Thais arrested for charging ‘access fees’ to Freedom Beach

By The Phuket News

 

The men were arrested for charging entrance fees to Freedom Beach, south of Patong. Photo: Immigration Bureau

 

PHUKET: Two Thai men have been arrested for charging tourists cash in order to access Freedom Beach, south of Patong. The men are believed to have been raking in an estimated B10,000 a day.

 

Tourist Police and Immigration officers made the arrests yesterday (Nov 14) during a raid led by national Immigration Chief Maj Gen Surachate Hakparn.

 

Gen Surachate previously served as the national Deputy Chief of the Tourist Police and remains one of the key figures in ‘Thailand’s Action Taskforce for Information technology Crime Suppression’ (‘Tactics’).

Read more at https://www.thephuketnews.com/thais-arrested-for-charging-access-fees-to-freedom-beach-69353.php#7Li45fyysHzqiTxq.99 

 

-- © Copyright Phuket News 2018-11-15

19 minutes ago, webfact said:

The men are believed to have been raking in an estimated B10,000 a day.

 

Had they used the 'fee' from one person to make a more professional/official looking sign, they would have made more money....

A raid led by BJ and no photo. 

Hmm

1 hour ago, Oziex1 said:

A raid led by BJ and no photo. 

Hmm

 

Oz, I got you....

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Vacuum said:

 

Had they used the 'fee' from one person to make a more professional/official looking sign, they would have made more money....

Had they given the police a cut... 

Quote

Police reported that they had been charging money for people to access Freedom Beach for more than one year.

With the speed of a striking slug they sprang into action ????
 

Easily a decade they have been running that scam at Freedom Beach. We rocked up in a longtail in ‘09 and they tried to charge us to put a foot on the beach.

Jail them

WOW.... it's only taken about 40 years to arrest them... well done!!

If you were charged to enter it why was it called Freedom Beach........

4 minutes ago, AhFarangJa said:

If you were charged to enter it why was it called Freedom Beach........

if you were allowed to enter Blacks Beach in San Diego and you were not black, why .....!

4 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

 

Oz, I got you....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Jonathan, I can believe it now, one would have been enough though????

surely the cops were in on it if it had been going on for that long. nice clean looking beach. makes me wonder if a fee could not be charged and anyone wanting to go to a clean beach could pay to go there. hard to filter the sewer water of course. I will never forget the last time I would ever swim at jomtien beach several years ago. I thought I was clever by swimming at the south end but even that was disgusting.

Wow. I myself visited Phuket 5 times and 5 times paid the entrance fee ???? I even thought that they are nice when they gave me a free bottle of water(thb 10) and only asked thb 20 for parking =)) 

Renamed 200 Baht Beach!

i go to to smile when i see these pics of Big Joke, always got about 10+ cops trailing around behind him, like lost sheep. * gets home from work, wife says what have you ben doing today dear ? answer, absolutely nothing dear, same as i do every day. *

These guys have been stealing from tourists for at least a year.

They're not alone, scammers have their little operations going on everywhere.

Cleaning out these crooks, including any officials benefiting from their rackets, would attract a lot more tourists than occasionally waiving visa fees at the airport.  If they lose what they have saved on entry to scammers, they won't come back.

Repeat business is where the money is.

 

Not a popular viewpoint I know, but BJ seems to be making a difference and appears incorruptible.

2 hours ago, mercman24 said:

i go to to smile when i see these pics of Big Joke, always got about 10+ cops trailing around behind him, like lost sheep. * gets home from work, wife says what have you ben doing today dear ? answer, absolutely nothing dear, same as i do every day. *

 

"wife says what have you ben doing today dear ? answer, absolutely nothing dear, same as i do every day. *" - sounds like your typical politician, which I would not be surprised if he is setting himself up for. 

 

Look at Duterte in The Philippines.  He was swept into power on an anti drug platform.  BJ may put himself forward on an anti crime platform. 

Now which beach area (nearby I think) has illegal buildings on it and which has been "managed" by the son of a well known ex-mayor??

 

This was supposed to have been cleared a couple of years ago or more, but has anything happened about that yet?? 

 

Maybe something to show how serious BJ is about clearing out corruption!

Will check tomorrow if its really for free now

6 hours ago, mercman24 said:

i go to to smile when i see these pics of Big Joke, always got about 10+ cops trailing around behind him, like lost sheep. * gets home from work, wife says what have you ben doing today dear ? answer, absolutely nothing dear, same as i do every day. *

So BJ is doing something and seems to be achieving things, time to start writing something negative then.

Will check tomorrow if its really for free now

Was there today. Now its completed close with a gate

 

What about the entrance fee on the way to some waterfalls in Thailand? There are many fraudsters out there! 

Did it keep the Chinese out?

31 minutes ago, Charlesed said:

What about the entrance fee on the way to some waterfalls in Thailand?

There are many fraudsters out there! 

Some Waterfalls or Beaches may be free, but if you have to access them through a private land, the owner of this passage is entitled to ask for an access fee. (or at least it's what I have been told...)

2 hours ago, Crisu said:

Was there today. Now its completed close with a gate

 

Is it a private beach?? If not, the gate means nothing...………….(I think)!!

27 minutes ago, xylophone said:

Is it a private beach?? If not, the gate means nothing...………….(I think)!!

Just look at my post above (#25)

Beaches are all public (except military areas and alike)

but lands to access to them can be private.

No problem (theoretically) if you arrive by boat