Canadian man being held against his will in Thailand, family says

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Edmonton man being held against his will in Thailand, family says

 

 

Friends of a 25-year-old Edmonton man are fearful for his well-being, after he made multiple emergency calls to them from Thailand.

 

Shawn Johnson reportedly told them he was being held in a basement there by men who looked like police. Johnson’s best friend of five years, Andy Vinoly, said Johnson’s call woke her in the middle of the night Jan. 9. Vinoly said Johnson’s sister mentioned calling the Canadian embassy and it angered the men.

 

“They said the option to pay them is off the table now. He would have a trial in 48 hours and we wouldn’t hear from him until then. The 48 hours went by and we still didn’t hear anything from him,” Vinoly explained.

 

Full story: https://globalnews.ca/news/3962788/edmonton-man-being-held-against-his-will-in-thailand-family-says/

 

[darksidedog]

You do generally get held against your will when the cops find drugs on you and reading the full story, that is what happened here. No phones in the jail, so the accompanying silence is pretty normal. Pay the bail and move on.

[tonray]

How is it that so many people live long term in Thailand and never experience any sort of drama like kidnapping, or go missing, or whatever ?

 

My guess is that less than stable people come to Thailand and end up in all sorts of predicaments because their inherent behaviors are suspect to start with.

 

I hope there is a positive outcome but I doubt there is a gang of uniformed guys holding foreigners hostage for ransom.

[AGareth2]

4 minutes ago, tonray said:

I doubt there is a gang of uniformed guys holding foreigners hostage for ransom.

the police

he is on a drugs charge

needs bail money

[sanemax]

Got arrested for something , given the opportunity to pay his way out , didnt take that opportunity, now faces Court and sentencing 

[Kerryd]

What a load of absolute BS !!

He was busted for having drugs on him ! I suspect that the cops were telling him how much he'd have to pay for BAIL.

 

But the story tries to make it sound like he was kidnapped and being held for ransom (and being starved). Then, at the bottom, no surprise - a "gofundme" link.

Hence the "drama" in the story. Got to play it up and hope those donations start flowing in !

I can't find a link to a local news report about his arrest (which supposedly happened on 9 Jan). 

[greatwhitenorth]

 

 Phoning the Canadian government was probably the dumbest thing to do after getting caught with sticky icky.

 

They had their chance to keep it quiet and make it go away and wasted their opportunity.

 

 

[BTB1977]

And there it is. The go fund me page set up. What a suprise!!!!!!. What a baby. Drugs, Thailand and jail. Dumbass. Hope he has a nice long stay in the monkey house. He came to thailand for drugs and sex. Here comes the sex part. 55555

[Dave67]

That happened to my mates ,he went to the embassy and the Translator (Bag lady) recommended by the police would not talk to him. he went to court and they still took money off of him as well

[chrisandsu]

42 minutes ago, sanemax said:

Got arrested for something , given the opportunity to pay his way out , didnt take that opportunity, now faces Court and sentencing 

Spot on ! Took the wrong option now facing bang up . Cheerio 

[Dave67]

“We couldn’t believe that in any way this would be cops. Because it doesn’t make any sense to us,” 

 

That's the problem the cops are the robbers in Thailand and people don't realise or are accustom to it

[Dave67]

Just now, chrisandsu said:

Spot on ! Took the wrong option now facing bang up . Cheerio 

All would depend on how much of and what he had on him $5000 pay off wouldn't be much little bit of Mary-Joana maybe

[bkkcanuck8]

1 hour ago, BTB1977 said:

And there it is. The go fund me page set up. What a suprise!!!!!!. What a baby. Drugs, Thailand and jail. Dumbass. Hope he has a nice long stay in the monkey house. He came to thailand for drugs and sex. Here comes the sex part. 55555

If you are sure about it (I am not going to investigate) -- you can report it to them as being used for bribing and the page will be taken down (I did that with the gofund me page before).

[robblok]

1 hour ago, Dave67 said:

That happened to my mates ,he went to the embassy and the Translator (Bag lady) recommended by the police would not talk to him. he went to court and they still took money off of him as well

Was your mate guilty or not ? (i am pro drugs no judgement here). Just curious because you hear a lot about made up charges but I don't really believe it happens a lot because there are enough people who do get caught with the stuff for them not to setup people.

