A Moroccan man was caught in Chiang Mai on December 3rd on charges of pickpocketing. The CCTV camera in Pantip mall located in Chiang Mai city caught the man walking into the mall on December 1st wearing a white T-shirt and long pants, he was not carrying any other belongings with him. No later than 1 minute later, the man walked out of the mall with a black backpack.
At night on the same day, The CCTV at a coffee shop on Moon Muang Road in Chiang Mai captured the same man acting as a tourist entered the cafe at 21.27, then as there were many tourists inside enjoying their coffee, the man quickly picked up a bag that was laying on the floor of the cafe and walked out right away.
The Chiang Mai police were notified by Tumiati 24 years old from Italy, who was the first victim of the thief. Tumati thinks that the backpack was stolen from him while he was enjoying a meal at the KFC in Pantip mall. There was 500 Euros, 8,000 THB, 2 credit cards, and his ID in the stolen backpack. As for the second victim, Pusada 35 years old, a native from Chiang Mai had 3,000 THB and her phone inside her bag when it was stolen from the cafe.
It was later discovered that the thief took the 500 Euros from Tumiati and went to exchange it into Thai currency at a currency exchange station 200 meters away from the mall, then threw the backpack away on the road. As for the Cafe theft, he took the cash then threw away the phone and the bag at the Tha Phae Gate.
Thanks to the two CCTV videos, the man was traced and caught successfully by the Chiang Mai police. Hassan Idrissi Mounadi 53 years old from Morocco was found with 18,200 THB cash in his room. It has been confirmed that Hassan will act like a tourist to enter into locations, then he will choose a victim that is not looking at their bag, and steel it. After removing the cash, Hassan disposes of the bag randomly, after he has collected enough cash, he will move to another tourist city to repeat the process.
