EXCLUSIVEThe monkey ギャング（団）s turning this Thai city into a real-life 惑星 of the Apes: They've 膝-capped market 仲買人s, stolen beer from lorries and are terrorising British tourists, 令状s DAVID JONES

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The 暴徒 begin to move in on me the moment I 逸脱する into their 'hood' (an abandoned cinema that they've （軍用に）徴発する／ハイジャックするd and trashed) and in seconds they have me surrounded.

The boss, a big guy with whiskers and a 井戸／弁護士席-fed belly, 直す／買収する，八百長をするs me with a 脅迫的な 星／主役にする, then sends one of his young molls to check me out: a typical gangland 手段.

Spotting a 瓶／封じ込める bulging in the pocket of my chinos, she 向こうずねs up my 脚 and begins clawing at me with her knifelike nails. Maybe she thinks it 含む／封じ込めるs something stronger than water.

The 残り／休憩（する） of the 乗組員 明確に find all this very entertaining, swinging from girders and skittering across the 破片 to get a better 見解（をとる）.

But, dear reader, by this point your reporter is certainly not laughing. As you might see from my sweat-soaked shirt and rictus grin in the …を伴ってing photograph, by now I'm gripped by waves of panic.

Our intrepid reporter David Jones looks a little uncomfortable outside the derelict Malai Rama Theatre, a disused cinema now 侵略（する）／超過（する） by the monkeys

The long-tailed macaques have ― with an 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の mixture of stealth and 侵略 ― formed into ghetto-like 'ギャング（団）s' and 掴むd 支配（する）／統制する of an entire city centre in Thailand

Taweesak Srisanguan, 80, owner of a construction 構成要素s shop, keeps a crocodile, a tiger's 長，率いる and a BB gun as a deterrent for the monkeys in the 包囲するd ci ty

During a long career, I have come 直面する to 直面する with Afghan 将軍s, murderous Albanian 犯罪のs, and かみそり-（権力などを）行使するing 凶漢s who 支配する the favela slums of Rio de Janeiro.

Yet they all seem tame after my 遭遇（する）, this week, with the Monkey Massif: a 抱擁する group of long-tailed macaques who have ― with an 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の mixture of stealth and 侵略 ― formed into ghetto-like 'ギャング（団）s' and 掴むd 支配（する）／統制する of an entire city centre in Thailand.

For many years, the apes that congregate around the 廃虚d Hindu 寺 in Lopburi, a historic stop-off on the British backpacker 追跡する, two hours north of Bangkok, were a prized tourist attraction.

In their honour, in 1989, a 地元の 実業家 started the 年次の 'monkey feast', a lavish 祝宴 at which thousands of 訪問者s 争う to please the pampered 大主教s with the most exotic 扱う／治療するs.

As they are said to descend from a 伝説の 'monkey 軍人' with supernatural 力／強力にするs, they are also 深い尊敬の念を抱くd as deities by many Thais and 保護するd by 法律 from even the slightest human 干渉，妨害.

Over the past １０年間, however, the number of macaques in Lopburi city centre is thought to have multiplied fivefold, to 4,500, and they have 刻々と been colonising the downtown 地区.

As I have seen this week, the monkeys' astonishing 併合 of human 領土 is now 完全にする. The little blighters are 絶対 everywhere. They hang from roofs, window ledges, street 調印するs, girders, gantries, waiting to pounce on passers-by and 略奪する them of food.

When they can't 得る，とらえる it 直接／まっすぐに from people's 手渡すs, they are clever enough to ゆすり，恐喝 them ― snatching sunglasses off their noses or other 所有／入手s, and 辞退するing to return them until they get a tasty reward.

I watched one （警察の）手入れ，急襲ing party 待ち伏せ／迎撃する an open-支援するd beer lorry, as it idled at traffic lights. They made off with several 瓶／封じ込めるs, gnawed off the metal 最高の，を越すs, and guzzled them thirstily in the 100F heat.

As the macaques' numbers swell, their turf wars become ever more vicious and their 策略 more ruthless.

事柄s （機の）カム to a 長，率いる with two 乱すing 出来事/事件s last month. First one of the monkeys 'mugged' an unsuspecting market 仲買人, dislocating her kneecap with a violent kick from behind before making off with her 捕らえる、獲得する of groceries.

One of the simian sinners こそこそ動くs a ride on a passing car in Lopburi

A few days later, a motorcyclist was knocked off his bike when a monkey leapt の上に his 乗り物 and stole a 運送／保菌者 捕らえる、獲得する dangling from the handlebars. Luckily, he wasn't 本気で 傷つける, but the 当局 have now 宣言するd war on the 'ギャング（個々）' macaques.?

Soon after the attacks, officers from the 国家の Parks, 野性生物 and 工場／植物 自然保護 Department 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd up 37 macaques, 恐らく 含むing four 悪名高い 'ギャング（団） bosses', and banished them to another 州.

Next month they 計画（する） to start 徹底的に 減ずるing the 全住民 by 逮捕（する）ing hundreds more and relocating them to enclosures on the 郊外s of the city ― though, given the 抱擁する difficulties they had in trapping the first 37, that might be easier said than done. I will explain why later.

飛行機で行くing to Thailand, however, the notion that a 禁止（する）d of urbanised 大主教s had taken over a city seemed fanciful and rather amusing. When a flight attendant, raised in Lopburi, told me how the monkeys attack children at his former school and pilfer their 軽食s, I had smiled indulgently.

I wasn't smiling several hours later. 投機・賭けるing into the 占領するd 領土s, it seemed I had driven on to the 始める，決める of some dystopian sci-fi movie.

Perhaps, after almost 50 years, they were making a fifth sequel to 惑星 of the Apes.

