CHON BURI: A 32-year-old Hong Kong man cried foul after his bag containing cash and valuable items worth more than 1 million baht vanished during a brawl with a group of transgender women in Pattaya. His attackers were fined, but he did not get his valuables back.
Vincent Chen, escorted by a Thai interpreter, sought help from the local media after he filed a complaint with Pattaya police following the brawl with four transgender women on Sept 18.
According to the man, who claimed to be an actor, the transgender women approached him on Walking Street in South Pattaya at around 5am on Tuesday. They had asked him to give them some money to buy food at a roadside stall at this popular tourist venue.
Vincent Chen, 32, a Hong Kong actor. (Photo by Chaiyot Pupattanapong)
After a lot of pestering, he gave them 500 baht, but they were not satisfied, said the actor. The transgender women then demanded 1,000 baht from him, but he refused. A quarrel quickly escalated into a brawl.
During the chaos, his bag containing 120,000-baht cash, HK$5,000 (20,000 baht), a Rolex watch worth 520,000 baht, a 400,000-baht bracelet, three mobile phones with a combined value of 50,000 baht was allegedly snatched by the transgender women.
Police later arrived to intervene and took them to Pattaya city police station. His attackers were fined and then freed, said the actor. However, he did not get the valuables back, he said.
He claimed the transgender women had seized his bag and passed it among themselves during the brawl before police arrived. He also gave police a video clip taken during the incident.
Police said a search for the bag at the houses of the transgender women came up with nothing suspicious so they had to release them. They also said there was no CCTV camera at the spot where the brawl took place and there was a large crowd there.
In any case, they will ask the man to give more statements soon.