A 63 year old vegetable seller was robbed while sleeping outside of a clothing shop in Chiang Mai. Her plea for the return of her stolen phone is making the social media rounds as she needs it back so that she can contact her son
On 9th November, this vegetables and fruits vendor was sleeping outside a clothing shop in Warorot Market when her bag which contained only a mobile phone, a charger, some keys, and about 50 baht in cash was stolen.
CCTV footage from in front of the clothing store ‘Panipak’ recorded the incident around 2am on 9th November. The video shows a man in his 30s wearing a black hoodie walking back and forth on the sidewalk, apparently surveying the area. Near the spot, the victim was sleeping under a mosquito net with a bag hanging nearby. After watching for a while, the man approached, checked to see if the sleeper was fully asleep, then quickly pulled out the phone’s charging cable, grabbed the bag, and fled.
The victim has reportedly been sleeping at that spot for years because her home is far from the market and she needs to start work early every morning. The shop owner had allowed her to sleep in front of the store, where she would set up a mosquito net and mattress each night and pack everything away neatly in the morning.
Sumalee Sae-Her, 63, from Nan Province, tearfully told reporters that what troubles her most is that she can no longer contact her family. All her phone numbers and contact information were in the stolen phone — a gift from her son. She pleaded for the thief to return just the phone, saying the other items could be kept. The phone itself wasn’t valuable, but the information inside was priceless to her. She said she cannot read, which makes it even harder to reach her son without the phone. She begged the police to help find the thief and asked the thief directly to have mercy and return her phone.
The 27 year old clothing shop owner and the person who shared the CCTV footage online, said she felt deeply sorry for the woman. She explained that the elderly vendor always slept peacefully in front of her store and never caused trouble. The shop has had a CCTV camera installed for a long time, but this was the first time such an incident happened. From reviewing the footage, she noted that the thief had likely scouted the area several times before committing the crime, circling repeatedly and even checking that the woman was fast asleep before stealing her bag.
