PHUKET — When a truck carrying nearly 90,000 cans of Leo Beer flipped Friday morning in Phuket City, men, women, children and even motorcycle taxis rushed in to lend a hand.
Several hours later, the transport company went to the police with a small complaint: 80,000 cans – 94 percent of the beer – were unaccounted for. The company suspects that 2-million-baht worth of beer was stolen by “Good Samaritans” following the accident.
Police said they will press charges against individuals seen snagging the beer after pictures and video clips of people scooping up armloads of Leo beer from the road were shared online Friday morning.
Sirimongkol Logistics, the transport company, said the truck was carrying about 86,400 cans of beer, and up to 81,600 cans were missing.
Somporn Primjaras, the truck’s driver, told police that he was making turning at about 40kph when the truck tipped and fell onto its side due to the weight of its load.
The case was shared on Facebook by user Mana Sombat, who posted several pictures and clips of people collecting cans from the scene of accident with captions “Look at what they’re doing at the entrance of Soi King Kaew (people here were drunk since this morning).” Most comments condemned the action.
Phuket City’s police chief said the pictures and videos provided enough evidence for them to find the beer pirates, adding that the driver would also be charged for causing property damage.