[Kerryd]

2 minutes ago, bkkcanuck8 said:

If you are sure about it (I am not going to investigate) -- you can report it to them as being used for bribing and the page will be taken down (I did that with the gofund me page before).

I almost reported it (the GoFindMe) already based on the BS in the news article but have been trying to find a local news article about his arrest first. No luck searching the National and Bangkok Post sites. I even tweeted the Global News reporter to see if she actually received a message from "Global Affairs Canada" acknowledging that a Canadian had been arrested in Bangkok, or if someone else told her that they had received such a message.
(Ever notice how often that "GoFundMe" pages are set up by "friends" who say they'll send the money to the person the gofundme is meant for. Apparently family members themselves aren't capable of doing it for some reason.)

Normally any time a foreigner is arrested, for pretty much any reason, it makes the papers, even if it's just a minor over-stay charge (or getting caught "working for 50 baht a day"). Pretty sure being busted for drug possession would merit a few lines of ink. 
Might try contacting Global Affairs Canada myself. 

[bkkcanuck8]

5 minutes ago, Kerryd said:

I almost reported it (the GoFindMe) already based on the BS in the news article but have been trying to find a local news article about his arrest first. No luck searching the National and Bangkok Post sites. I even tweeted the Global News reporter to see if she actually received a message from "Global Affairs Canada" acknowledging that a Canadian had been arrested in Bangkok, or if someone else told her that they had received such a message.
(Ever notice how often that "GoFundMe" pages are set up by "friends" who say they'll send the money to the person the gofundme is meant for. Apparently family members themselves aren't capable of doing it for some reason.)

Normally any time a foreigner is arrested, for pretty much any reason, it makes the papers, even if it's just a minor over-stay charge (or getting caught "working for 50 baht a day"). Pretty sure being busted for drug possession would merit a few lines of ink. 
Might try contacting Global Affairs Canada myself.  

He likely will not be "arrested" if me makes "pre-bail".  They have probably temporarily housed him for 48 hours - to give him time to think about the proposal.  If he does not pay, he will be turned over and processed normally.  If they were just to arrest him and then make the proposal, there is a record, more hands to feed -- so in their minds they are giving him a chance to make a deal of a lifetime.

 

With all the publicity, it might make them act in a rash situation to make the problem just go away.

Edited January 14, 2018 by bkkcanuck8

[RichardColeman]

“We couldn’t believe that in any way this would be cops. Because it doesn’t make any sense to us,”

 

Don;t know Thailand well, do they.

[holy cow cm]

Another Khao san Road escapade?

[sanemax]

3 minutes ago, bkkcanuck8 said:

He likely will not be "arrested" if me makes "pre-bail".  They have probably temporarily housed him for 48 hours - to give him time to think about the proposal.  If he does not pay, he will be turned over and processed normally.  If they were just to arrest him and then make the proposal, there is a record, more hands to feed -- so in their minds they are giving him a chance to make a deal of a lifetime.

Do you believe that the Police have kidnapped him and are holding him to ransom ?

[jackdd]

On the gofundme page they write that he wants to plead guilty for the distribution of drugs!

Probably he wanted to get the money he spent on the flight back. Now he will probably stay in Thailand much longer than expected

[bkkcanuck8]

1 minute ago, sanemax said:

Do you believe that the Police have kidnapped him and are holding him to ransom ?

I would not call it ransom, random indicates innocence.  I call it delayed transfer.  They have the authority to arrest and detail, they are just taking their time in the transfer to proper facilities until has time to make other arrangements.  He is definitely not free to leave.  It happens most often (reported) with regards to shoplifting at the airport.  

[bkkcanuck8]

9 minutes ago, jackdd said:

On the gofundme page they write that he wants to plead guilty for the distribution of drugs!

Probably he wanted to get the money he spent on the flight back. Now he will probably stay in Thailand much longer than expected

Again, the time I reported it -- was for the go fund me the Jason Hoffman  gofundme page.  I told them the money being raised (according to the page) for helping out the family of the the person he negligently ran down (no sleep, alcohol then jumping on a motorcycle to bomb around - boom...).  I basically asked that if they were to continue funding that they make sure the money is directly paid to the actual victims family with no strings attached because the raising of funds was normal as the first step to buying off the family so that the police and perpetrator could negotiate for the charges to be dropped.  They suspended the page pending information - which I gather never was provided to their satisfaction.

