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Coach driver ‘used tourist’s card to withdraw B280k’

Coach driver ‘used tourist’s card to withdraw B280k’

SURAT THANI: A coach driver has been arrested on charges of stealing the credit card of a Romanian tourist who was travelling to Phuket and using it to withdraw a total of B280,000 from ATMs.

tourismcrimepoliceimmigration
By Bangkok Post

Friday 23 May 2025 09:49 AM


Police arrest the suspect with stolen cash at his house in Muang district of Surat Thani on Tuesday (May 20). Photo: Immigration Bureau

Police arrest the suspect with stolen cash at his house in Muang district of Surat Thani on Tuesday (May 20). Photo: Immigration Bureau

Channarong Boonjui, 34, was arrested at his house in Muang district, Surat Thani, on Tuesday (May 20) with the stolen cash and the clothing he wore during the crime, said Pol Lt Gen Panumat Boonyalak, commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, reported the Bangkok Post.

Romanian tourist Cristina Banaga told police in Phuket that she had lost her credit card while travelling from Koh Pha-ngan in Surat Thani to Phuket.

She later found that the card had been used to withdraw money and she asked her bank to cancel it.

Detectives discovered that Channarong had made 14 withdrawals using the card at ATMs in Muang district of Surat Thani, the report noted.

The suspect reportedly told police that he found the card attached with a passcode on his tour bus and later tried to use it to withdraw cash.