Hmong Kids Accused of Robbing Tourist in Chiang Mai

The unidentified woman’s boyfriend posted the photo on Reddit Sunday to the popular online bulletin board and captioned the picture, “Girlfriend in progress of having her watch stolen.”

The photo shows the smiling blond victim posing with the two young children dressed in traditional Hmong garb holding on to each of her arms as one of them appears to unbuckle the woman’s watch on the steps of the Wat Phra That Doi Suthep temple in the province of Chiang Mai.

The couple only noticed that the Hmong child had robbed her of her watch during the photo moment after looking through their vacation photos.

“This pic solved the mystery of the missing watch,” the man posted in the comments section of the photo.

The snapshot garnered thousands of comments, including some by people who have even encountered the duo of suspected kid crooks in the past.

“I’ve lived in Chiang Mai almost 7 years. Those kids aren’t good, they’re expert. That watch is long gone,” Reddit user Oh_dear_ wrote.

A person of Hmong descent who visited the same Thailand temple last year posted that “these kids were hassled by their parents who stood at the edge of the stairs demanding them to sing and wave to get money or else they were going to get a beating.”

The post continued, “The kids are nice. They’re not doing it for themselves. Sadly it’s the parents.”

“Adorable, adorable thieves. I didn’t suspect a thing when I saw them!” wrote another Reddit user, cassieknickers, along with an undated photo of the two kids.

Meanwhile, Khaosod reported that Phujarat Jiraphakorn and Lulu Laowa brought their two daughters, 7 and 10, who appeared in the photo, to answer questions after they were summoned by police.

The parents were incensed and would have pressed charges for making a false accusation, were the foreign couple still in Thailand.

Lt. Col.Anek Chaiwong of Phuping police said they interrogated the girls who denied any wrongdoing.

Their mother said she didn’t see how it was possible for her daughter to steal a watch from someone’s wrist without them noticing.

Their village headman also accompanied them to the police station Tuesday to vouch for the family’s clean record. Methaphan Fuengfukitchakarn said they are well known and liked, and said accusing the children on the basis on one photo was not fair to them.

Source:  New York Post, Khaosod, Reddit