Good deed earns cabbie gold worth Bt200,000

An honest taxi driver yesterday returned some eight kilograms of gold left in his cab to the rightful owner.

As a reward for his honesty, taxi driver Saksee Kesseekaew was immediately given gold necklaces worth about Bt200,000 by the grateful gold shop owner, Akekarat Kanokwannakorn, who also promised the cabbie an additional reward of Bt300,000 in cash.

Akekarat owns a gold shop at a superstore in Ubon Ratchathani and had gone to Bangkok's Yaowarat area to pick up gold ornaments worth Bt13 million, but ended up leaving the bag in the taxi.

"I picked the passenger up from Yaowarat and dropped him off at Si Mum Muang Market in Pathum Thani," Saksee said, adding that he checked his cab and found the bag Akekarat had left behind.

"I really wanted to return the gold and drove around in the area I had picked him up in the hope of spotting him, but he was nowhere to be seen," Saksee said.

He later told his friends and relatives about the bag, and his nephew, Sergeant Sakdipong Boonyawoot, alerted him about Akekarat pleading for his gold to be returned.

"So, I immediately contacted FM91 Traffic Pro radio station," the taxi driver said, adding that the radio station helped him get in touch with Akekarat yesterday.