Pattaya’s chronic transvestite-pickpocket problem grabbed the international spotlight when a video of a gang of ladyboys robbing a Briton went viral.
Anthony O’Malley, 49, shared CCTV footage of him being pickpocketed around 3:30 a.m. on May 2 on Walking Street and the story was picked up by the British tabloids.
O’Malley was drunk when the tall transgender woman accosted him and took his wallet without his knowledge. The suspect casually lit up a cigarette while the victim staggered away with 500 pounds, or about 20,000 baht.
The video again brings into focus Pattaya’s unwillingness to resolve its decades-long problem with transvestite prostitutes and pickpockets on the beachfront. Police typically round up loiterers once a month, fine them a couple hundred baht and let them go back to work.
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