House Break-in

[Terry]

Sorry Mods - move this to an existing - apt thread if needs be.

Am in an internet cafe right now in HH.
My lap top's stuffed and am taking time out from a major domestic nightmare.

Some time on Monday night we had our house burgled.

I was in Bangkok and Mrs.T and the boys were at the lodge. The house was unoccupied.

Seems the bastards had done their homework and managed to

1) Cut the power supply to the house - thereby disarming the security lights.
2) Used next door as an access to the back of our house - the folk next door moved a week or so ago.
3) Jemmied off the window guard and gained access to the rear of the house .
4) Jemmied a second guard and forced entry to my sons bedroom.

Here's the best bit

They made off with our bloody SAFE.............

OK - so all the chanotes and documentation are replacable - with a lot of hastle - but the jewelry - family 'heirlooms' etc are irreplacable along with Mrs.Ts peace of mind.

So - be careful - get some decent alarm systems fitted and trust NOBODY to work in yr house alone.

We believe it could be an inside job with previous knowledge of a maid.

Have to say the MIB have been very good - came quickly - fingerprinted the place and are following up on possible suspects that we 'know'

Please take extra care every one - according to the MIB (and I guess already suspected by most of us) this sort of thing is ever on the increase.

More next time I'm back at a keyboard

[ozuncle]

Very sorry to hear that Terry. Hope they catch the barstards!
Maybe lucky family were not inside.

[buksida]

An occurrence that is increasing with frightening frequency in Hua Hin.

Sorry to hear it Terry, makes us all think a little more and hope its not us posting this one day.

[Francois]

Some time on Monday night we had our house burgled.

Sad to read this Terry. Thanks God no one were inside

[sandman67]

mate that stinks of an inside job and my heart goes out to you. Nice to see someone at the MIBS is taking the job seriously for a change....

good luck mate

[Vital Spark]

Not nice at all, Terry. The fact that you work in BKK during the week is also a problem, I feel for Mrs.T. Is there anyone who can stay with her in the house until she feels comfortable there? The psychological damage can sometimes take a while to heal.

Is moving house an option?

VS

[kendo]

Sorry to read about your break in Terry, i read the pattaya city news online and every week they are reporting burglaries are on the increase due to food and fuel prices if it is really on the up, if this is happening in the evil place it will happen in Hua hin.If the MIB catch these little toe rags, hire a industrial hedge shredder and pop them through it,will make great ground bait for the fish
Just another thought did you have a photo copy of the maids ID card and a photo of her person, it might be a good idea to do this to non family staff, they might think twice about pulling a stunt like this and act as a deterrent to there friends.
Next time i am in town i will pop up to drown a few worms and drink lots of beer.

[DawnHRD]

So sorry to hear that, Terry. It's horrible, that feeling of violation. Not to mention the loss & inconvenience. Hope the MiB have more luck in your case than they did with mine & glad you, Mrs Terry & the boys are OK. In the end, that's the most important thing. Good luck in catching the gits & maybe getting some of your stuff back.

[moja]

So sorry to hear about your break in, I often wonder why we put all our valuables into one place - it always seems to make things so much easier for the thieves! A friend's safe has two house bricks in it and all valuables are hidden elsewhere.

As someone whose husband works away I know how precious your wife's peace of mind is but thankfully your family was not in the house at the time.

thinking of you all

[Vital Spark]

I think I may have mentioned this before, but I'll mention it again, books.

We were burgled once in Nakhon Pathom and the one place they didn't touch was the book case. Get some old books and cut out the centre - hard backs are obviously better. Put your valuables inside the books and pop them on the shelves. Yeh, I know you can buy these fake book things, but you can easily do it yourself.

Another security suggestion for those building a house would be a floor safe. Preferably do it yourself so nobody (outside the immediate family) knows that it's there. Have it under a sofa or a rug.

VS

[Guess]

Another security suggestion for those building a house would be a floor safe. Preferably do it yourself so nobody (outside the immediate family) knows that it's there. Have it under a sofa or a rug.

VS

Good advice. My understanding is that all safes are floor or wall mountable. Mine certainly is. I have four holes in the bottom of the safe that allow for bolts to be put through. (If you don't have them they can be drilled at an engineering shop that does not know where you live.). You then need to set the bolts in concrete. There are special bolts to do this. There can be undone with a spanner but you need to open the safe first.

I am convinced that all of these type of burglaries result from inside information and I know of at least one case where the most likely suspect for passing on the information was a farang.

[Predator]

Yes, have heard too much of this happening.

Suggestion: When ANYBODY comes to your house to do some work not only should you get a copy of their ID cards (and let's face it we do not all have photocopiers to hand so this is not practical) you should take their photo with your mobile phone - most mobiles have this facility nowadays. If they object then the chances are that thy are up to no good.

[Roel]

And do not forget to take fingerprints from the guy who delivers the water bottles!!!

[norm]

Terry I've never had a break in so I can only immagine how pis$ed you must be. To take things that are irreplaceable is by far the worst part.

Does anyone have any idea what happens to the burglers is they are identified and caught by th BIB? Since it is rapidly increasing it would seem that the penalties are not severe enough.

Best wishes in them getting caught and you recovering your stuff.

[Spitfire]

Yeah, sorry to here that Mr T, does sound like they knew a bit too much about when, where and how to do the job, could almost call that 'surgical burglary'.

It's a bit cheesey snatching your safe out the house aswell, that would definately piss me off.

I rent a house from a local MIB Major in the northeast and last time he came round we had a chat about things and he said that property theft, burglary and general thievery is becoming a real problem, everywhere in Thailand.

Even said to me that one of the new trends is for the teenagers to steal the petrol out of motorcycles rather that steal the bike.

Also said that there is now a problem with thieves going into rice fields and stealing the rice before it even gets cut.