British Couple Fights Bangkok Airport Extortionists

[jackspratt]

I don't think he should be jailed. He shot be shot along with every other perp in on it.........

Dear oh dear!..............children, children, can we please stick to sensible discussion.

If sensible discussion would bring about a sensible outcome, I'm all for it; but all you're doing is essentially talking crap and getting nowhere. It needs a rough, Singaporean-style approach, although understand that would first require a modicum of education/awareness by the general populace. What say you pratt?

Another inane comment from a card-carrying member of the hang 'em high brigade.

Do they execute scammers in Singapore now?

[grantbkk]

Someone called the mall at Suvarnabhumi "King Power Duty Free Plus" which is as funny as it is true.

Seriously, The Airports of Thailand derives a huge share of its operating budget and slush funds from their share of the profits of King Power. Frequent travelers and residents are fully aware that the government tacitly supports scams at the airport the most glaring of which are the taxi/limo touts business we are confronted with first thing after clearing customs. I have not seen what the AOT clears from these criminals each month or where the money goes.

I find it a bit strange that the AOT doesn't weigh in heavily on this issue. After all, these alleged crimes and accompanying negative press is directed right at them. One may assume that AOT is profiting from opportunistic scams perpetrated at the airport to help them get though these tough economic times. Certainly with their track record it's plausible.

Meanwhile, every traveler walking through the Suvarnabhumi Mall is a potential victim. If what happened to this couple is any example we are in for a long year of criminal activity at the airport. I wonder what happens to actual thieves that do not have the Dollars to get out of jail? I wonder if they actually just let them go given the lack of potential bribes and fines?

I recommend that you proceed directly to your gate and not look left or right while avoiding mid-path kiosks and sandwich shops, get on your plane and wait. You can finally breath easily when you feel the landing gear come up with the knowledge that you have beat the criminal network at Bangkok's finest mall/airport. I imagine the feeling would be similar to a drug courier making it out with 2 kilos of heroin strapped to his body. What a rush!

This is Thailand! Slowly becoming, Burma With Electricity.

[fallingoffthemap]

I bought something in the KP shop in Suwanabhumi a few months back on a visa run.

The girl handed me my purchase in a bag, but no receipt. I asked for a receipt (with so many stringent airport regulations, it just seems like a good idea) and she said they couldn't give me one - something about having the wrong type of flight ticket. I asked again, but still, no. At the time, I was annoyed, and just chalked up this odd logic to "Ah, well, this is Thailand..."

But now I wonder, if that could have been me....walking out of a KP shop, purchase in hand - but no receipt!

...or she actually didn't ring up the purchase, just pocked the money.

An employee gaming the King Power Co. Imagine that.

It's possible. Come to think of it, I think I even refused a bag, being eco-conscious and all...even scarier....

[Maestro]

I deleted a few off-topic posts and the replies to them. This topic s not about Newin, Madoff, prices at duty-free shops, taxis. I also deleted a nonsensical, screaming post (all in capital letters)

--

Maestro

[LomSak27]

Maybe Thaivisa.com can ask it's contacts at 'The Nation' why they are not covering a Thai story that is already in the British press.

If 'The Nation' are not interested I think that will speak volumes of where their loyalties and investigative priorities lie.

Note the incident involving the two tourists at the Phi Phi Guest house, or more specifically, the lack of media coverage given to that incident. It should be noted scams involving 'alleged crimes' at the airport were reported on TV and other forums two years ago. They also targeted older tourists and they involved the police in the shakedown. This had also reported at Chiang Mai airport at roughly the same time.

I have no doubts about the veracity of both stories. Given the economic climate, tourism hitting new lows, the english language press in Thailand is only acting with deep concern for the country by suppressing these unfortunate news stories and limiting articles they print.

PS Thanks Sriracha for those timely pictures on Thaksin. Getting a little desperate these days eh Good to see your still keeping the faith

[robhufton]

"However, on April 27 they sneaked out of the hotel and found their way to the embassy, where they met Kate Dufall, the pro-consul.

