A Bangkok taxi driver returned 67,000 baht in cash left in his cab by a passenger, a visiting Russian film producer, on Wednesday.
Taxi driver Sukan Lalote returns cash from the wallet of his Russian passenger Kirill Burdikhin at the police-run FM91 radio station in Bangkok on Wednesday. (FM91 station photo)
Sukan Lalote, 47, took the wallet left behind by Kirill Burdikhin, 34, to the FM91 radio station run by police in Chatuchak district.
He said he found it after taking a Russian man and a foreign woman to Sukhumvit 16 Road. He had picked them up at Lebua State Tower Hotel in Silom area about 1am Wednesday.
The wallet contained personal papers identifying Mr Burdikhin and cash in baht, US and Canadian dollars, rubles and euros, worth altogether about 67,000 baht.
The taxi driver returned the wallet to the Russian at the radio station at noon on Wednesday in front of witnesses, including station executive Jaiton Sriwangpol.
Mr Sukan said he had previously been cheated by the owner of an old taxi who made him pay for its repair and then failed to sell it to him as promised, so he understood what it was like feel a loss. This had prompted him to return the wallet to its owner.
Mr Burdikhin, 34, said he stayed at Column Bangkok Hotel on Sukhumvit 16 and hotel staff told him the taxi driver had returned to the hotel and tried to find him. He said he was grateful for the decency shown by the taxi driver. He reportedly gave the honest driver a 5,000 baht reward.
According to the imdb.com movie website, Kirill Burdikhin is an actor and producer, known for The Weather Station (2010), Svyaz vremyon (2010) and Sem Ya (2012).