Car-theft scam bags 500th victim in central Thailand

Nonthaburi police have seized 70 vehicles involved in car-theft scam by gang that preyed on penniless car owners.

Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) commissioner Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop Bhuridej said Friday that police had found 70 vehicles at a car park in Nonthaburi province.

The success came when a carpark attendant told police that some of the vehicles in his lot had been parked there by some dodgy guys he suspected of being gang members.

Thirty-nine of the cars were found to be evidence in theft cases already filed by victims, Jirabhop said.

In November last year, police arrested several suspected members of the Jae Ploy Chon Buri gang.

It’s a strange kind of theft, ingenious almost. None of the suspected perps have actually stolen any of the cars in question in any normal sense. No windows were broken, no ignitions jumped, no software hacked. No guns came through windows at…