According to the couple, she told them the embassy could not interfere with the Thai legal system and put them in contact with Prachaya Vijitpokin, a lawyer"

Yes again shows hoe utterley useless the British Embassies abroad are. Overpaid civil servants on a beano with no interest in what they are really there for....

[Electra]

I bought something in the KP shop in Suwanabhumi a few months back on a visa run.

The girl handed me my purchase in a bag, but no receipt. I asked for a receipt (with so many stringent airport regulations, it just seems like a good idea) and she said they couldn't give me one - something about having the wrong type of flight ticket. I asked again, but still, no. At the time, I was annoyed, and just chalked up this odd logic to "Ah, well, this is Thailand..."

But now I wonder, if that could have been me....walking out of a KP shop, purchase in hand - but no receipt!

A simple solution would be to pay by credit card.

[Datsun240Z]

This is Thailand! Slowly becoming, Burma With Electricity.

I think they will become the new Burma, since I heared U.S is going to stick it's nose into the Burmese Junta.

[animatic]

This is Thailand! Slowly becoming, Burma With Electricity.

I think they will become the new Burma, since I heared U.S is going to stick it's nose into the Burmese Junta.

Have you actual been across Burma?

[ozzieovaseas]

This is very very scary stuff....there for the grace of God go any one of us.

The depths of sleaze and corruption knows no bounds for the Thugs In Brown and their partners in crime who clearly are also in areas of authority and trust. They have shown themselves to be a despicable lot that are doing untold damage to their country. How can they look at themselves and claim they love their King, their country and their countrymen?

Is there anybody in power in Thailand who is willing to stop this rot...this cancer??? It is endemic throughout the whole system and I fear for the future of Thailand as it is getting worse.

Great post mate...

It warranted a reply even so newcomers to the thread can see your words again. There has to be something done about this. Ive never seen a thread where so many are passing on the news to friends family and would be travellers.

As someone said in another thread..words to the affect of:

No more nails can possibly be hammered into the coffin, its no longer wood and by way of nails it is now indeed completely metal coated..and the olny response the thais seem capable of is to weld on more crap to help it sink even faster...

If authorities or people in power are made aware that a large percentage of expats and tourists are thinking like this then surely "absent" abbsit must do something, immediately,

INSTEAD of tooling about with laws concerning pedestrian crossings..failure to do so will result in thailand being the one hit by trucks..i thinks its already suffered a frieght train.

Hey MR absent abbsitt, how about some new laws or a taskforce with teeth at the airport?? And may i be bold enough to suggest that the group on the ground is manned by farangs..maybe this would give a little confidence and peace of mind to tourists.

I remember a trip to Manilla many years ago where it was reported that an infamous group of pickpocketers of tourists at the airport were rounded up and shot..ON SITE!

Of course no-one in a civilised society agrees or condones in dealing with such matters so extremely BUT the government definately has to make someone (or some case) an example to be dealt with very harshly before any small confidence is returned to potential tourists

Scams on the street are one thing but a scam at the airport is the ultimate embarrasment and loss of face Thailand can suffer.

[Soutpeel]

This poor couple should raise hel_l when they get back to the UK about the 'couldn't care less attitude' of the embassy staff. The British Diplomatic Service has gone down the plug hole along with everything else in the UK.

Been given lessons by Flash Gordon and his gang of Nulabour pigs at the trough...

[jackdanielsesq]

One has to think outside the box under these circumstances.

Whenever I visit any pseudo-secure bureaucratic institution, I ask for the person concerned and tell them I am

his/her brother and have flown all the way from LA to see him/her & present my CDL. All smiles.

The odd schmoo has queried the last name difference to which I reply, stoically - different Papas.

Most are simply quite happy to see picture, bar-coded ID. There are some UK Embassy horror stories.

BR>Jack

[MeetJohnDoe]

This is not the first time people have been jailed under strange circumstances after visiting King Power Duty Free. This is a company that ignores rules and laws and doubled their retail space simply by taking it over when Suvarnabhumi opened. They wanted to open another restaurant and quietly built a two story building next to the terminal without asking anyone's permission.

