Police have launched an investigation after nine passengers in a sleeper carriage on the overnight Bangkok to Sungai Kolok train complained they had been robbed. One of the passengers also claimed he was drugged.
Pol Capt Phanomnoi Thiplai at Hat Yai police station said the robbery was reported by passengers after they arrived at the station yesterday morning.
The passengers complained they had lost 10 mobile phones and cash worth 2,500 baht between them while they were sleeping in the early hours of yesterday.
They suspect the items were stolen while the train was between Surat Thani and Nakhon Si Thammarat. The thief may have fled at a stop at any station in Surat Thani and Thung Song district of Nakhon Si Thammarat.
The second class air-conditioned sleeping carriage where the alleged robbery took place is only a carriage away from the recently launched "ladies and children only carriage," a service introduced just last week to help ensure safety aboard trains for women and children.
Pathom Pinagun, a military volunteer and one of the passengers whose mobile phone was taken, said he felt as though he had been drugged as he slept for most of the train journey before waking up at 6am.
He had never experienced such a deep sleep on previous trips on that route. He said some fellow passengers complained they were suffering from dizziness when they woke up.
However, Railway Police Division commander Pol Maj Gen Thanung Buranon said it is too early to conclude that 30 passengers in the sleeper cabin had in fact been drugged.
Pol Capt Phanomnoi said passengers will be drug tested. Pol Maj Gen Thanung said no one has been arrested so far.
Thanongsak Phongprasert, State Railway of Thailand's director of train services, said the SRT has asked the railway police to examine the names of staff on duty on the train and of passengers in the sleeping carriage.