Thai police ‘best in the world’, says Spanish tourist after lost camera recovered

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 03, 2023

A Spanish tourist and his girlfriend said they could not thank the Don Mueang police enough after officers managed to locate their lost camera and a hard drive which stored photos from their long travel.

The tourist, identified as Denison Mendes, promised to speak of the good deed of the Thai police once he and his girlfriend returned to Spain.

The incident was disclosed on a TikTok page of Pol Lieutenant Phattharasaya Rirkrat, deputy inspector of Don Mueang Police Station, on Tuesday.

The policewoman recounted that Mendes thanked her station personnel with tears in his eyes when he came to the station on September 28 after returning from Phuket to pick up his bag with a camera, two lenses and a hard drive. Thai police ‘best in the world’, says Spanish tourist after lost camera recovered

She quoted Mendes as saying that he would report the good deed of the station to the Spanish embassy for conveying to other Spanish tourists.

“Spanish people must know that not only Don Mueang police, but all Thai police, are the best cops in the world. Tourists who come to Thailand must know that they will be safe. You are the best cops in the world,” Phattharasaya quoted Mendes as saying.

“For me, it’s more important,” she quoted Mendes as saying about his retrieved camera bag. Thai police ‘best in the world’, says Spanish tourist after lost camera recovered

On September 7, Mendes and his girlfriend came to Don Mueang Police Station at 9.30am to file a complaint that he had forgotten his camera bag in a red-and-pink taxi at around 5.45am that morning. He did not know the licence plate number of the taxi.

He said he had taken the taxi from a bus stop in front of Sombat Tour Co Ltd from the top of Vibharadi Rangsit Soi 13 to go to Don Mueang International Airport.

Mendes said he and his girlfriend got out of the taxi at 6.15am at a bus stop in front of the airport. After the taxi drove off, Mendes realised that he had forgotten his camera bag with a Nikon camera, two lenses and a hard drive in the boot of the vehicle.

Thai police ‘best in the world’, says Spanish tourist after lost camera recovered Don Mueang police checked with the CCTV centre of the Bang Khen Transport and Traffic Office to zoom in on the taxi.

The station later found out that the taxi belonged to a cooperative and the driver was identified as Supoj.

Supoj came to the station on September 11, saying he had been trying to locate the two tourists.

Mendes could not stop smiling when he checked and found all of his belongings in the bag, the policewoman added. Thai police ‘best in the world’, says Spanish tourist after lost camera recovered