I agree with you that the King Power organization is totally corrupt (as well as way overpriced for anything but booze and fags) so it should be boycotted. The corruption and other stunts they are involved in at the airport are legion. The fact that they have basically been able to get away with it all shows that they are obviously being protected by those unnamed "influential persons" and nothing will ever be done to bring them to heel. [From my reading, apparently the company is owned by prominent members of the "friends of Newin" political clique [Newin Chichob's corrupt political machine based in Burriram.] and the Abhisit government needs their support to keep his majority in Parliement.

The most we can all do is to post the news everywhere and anywhere on the internet that tourists should avoid the duty-free stores at Bangkok airport and downtown. Pointing out that they are corrupt both in their business practices and the destructive role the company's leaders play in Thai politics.

Would be curious as to how the whole scam goes down and if the King Power staff are in on it. I mean, how did they go about accusing them of theft?

[Datsun240Z]

This is Thailand! Slowly becoming, Burma With Electricity.

I think they will become the new Burma, since I heared U.S is going to stick it's nose into the Burmese Junta.

Have you actual been across Burma?

A part of Burma.

[VSteve]

Whew, i was just in that store last week.

Never again!

Thanks for the warning everyone.

I second that! Based on the storis from Thaivisa.com alone I will never set foot in KingPower again. Not worth it.

[caf]

I just hope that this couple do not give up and get a result.

Someone has to eventually!

I don't think they will. She is ex UN staff and he works or contracts with the UK government.

Andew Drummond has 40 odd replies on his site and there are 14 pages on this one. The more the pressure is kept up with sensible posts the more something is likely to get done.

the austarlian sheila got an apology from the governor, the police have confirmed no evidence in this case.

i hope behind the scenes something is being done, by the thai authorities as well as the embassies - however discreetly that may be

[caf]

BTW I can't see how KP could not be involved when the alledged theft of an unseen wallet happened at one of their stores. You can't have a theft without a victim complaint, the victim being KP in this case.

Harry is correct.

Well, no. The complaint is being made on behalf of KP.

But KP can ask from it's employees to report to the management if the hand a shoplifter over to the police. Then the management can decide if they will offer or accept a financial settlement. If there are complaints about scams, then the management can check if they know about this case and if they offered a setlement or not.

Scams would then require involvement of a higher management and a settlement would then have to end up in the books and not in someones pocket.

It would be nice to know what the internal proccedures are at KP when someone is caught shoplifting.

sorry for my typing mistake on "employrs" instead of "employers", mario

I think I understand now.

"But KP can ask its employees to report to management if they hand a shoplifter over to the police."

That fits in with the rest of your post, and is a good point.

It was the "it's emplyees" i.e "it is employees" that threw me.

[hughben]

I bought something in the KP shop in Suwanabhumi a few months back on a visa run.

The girl handed me my purchase in a bag, but no receipt. I asked for a receipt (with so many stringent airport regulations, it just seems like a good idea) and she said they couldn't give me one - something about having the wrong type of flight ticket. I asked again, but still, no. At the time, I was annoyed, and just chalked up this odd logic to "Ah, well, this is Thailand..."

But now I wonder, if that could have been me....walking out of a KP shop, purchase in hand - but no receipt!

A simple solution would be to pay by credit card.

Well according to Andrew Drummond I would say it isn't:

She sat there clutching a plastic bag containing a lipstick along with a till receipt for 570 baht. Sian, from Kilkenny in Ireland saw her life ahead in a Bangkok jail and was clearly dumbstruck.

“I never intended to steal anything. I paid for the lipstick and had also picked up some eyeliner worth about 900 Thai baht and taken it to the till. This is all a terrible mistake. I paid by credit card. I thought I had paid for both times”

http://www.andrew-drummond.com/2009/06/28/809/

No matter what happens the KP name will be tarnished like Ratners was in the UK 20 years ago.

I think there is no going back for many. I won't set foot anywhere in the Airport where you can purchase items from food courts to Boots.

It won't happen but it would be great if all passengers were aware and stayed away from the stores.

