Vientiane Police Headquarters are cracking down on criminals after a raft of incidents in the capital over the past week and have arrested several suspects.
According to a police report yesterday, about 55 crimes occurred in Vientiane last week, mostly robberies, fighting among gang members, bag snatching, and drug use and dealing.
Police said all these issues affected social order and created insecurity and warned the public to be on their guard against such incidents. In the meantime, the police are committed to working harder to maintain public security in the capital.
On May 9, police arrested two men whom they charged with possessing nine packs of ice (crystal methamphetamine). The first man was Mr Phouvan, 42, a worker from Phonkheng village in Xaysettha district, and the second was Mr Sengphet, 37, a mechanic from Kham-Ngoy village, also in Xaysettha district.
In another incident, on May 13, Ms Phuangvan, 49, from Xamke village in Xaysettha district, arrived to open up her shop near the bus station next to the Morning Market as usual.
She placed her bag, which contained more than 10 million kip, on a table and then busied herself selling goods to her customers. A while later she looked in her bag and found that all the money was gone, but she had no idea who had taken it because there were so many people around.
In another theft, which occurred on May 11, two criminals broke open the door to the apartment rented by Ms Vilayvone Phandalak, 23, in Thongphanthong village, Sisattanak district.
The thieves took everything of value, including a necklace, notebook computer, mobile phone and 3,000 baht in cash (about 780,000 kip).
On May 8 last week, Mr Inthavong, 25, returned from school and locked his motorbike outside his rented apartment in Xiengda village, Xaysettha district, before going inside. About 30 minutes later, he saw a man moving his motorbike before riding away on it. He screamed for help but it was too late as the thief had already fled the scene. Only last week, 11 motorbikes and two cars were stolen in Vientiane, as recorded by the police. There are almost certainly many other thefts that have not been reported.
The above cases should serve as reminders to the general public of how easy and common it is for thieves to steal other people's property. The police are investigating all of these cases in hopes of tracking down the perpetrators.
Police say robbery is on the rise as a result of economic pressures, the growing number of drug users and dealers, high unemployment and the desire to live an extravagant lifestyle.
Some of those arrested are repeat offenders who have previously served prison sentences for criminal activities and failed to learn the lesson that in the end crime does not pay.
