Burgled while sleeping!

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HHTel
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Burgled while sleeping!

Post by HHTel »

The burglers are getting more professional and daring. Last night while the house was sleeping we had a visitor.

They found one downstairs window which was not locked. They came in, didn't make any noise, and left the same way. 4 bedrooms upstairs were occupied and one bedroom downstairs. They rifled my wife's handbag and took around 10,000 baht and over 400 pounds english. Never took the purse, just the cash. Normally there wouldn't be that much cash in the house but my mother arrived yesterday and it was earmarked for the bank today! It wasn't noticed until my wife went to her bag for dinner money for the kids.

Very professional. On the offchance that any Thai offers any of you a wad of English cash, then you'll know where they got it.

As usual, still waiting for the police who could put an alert around the moneychangers to keep an eye open for a Thai changing an unusual amount of cash, and I immagine that by the time they get here, the cash will probably have been already changed.

It's not just empty houses that are at risk. Make sure everything is secure before going to bed.
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Jockey
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Post by Jockey »

Very sorry to hear that HHTEL. I can't help wondering if somehow the burgler's were tipped off about the money in your house. Were they just lucky the money was there or did the know it was there by some inside information?
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Post by HHTel »

That had occurred to me Jockey. But can't think who would know. Incidentally, we hadn't left a window unlocked. The police are here now and the window had been 'levered' from the outside. Came over the wall from next door to the side of the house and didn't even wake the dog from her slumbers.
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Post by pfotoguy369 »

I am sorry to here about your plight. Are you sure it wasn't someone already in the house?

It happened to me. turned out to be a very close relative.

In the PI now they're spraying either in the AC the coming in to rob you.
Foto

If you really didn't want to know the answer, why the hell did you ask me the question!!!
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Post by Hobiecat »

HH Tel, sorry to hear of your plight. It's a worry I have all the time as I work away for six weeks and am home in HH for the other.

My contractor the other day caught a couple of kids in the middle of the day with a pair of bolt cutters (which they had just stollen form his job site) lurking around to see where they could us them. Fortunately they were spotted and in pure Thai fashion they kicked the living s*#t out of them and then called the police.

Just dosen't happen at night either.
Why is it called 'after dark' when it really is 'after light'?
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buksida
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Post by buksida »

Echo the above thoughts, a sad story and sorry for your losses HHTel. I think we all get a little bit nonchalant living in Thailand as the crime isn't so "in your face" as it is in the west. Safety and security are drummed into us over there but not so here, unfortunately you found out the hard way.

Needless to say lets hope we can all be a bit more vigilant after reading this.
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson
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STEVE G
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Post by STEVE G »

Where my friend lives in Hua Hin this was happening a lot over the Christmas period. On his estate there are many houses used as holiday homes that are unoccupied for months at a time with no security problems. The break-ins were happening exactly as described in the OP, often on the first night that people returned to their homes.
Usually all that was targeted was cash and jewelry, sometimes removed from bedside cabinets whilst people slept and the normal method of entry was bathroom windows.
Now after reading HHtels post I feel guilty for not warning people about this earlier.
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Post by HHTel »

No Pfoto, definately not anyone in the house. My children, wife (asleep with me and my mother.

No-one could have possibly known that there was an amount of cash in the house. The robber just hit lucky. Must have thought all his birthdays had come at once. I hope he spends it on drugs and does himself some real harm.

On the upside, I suppose if I had heard a noise and come downstairs, the guy might have had a gun and I wouldn't be around telling this story. At least no-one was harmed.
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Post by 2dandan »

Hi Terry,

Bad news about the theft. I notice that you have pretty cosy sleeping habits.
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Post by HHTel »

Missed a bracket off didn't I? "wife (asleep with me) and my mother."

We're not THAT cosy!
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Burgled while sleeping

Post by margaretcarnes »

I'm also very sorry to hear your news Tel, and know that the thought of someone in your home while you are all asleep can be the worst thing.
But there seems to be a common thread here which is making me wonder if taxi drivers are involved? In your case I would guess you picked Mum up from the airport yourself, but I know from personal experience over here that burglaries occur after people have been taken to airports in taxis. In LOS it maybe happens in reverse ie farang just arrived from so and so therefore must be carrying dosh.
Also just heard from a friend over there who went back to find his house broken into while he was away. Buksida is right - we tend to think it only happens in the West and maybe get too complacent.
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Post by kaokalok »

Sorry for your loss.
It happened to me a few years ago in Bkk,they took my cash and my credit card.They bought flight tickets for 180000 baht with.
Luckily,Police investigators were quick enough to welcome them in a french airport.
They where Farangs,so if you really didnt saw anything,please dont call the guys "Thai".There are a lot of Bad Farangs around here too.
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Post by Paderborn »

Sorry HHTel, it is the worst thing
Happened to me last year whilst asleep and I thought I was a light sleeper!, but I didn't hear these buggars!
Took the keys to motorbike and nicked off with that as well as a fair bit of other stuff including my beer.... needless to say the police were not that interested.
Prost !
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Crime

Post by sessachief »

There was a program on Fake goods broadcast in England recently.
The Picture it painted of Pattaya, has put me off even wanting to visit the place.
If Hua Hin and surrounding areas is starting to suffer, then luckily less tourists will come less europeans will want to live here etc etc.
I have to say the thought that people can carry guns and shoot after alcohol and possible drugs is very very disturbing.
That said Europe can be a very dangerous place. I never felt threatened when my wife and I were in LOS. My son was mugged in Kao To, but he reckons by white people., small ones but white.
Is Ch-am safer?
I thought thailand and Hua Hin inparticular was meant to be safesf place for Farang... The world should know if this is changing!!
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buksida
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Post by buksida »

The house next to us was burgled recently which increases my paranoia ... and the array of weapons I keep next to the bed!

As in the case with many they were doing some renovation and building work on the house - typically taking forever and making as much noise as humanly possible - they do little bits when they have the money.

Thing is they forgot the most important thing ... a back door so the thieves who had probably been tipped off by the squad of layabout Issan builders just walked in and took what they wanted as the house was unoccupied.

Local thieves are generally lazy so secure your home as much as possible and they'll move to the next one ... and don't move next to a house that is locked down like the Pentagon.
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson
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