing rocks and bottles at me as I was walking home from my local 7-11 (hitting the cars behind me as I ducked and yelled “WTF?”) Kid finally had to be restrained by his parents after he ran inside his house and came back out (with a knife? Couldn’t see). Have no idea why he’d be mad – found out later his dad is a small-time mafia guy, so essentially, if it happens again, all I can do is run.

    Great line: “Thailand is great, as long as you don’t have any problems.”

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