Police arrested a Filipino pickpocket gang targetting tourists in Bangkok, Thailand.

The Filipinos reportedly entered Thailand on tourist visas to trawl areas popular with foreigners in the city. They would allegedly surround and isolate their targets before stealing their valuables.

Police detained the gang at a hotel in Bangkok's Phaya Thai district on October 23. The arrest followed a complaint by a South Korean man who reported that they stole his wallet in in Sukhumvit Soi 33 on October 16.

CCTV footage revealed that the suspects fled toward the hotel.

Seven alleged pickpockets, named by police as Lourdes, 61, Ofelia, 67, Katrina ,35, Annalyn ,33, Joy, 28, Mr. Brian, 35, Alid, 45. Two other Filipinos were caught trying to escape through the Suvarnabhumi International Airport.

A Thong Lor Police Station spokesman said: 'All suspects confessed that they traveled from the Philippines to commit crimes in tourist areas by renting rooms on a daily basis. They would go out to commit crimes in the Thong Lor and Lumphini areas. They admitted that they had committed crimes many times.'

The group reportedly divided the profits among themselves. They would then wire the remaining money back to their friends and families in the Philippines.

The suspects will be charged with nighttime theft, which is punishable with up to seven years in jail, fines between 20,000 and 140,000 THB (458 and 3,208 GBP), and compensation for the stolen items.


(1 GBP = 43.63 THB)