 

They are understandably to becoming an accessory after the fact to a crime and of  obstruction of justice.  They do have some standards.

Edited January 14, 2018 by bkkcanuck8

[Dave67]

24 minutes ago, robblok said:

Was your mate guilty or not ? (i am pro drugs no judgement here). Just curious because you hear a lot about made up charges but I don't really believe it happens a lot because there are enough people who do get caught with the stuff for them not to setup people.

Yes, he had about 3 joints on him, naive only 21. Was on Koh Tao of all places. The police played all sort of games with him and his father. I had to give them the bad news about the police and paying was the only way out. The problem is people seem to think they have rights here and there is a legal process to follow

Edited January 14, 2018 by Dave67

[anon789561]

got caught with weed, didn't pay money for bail so waiting in the cells to go court. standard. he will be fed a bag of porridge rice a day with no spoon to eat it with. he will also get a basic legal advisor for court. Go fund yourself

** as mentioned before this happened to me when i was still young and fairly care free. not weed, extacy. from reports i have seen they are a lot stricter when it actually goes to court than they used to be

Edited January 14, 2018 by Happy enough
**

[jenny2017]

Hi guys! With the help of the Thai-Canadian Embassy, we have been able to locate Shawn. He is being held at a police station in Bangkok that literally - on its GOOGLE MAPS reviews - has multiple people from other countries who were tourists there saying that the 'police' at this station are known for working with night club owners in the area to set up foreigners to scam their families out of money.

 

   Gofundyourself.-

[robblok]

4 minutes ago, Dave67 said:

Yes, he had about 3 joints on him, naive only 21. Was on Koh Tao of all places. The police played all sort of games with him and his father. I had to give them the bad news about the police and paying was the only way out. The problem is people seem to think they have rights here and there is a legal process to follow

I figured as much that there was base for the police to take him in (and extort him). I feel its stupid to go after drug users especially those on MJ. Just don't see police planting evidence happening a lot but its touted as happening and I am always real skeptical about it. 

 

Its totally wrong of course that they extort people but I think i would prefer to pay my way out then to face the courts (especially as a long term resident it could invalidate your visa)

[Dave67]

1 minute ago, robblok said:

I figured as much that there was base for the police to take him in (and extort him). I feel its stupid to go after drug users especially those on MJ. Just don't see police planting evidence happening a lot but its touted as happening and I am always real skeptical about it. 

 

Its totally wrong of course that they extort people but I think i would prefer to pay my way out then to face the courts (especially as a long term resident it could invalidate your visa)

Agree mate, they don't need to plant it on anyone. There are enough naive and in some cases stupid people on holiday in Thailand having a dabble

[anon789561]

1 minute ago, jenny2017 said:

Hi guys! With the help of the Thai-Canadian Embassy, we have been able to locate Shawn. He is being held at a police station in Bangkok that literally - on its GOOGLE MAPS reviews - has multiple people from other countries who were tourists there saying that the 'police' at this station are known for working with night club owners in the area to set up foreigners to scam their families out of money.

 

   Gofundyourself.-

you call it extortion well at least the reviews did. he didn't have to give them the money and is obviously now waiting to go to court. for a clean break some would rather pay out of it and not see court but i think alot of those reviews may have also confused extortion money with bail. i did years ago, thought they were going to keep the money but that was not the case. he is now in the standard position for possession and will be in the cells until his court date, should be no more than a week

[thrilled]

It sounds nearly like kidnaping.Wait this isn’t Mexico.I believe he did something 

stupid.Now he has to pay the price.

I do know in Thailand if A foreigner breaks the law and gets caught.The 1st police 

that confronts him he needs to get it straightened out right on the spot.

[bkkcanuck8]

 

6 minutes ago, robblok said:

I figured as much that there was base for the police to take him in (and extort him). I feel its stupid to go after drug users especially those on MJ. Just don't see police planting evidence happening a lot but its touted as happening and I am always real skeptical about it. 

 

Its totally wrong of course that they extort people but I think i would prefer to pay my way out then to face the courts (especially as a long term resident it could invalidate your visa)

I have no problem with drug use as a personal matter, but I prefer the laws be applied as they are period (no buy outs).  I would prefer he just be brought before a court, and if guilty of the offence (most likely) found guilty, deported and blacklisted.  If you want to take drugs - find a nice drug friendly country -- Thailand is not.  i.e. a Uniform standard of justice.