AYUTTHAYA — A motorcycle taxi driver was rewarded with 5,000 baht by a Myanmar woman after he returned her missing bag containing 300,000 baht in cash.
Pairat Lohfor, 39, found a woman’s bag in front of Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Hospital while riding to his motorcycle taxi queue there on Wednesday afternoon. Apart from the 300,000 baht cash, the bag contained 10 baht-weight of gold necklaces, gold rings and gold-rimmed amulets along with a mobile phone.
The phone rang shortly after he discovered the bag and Mr Pairat answered it. He learned that the unidentified female caller was a patient at the hospital and a relative of the bag’s owner before the phone battery died.
He informed Laddawan Thammakig, the kamnan at tambon Ban Pom, about the discovery and asked her to help charge the phone.
Mr Pairat was finally able to talk to the same caller again, who said the bag belonged to her Myanmar relative Lin Nu who lost it after visiting her at the hospital.
Mrs Lin Nu said she was shocked at losing the bag and believed she would never get it back. “I really thank him and admire his honesty,” said the Myanmar woman who is married to a Thai contractor. She then gave Mr Pairat 5,000 baht as sin nam jai (gift of goodwill).
Mr Pairat said he did not look much at what was inside the bag and tried to use the phone he found to contact the owner. “I know how tiring and hard it is to earn each baht, how much people hurt when they lose their money, so I never thought of taking it,” he said.
