The driver said the passenger needed to change yen into Thai baht to pay the fare so he took him to a bureau de change. Mr Muangrung said it was not until the passenger had paid the fare and disappeared into nearby shops that he realised there was still luggage in the vehicle.
The driver said he waited for a quarter of an hour for the Japanese man to come back before taking another fare to the national stadium. He finished off by saying he then returned to Suvarnabhumi and asked radio station executives to make an announcement on air about the bags.
Watanabe Tetsiro was identified as the owner of the luggage and today he was reunited with his property. He rewarded Mr Muangrung’s honesty with a cash gift equivalent to THB54,000. He said he was carrying a large amount of cash in order to pay for dental work while he was in Thailand.
Bangkok airport taxi driver returns lost cash
News in Asia
A Bangkok taxi-driver who found a bag containing more than four million Japanese yen in his cab has presented it to its owner today. Cabbie Prathuan Muangrung told presenters on a local Bangkok radio station he had picked up a Japanese passenger at the city’s Suvarnabhumi Airport and taken him to Silom.