CHIANG MAI – The head of Provincial Police Region 5 held a meeting with officers from across Chiang Mai and Lamphun, ordering a clampdown under the operation “Hunt for Dangerous Youth Gangs” after a shocking attack by a foreign youth group.
The group had assaulted a young woman with a knife, causing her to lose her arm, and also injured her friends. Police have already caught five suspects, but the main attacker has fled the area. The police chief stressed the need to track down all those involved as quickly as possible.
The incident involved a gang of foreign teenagers who attacked another group, using knives to seriously injure a Thai teenager and leave her with a severed arm. Two of her friends also suffered injuries.
This happened late at night on 16 September near a laundry and 7-Eleven convenience store on Chiang Mai–San Kamphaeng Road (Old Route) in Nong Pa Khrang, Mueang Chiang Mai. Investigators believe around 20 people were involved, all foreign nationals. Police have arrested several suspects and are working to capture the rest without delay.
Today, at the Phra Phutthapathanyo Baramee meeting room at Provincial Police Region 5 Headquarters in Chiang Mai, Police Lieutenant General Kritthaphon Yeesakorn issued clear instructions to officers in Chiang Mai and Lamphun.
All units were told to continue the “Hunt for Dangerous Youth Gangs” to put an end to the violence and unrest caused by these youth groups, following the shocking attack on the Thai woman on the old San Kamphaeng Road.
In Phitsanulok, a thief has targeted a well-known temple twice in two weeks, stealing from donation boxes and even taking coins from the pond around the Phra Maha Uppakhut, known as the Buddha of Fortune.
Police Hunt for Temple Robber
In other Police News, someone smashed a donation box inside the hall housing Phra Maha Uppakhut at Wat Buengkradan in Ban Pa, Mueang Phitsanulok. Phra Kru Kasem Wapi Phisai, the abbot and acting monastic district head, joined police investigators to inspect where donation boxes had been forced open and money was stolen.
Phra Kru Kasem explained this was the second theft in two weeks. The first happened on 31 August, when CCTV captured a man, dressed in black clothes and with his face covered, prying open a window on the east side. He broke into several donation boxes and then went to the pond to collect coins that locals had thrown in as offerings. Police were notified after that incident.
This latest break-in is thought to have happened between 1 am and 2 am, with the thief entering through a window on the south side. The suspect smashed several donation boxes and took cash, but avoided cameras this time by stealing in a blind spot.
Khun Khwanjai Toferng, age 62, who looks after the Phra Maha Uppakhut hall, said the hall usually opens at 8 am and closes at 5 pm. She arrived in the morning and noticed bits of paper scattered near the donation box on the table.
On closer look, she found the box had a smashed glass panel. Checking around, she saw that a window had been pried open. Another wooden box in the centre of the hall had also been broken into, along with two other boxes. Money from a large monk’s alms bowl in front of the statue was stolen, as was cash tucked in the birthday charitable jar. Altogether, the thief took roughly 5,000 baht.
Police suspect the culprit is a man who parked his motorcycle near the temple, beside the village headman’s house in Moo 1, Ban Pa. He may have sneaked in on foot or even swum across the canal to reach the hall, then forced open a window to get to the money in the donation boxes.
