Police have arrested a six-member gang of pickpockets who they say collected more than Bt100,000 a week from victims in busy Bangkok markets.
The six suspects are from Nakhon Si Thammarat in the South. They allegedly travelled to the capital every weekend to carry out heists at several busy shopping areas or markets, and regularly returned home with around Bt100,000 in loot, police said.
The gang, which includes one minor aged 17, was nabbed on Sunday by Phlabphla Chai 1 police while allegedly trying to rob people at Klong Thom market in Prom Prab district, after one member was seen "sizing up" a victim.
Police arrested the five other members and say they found them with a "freshly stolen" wallet with Bt20,000, another Bt28,000 in cash and foreign currencies including 5,000 Indian rupiah and 145,000 Iranian rials.
In addition to the 17-year-old youth, the gang was made up of alleged leader Surachart Maneeuppatham, 20; Somphong Chaowana, 18; Jaral Phromyote, 27; Somboon Jaemjamras, 37; and Jaroen Aramsri, 59, a driver who took the group to and from Bangkok every weekend.
Police said the gang confessed to carrying out around eight heists in Klong Thom market and another 10 in other Bangkok shopping areas.
Police said they were still hunting a number of foreign gangs made up of Vietnamese and Cambodians, who were good at cutting out purses and pockets of people's pants, as well as another Thai gang whose members were women and children from Klong Toei.