[manuchaomk]

British couple fights Bangkok airport extortionists

Two tourists were held by an airport gang until they paid up £8,000

Stephen Ingram and Xi Lin were falsely accused

of stealing from a shop at Bangkok airport. Photo: Michael Sheridan

A British couple who were falsely accused of shoplifting in Bangkok airport and were forced to pay £8,000 in bribes to secure their release are to take legal action for compensation.

They were the victims of an extortion racket that has ensnared other foreign travellers at the airport, which handles most of the 800,000 British visitors to Thailand every year.

Stephen Ingram, 49, and Xi Lin, 45, both technology professionals from Cambridge, were detained by security guards as they went to board Qantas flight QF1 to London on the night of Saturday, April 25.

They were accused of taking a Givenchy wallet worth £121 from a King Power duty-free shop and were handed over to the police. An official release order from the local Thai prosecutor’s office subsequently conceded there was no evidence against them.

They were freed five days later after a frightening ordeal in which they said they were threatened and held against their will at a cheap motel on the airport perimeter until they had handed over the money.

The bribes were paid to an intermediary named Sunil “Tony” Rathnayaka, a Sri Lankan national in his fifties who works as a “volunteer” interpreter for Thailand’s tourist police (motto: “To serve and to protect”).

“Our main motivation is to protect other innocent British tourists from being caught up in this nightmare,” said Ingram last week. “We intend to take every legal means to recover our money and obtain justice.”

Last week Rathnayaka admitted in a telephone interview that he had received cash and money transfers amounting to more than £7,000 from the Britons. He said the money was for police bail and for a payment to a figure he called “Little Big Man” who could withdraw the case against them.

“In Thailand everyone knows it’s like that,” he said. “They can go to jail or they can just pay a fine and go home. It is corruption, you know?”

Rathnayaka also agreed that the “bail” — about £4,000 — was never returned to Ingram and Xi. Thai law says bail should be refunded.

In a detailed statement the couple said they were first detained at an airport office of the tourist police and later taken to cells at a police station in an isolated modern building on the fringes of the airport.

Rathnayaka confirmed that he met them in the cells on the morning of Sunday, April 26, and arranged the “bail”. The police kept the couple’s passports. Rathnayaka then escorted Ingram and Xi to the Valentine Resort, a lurid pink motel a few hundred yards from the runways. They were to remain there for four days.

During that time, Rathnayaka warned them not to tell anyone about their plight, especially the British embassy, lawyers, friends, family or the press.

However, on April 27 they sneaked out of the hotel and found their way to the embassy, where they met Kate Dufall, the pro-consul.

According to the couple, she told them the embassy could not interfere with the Thai legal system and put them in contact with Prachaya Vijitpokin, a lawyer.

Vijitpokin and a colleague, Kittamert Engchountada, of the Lawyers Association of Thailand, urged them to stay in the country to fight the case and have since assembled a dossier for potential prosecutions.

However, Ingram said the couple were so terrified by this stage that they decided to meet the demands for money, which they raised by bank transfers from Britain direct to Rathnayaka’s account. The Sunday Times has copies of the transactions.

Ingram and Xi were put on a British Airways flight to London early on Friday, May 1, having received their passports with official documents from prosecutors and police stating that no charges were to be brought against them.

They have said they are willing to return to Thailand and testify to try to stop the extortion if the government will guarantee their safety.

That could become a priority for Thailand, which has suffered a series of blows to its tourist industry through economic and political upheaval.

Inquiries last week established that Rathnayaka and his accomplices have continued preying on tourists who end up in police custody after being accused of theft from the airport duty-free shop. “I am just helping people,” he explained. “I don’t get paid to do this. All the embassies know me.”

Officials at the Danish embassy confirmed that a Danish woman fell into Rathnayaka’s hands about two weeks ago and was allowed to leave Thailand only after handing over more than £4,500.

When a Sunday Times journalist posing as a businessman in trouble contacted Rathnayaka last week, the first thing he said was: “If it’s a case, for example, of shoplifting at the airport duty-free then I can help. Bail is 100,000 baht (£1,800).” He later declined an interview, saying the Sri Lanka embassy — which employs him as an interpreter — had told him not to speak.

