Rice Paddy thief in Korat
A farmer in Korat, Nakhon Ratchasima province woke up one morning to discover that all his rice paddy was gone. Paisarn the farmer and victim went to file a report with the police after he had laid out paddy to dry behind the village.
Paisarn stated that he hired a man to harvest the paddy from his rice field and to also dry the paddy in preparation to sell it. The man dried the rice out on land behind Paisarn’s village where there was enough air and sun throughout the day. Paisarn didn’t think that this would be a problem as he didn’t want to layout the paddy on the road. Paddy is often dried on the road in Thailand and this causes many inconveniences to drivers.
Paisarn decided to go sleep at home and didn’t hire anyone to keep watch of the paddy for him. He believed the paddy would be safe as they were still in the village with lots of people. This is not the first year that Paisarn decided to dry out his paddy behind the village, so he didn’t even think it was possible for someone to steal all of his hard work.
When morning came Paisarn told his wife to go check the paddy and see if it was dry enough to deliver. Turns out when his wife arrived she found nothing but emptiness and a few piles of paddy left behind by the thief. All of the paddies were gone with the fabric he used to place the rice on. There were trials left behind that lead to the main road. The trials were a result of dragging the fabric through the grass.
Total damage was about 10 large sacks of paddy worth more than 4,000 THB. The victim decided to go tell the village leader of what happened and then he went to file a report with the Kong Police Station. For many rice farmers, they only get to harvest their rice a few times per year. The money that they make is often not enough to survive and many choose to go work in the city to find the money for their family while the rice is growing. Stealing paddy might not seem like a big deal, but to the victims, it can cause serious stress and financial issues as the year continues.
FB Caption: when his wife arrived she found nothing but emptiness and a few piles of paddy left behind by the thief.
Source: Sanook, INN News