Everywhere I looked my gaze was returned by an eerie pair of yellowish 注目する，もくろむs, glinting with opportunistic 意図. Every step I took was 影をつくる／尾行するd by a flash of fur and a whiplash snap of a tail. The 蒸し暑い 空気／公表する was redolent with the sickening stench of stale ape excrement.

As 寺 経営者／支配人 Pramote Ketumpi told me, the monkeys have divided themselves into four 競争相手 'ギャング（団）s'. And they behave remarkably like the postcode 乗組員s in Britain's inner cities.

When they encroach on one-another's patch, either to forage for food or in search of 性の adventure, a frighteningly screechy 集まり-brawl invariably breaks out.

Mr Ketumpi points to their different 領土s. Along one 味方する of the high street, a four-storey 封鎖する that once 含む／封じ込めるd bustling shops selling phones, noodles and 着せる／賦与するs is now a disembowelled 爆撃する.

避難させるd by 仲買人s driven away by repeated 窃盗s of their wares and attacks on their terrified 顧客s, this 抱擁する empty edifice is the den of a group that 地元のs have dubbed the Building ギャング（団）.

Another 禁止（する）d of monkeys ― known as the 寺 ギャング（団） ― have made their home in 1,000-year-old 廃虚s, guarding the grounds like 古代の 軍人s.

Then there is the Sh rine ギャング（団）, who, as their 指名する 暗示するs, loll around a 宗教上の 場所／位置, feasting like gods on the offerings of tourists.

As Mr Ketumpi's office is in the 神社's grounds, he can identify individuals in this group by sight. Its leader, Ai Lor, which translates as 'Handsome' is a burly, 厚い-furred bruiser (a 十分な-grown male can 重さを計る two 石／投石する and 所有する incredible strength) who takes the most food ― and the most 女性（の）s.

A marauding macaque is caught on camera making a （警察の）手入れ，急襲 on a beer トラックで運ぶ?

The crafty creatures 脅迫的な an unsuspecting motorcyclist?

But it was another malevolent macaque ― much smaller and, I think, 女性（の） ― whom I watched turning a British boy's magical first 遭遇（する） with monkeys to 涙／ほころびs on Wednesday.

Nine-year-old Louie Patten, from Nottingham, was visiting Lopburi with his father, Lawrence, 60, and Thai mother, when he tried to 料金d the 大主教 cheap 軽食s bought from a street 販売人.

But it was another malevolent macaque ― much smaller and, I think, 女性（の） ― whom I watched turning a British boy's magical first 遭遇（する） with monkeys to 涙／ほころびs on Wednesday.

Before he could open the 捕らえる、獲得する, however, the impatient monkeys jumped on his 長，率いる and snatched it, an unnerving experience, as I can attest.

Happily, the shock quickly wore off, and ― wise beyond his years ― young Louie put his experience 負かす／撃墜する to 'the natural order'.

Would that I had felt 平等に philosophical when I met the Cinema ギャング（団） ― the last of the four groups that have 侵略（する）／超過（する） central Lopburi ― in the 難破 of an old movie palace.

In its heyday, 20 years ago, this had been the city's most popular picture house, its owner Kannika Maksasithon told me, as we took a 不安定な 小旅行する.

When audiences 病弱なd with the arrival of ビデオs and streamed films, she 変えるd it into a shopping 商店街, but nobody 手配中の，お尋ね者 to browse around a place where monkeys might jump on them at any moment. So, at a loss of about £250,000, she の近くにd it 負かす／撃墜する.

The graffiti-daubed metal shutters she has since 築くd have had no 影響. The hollow cinema now echoes to the 冷気／寒がらせるing shrieks and juddering runs of innumerable grey-coated 無断占拠者s. The only movie shown here in 最近の years was 事業／計画（する）d の上に a 一時しのぎの物，策 審査する by an 実験の Japanese filmmaker who thought it would be fascinating to have hundreds of apes as an audience.

However, Ms Maksasithon harbours no ill will に向かって the creatures who have almost 破産者／倒産したd her. She doesn't even want them 除去するd from the city. 井戸／弁護士席, not all of them.

'I grew up surrounded by them and still find them 削減（する）,' she says. 'I just think we've got too many and they must be 減ずるd.'

Surprisingly, given that they have destroyed the inner city, and with it the 地元の economy, it was a 感情 I heard 繰り返して.

Some 仲買人s, such as 金物類／武器類 shop owner Taweesak Srisanguan, 80, have tried 脅すing the macaques away by positioning toy predators, such as crocodiles and tigers, in their windows. However, the monkeys quickly fathomed they weren't real, so now he takes マリファナ-発射s at pesky ones with a BB gun.

Others have tried to 融通する the interlopers by 扱う／治療するing them like equals ― の中で them a hotel owner who has 許すd them to 占領する every room on the 最高の，を越す 床に打ち倒す (not that he had much choice).

Some 仲買人s, such as 金物類／武器類 shop owner Taweesak Srisanguan, 80, have tried 脅すing the macaques away by positioning toy predators, such as crocodiles and tigers, in their windows. However, the monkeys quickly fathomed they weren't real, so now he takes マリファナ-発射s at pesky ones with a BB gun.Others have tried to 融通する the interlopers by 扱う／治療するing them like equals ― の中で them a hotel owner who has 許すd them to 占領する every room on the 最高の，を越す 床に打ち倒す (not that he had much choice).

Whatever their approach, however, everybody seems to want a few hundred to remain around the 寺, as a symbol of the city.?

Officers from the 国家の Parks, 野性生物 and 工場／植物 自然保護 Department are now planning a 劇の 厳重取締 on the creatures - and are 始める，決める to 一連の会議、交渉／完成する up hundreds

The Wat Phra Prang Sam You 寺, さもなければ? known as the monkey 寺, in Lopburi