The Foreign Office said consular officials had offered to raise the case with the Thai authorities at the time but had been asked by the couple not to intervene.

A spokesman for King Power duty-free said the company had strict rules for evidence to be submitted to the police in shoplifting cases, but added: “We cannot control what happens after that.”

-- timesonline.co.uk 2009-06-28

Shame on you, Thai corrupted people (referred to the corrupted ones only ! ...in average I don't know...but a lot of them)

Shame on thai laws too: because of its discretionary interpretation...

[Rinrada]

Seem to remember a couple of years ago (or less) King Power lost its contract at Suwanna and was to be booted out. but they are still there ...

wot happened ?..couple of brown envelopes or sumit...MKjai figures....

[salty]

What really maddens me about this incident is on no account should the farang make Thais lose face. But scammers treat the farang with utter contempt, deceit and no respect for the unfortunate people who fall foul of their money extorting schemes.

I applaud the British couple for going public with this. As a previous poster said there but for the grace of God go any of us.

[Maestro]

Some more off-topic posts, one even starting with “I know this is off topic”, and the replies to them have been deleted.

From this point forward it should no longer be necessary to make a statement in the thread when posts are deleted. Therefore, if a post disappears you may safely assume that it was deleted because it was off topic or otherwise against forum rules.

--

Maestro

[a99az]

Although it happend at a King Power store, there is no involvement of King Power itself. Let's not suggest it is or call for boycots etc.

You are well informed Mario how do you know that?

[Rinrada]

Bobby Moore...eh...now when woz that....

[tartempion]

I recommend that you proceed directly to your gate and not look left or right while avoiding mid-path kiosks and sandwich shops, get on your plane and wait. You can finally breath easily when you feel the landing gear come up with the knowledge that you have beat the criminal network at Bangkok's finest mall/airport. I imagine the feeling would be similar to a drug courier making it out with 2 kilos of heroin strapped to his body. What a rush!

This is Thailand! Slowly becoming, Burma With Electricity.

I second that.

Having a FF card helps though.

I walk straight to the silk lounge, have a seat and a drink awaiting boarding time, not to be bothered by the shops, more expensive anyway than what you can get at Siam Paragon

[Thai at Heart]

Unfortunately the burden of proof must lie with the shop. The judge stated no evidence of wrongdoing, so irrespective of whether they bought the letter or not, they have been falsely accused and want their dam_n money back.

If you can buy such a letter, I would suggest that you complain about the corruption in Thailand rather than supposing that these people were guilty of anything more than being in Bangkok airport and looking capable of paying enough money for the sting to be profitable.

There is not one smidgen of evidence that these people did anything wrong, and much as we have been advised to not mention KP as being in on this because of libel I wouldn't accuse these people of any wrongdoing either.

[Thaddeus]

I do not call this extortion. I call it private settlement. No one is force into a private settlement. In this case, the 2 brits are trying to revert a deal that they have willingly settled in private.

Settling under duress does not show willingness.

[robbiecia]

With a lack of any kind of a response from any of the powers that be at the airport,

I will never set foot in KP again.

My parents will be coming to Thailand soon, and i will warn them not to step into KP.

I cannot take the risk of my parents being scammed by airport lowlife.

word of mouth is a very powerful thing

[slapout]

In the time this topic has evolved I have been able to pass on to 8 people, who will traveling thru Swampy, the gist of this incident and related areas of concern. 'They will do any duty free shopping outside Thailand". Their words not mine, any help I can give KP I am at their beck and call.

[harrycallahan]

I do not call this extortion. I call it private settlement. No one is force into a private settlement. In this case, the 2 brits are trying to revert a deal that they have willingly settled in private.

No they weren't forced, they could have done a long stint in a Thai prison for a crime for which there was (apparently) little supporting evidence.

They don't have extortion in Columbia either, the families of the... ummm.... temporarily incarcerated privately agree to hand over wads of cash for their release.