In a case of human weakness working to undermine human weakness, this past week a thieving cabbie was brought to justice (almost by accident) through the actions of a devout, lottery enthusiast.
The story began with Wanlop Ou-thong, 54 – a Bangkok cabbie who had taken to running a scam in which he pretended to be out of gas in order to swindle his customers. Apparently, Wanlop asked passengers to get out of his cab to help push it toward a gas station, then drove off with the passengers’ possessions.
Wanlop got away with this scam several times before he was stopped through the efforts of a dedicated and highly superstitious housemaid.
The housemaid had written down Wanlop’s license plate number, intending to use it to bet on the national lottery. When the housemaid’s employers became the latest victims of Wanlop’s scam, the maid was ready to hand the license plate number over to the police.
The Bangkok Post reports that police later apprehended Wanlop at a Suphan Buri resort, where he had gone into hiding.
Nonthaburi police chief Thanayuth Wuthijamrasthamrong said that law enforcement officers seized multiple stolen items from Wanlop’s home, including iPads, wallets and a female Pomeranian.
