British Couple Fights Bangkok Airport Extortionists

[CRUNCHER]

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.

This happened at the "Foreign Office" in England, once the couple has found their way home. They obviously realized that this was more "Jack Schitt" because it would amount to nothing / solve nothing and in all likelihood nothing more than blowing smoke up their <deleted>.

Thats not the way I read it. Says "consular officials" offerred help "at the time".

[frodo]

KEEP OUT OF THE DUTY FREE SHOPS. Then we wont be targets , unfortunately that will never happen, as there is always a tourist willing to pay higher than

street prices for what they buy. I would even go as far as saying some of the products are FAKE.

My own experiences of Buying from K-P eg, Marlborough Lights - NOTHING like what you can buy anywhere else and they remind me of the fakes you get at the borders such as Mae Sai . Smoking kills and a bad habit but those they sold to ME, surely would have helped me on my way to my coffin far sooner if I actually smoked more than 1 pkt. I actually put them in the bin. Thats how bad they were.

I would like to know who paid for the 5 days at the Hotel while the scam was running ? Who paid for the flight back to the UK after being forced from their original flight ? How did they come up with a large sum of money so quickly if detained at the hotel to pay them and possibly all the other expenses they incured ? Were they locked up in the hotel or have a security guard guarding them or were they really free to do what they wanted , including escape. The full story would be good.

I agree.

These questions are very relevant and the one thing i would add is to ask if these couple had mobiles??

Of course everyone has cell phones right?

So,this talk of being under arrest in a hotel!!??..guards watching there every moove!??..

I would think anyone in such a situation would be ringing anyone with an ear and a mobile as soon as the hotel door was slammed.

Like another poster mentioned..ring overseas friends to help fight from your own country,police at home,members of parliament...anyone and everyone

Even if the embassy doesnt care, then complaining about that embassy and everyone else involved to current affairs shows in your own country might be worth a shot and create a bit of public outrage.

Look at what was accomplished by bar-mat-mum...a few dough eyed blonde haired kids and bobs your uncle.

I cant believe they took all this so softly and had to resort to "sneaking out"

Even someone at the hotel could have even been bribed for extra help..for far less than what they paid

In other words, blame the victims. Had to happen sooner or later.

[TheLaughingMan]

I agree.

These questions are very relevant and the one thing i would add is to ask if these couple had mobiles??

Of course everyone has cell phones right?

So,this talk of being under arrest in a hotel!!??..guards watching there every moove!??..

I would think anyone in such a situation would be ringing anyone with an ear and a mobile as soon as the hotel door was slammed.

Like another poster mentioned..ring overseas friends to help fight from your own country,police at home,members of parliament...anyone and everyone

Even if the embassy doesnt care, then complaining about that embassy and everyone else involved to current affairs shows in your own country might be worth a shot and create a bit of public outrage.

Look at what was accomplished by bar-mat-mum...a few dough eyed blonde haired kids and bobs your uncle.

I cant believe they took all this so softly and had to resort to "sneaking out"

Even someone at the hotel could have even been bribed for extra help..for far less than what they paid

Who are you to judge their state of mind, level of fear and uncertainty?

[catmac]

In other words, blame the victims. Had to happen sooner or later.

So true, frodo.

Why is it that some posters are only too eager to slag off any fellow non-Thai who falls foul of whatever scam that the Thai police and their accomplices perpetrate?

[sriracha john]

Time to bring Thaksin back - there is no discipline in Thailand anymore - from anyone.

BR>Jack

Thaksin bondage and discipline is not what Thailand needs.

These wouldn't be photographs of the Tak Bai incident in which a Thai court very recently ruled that army, police and government officials had done "nothing wrong."

Anyway there ought to be some prize for weird off topic obsessiveness.The quoted post would certainly win it.

Thaksin made some particularly callous and stupid remarks after Tak Bai, but a more interesting tack for the purposes of this thread would be his links with King Power which I believe were considerable.

My post was made in reply to someone else who broached the subject... and whose post received other replies besides mine as well, but you obsessively decided to respond only to mine.

Perhaps there's a prize for your dogged obsessiveness to my posts.

Edited June 28, 2009 by sriracha john

[endure]

From the article:

"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."

NOT !!

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.

This is what happened in Thailand when the couple arrived at the Thai Embassy after escaping the captors.

Definitely sounds like "Jack Schitt" to me.

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.

This happened at the "Foreign Office" in England, once the couple has found their way home. They obviously realized that this was more "Jack Schitt" because it would amount to nothing / solve nothing and in all likelihood nothing more than blowing smoke up their <deleted>.

There are no 'consular officials' at the 'Foreign Office'. Consular officials are based at Uk Embassies/ Consulates - on this occasion the UK Embassy in Bangkok. It's also true that the UK (or any other) Embassy cannot interfere with the host country's legal system. The days of Palmerston and gunboat diplomacy are long gone.

[stumonster]

But I suspect Tony the Sri Lankan may be the only person to take the fall.

and this will be all that will happen no matter how much noise is made - although KP staff might tone down their actions for a little while.

if the sri lankan has any wisdom he will have left the country by now

[judgedredd]

I strongly disagree with the poster who alleges that “tourism is responsible for only 6-percent of the Thai economy”. That certainly begs the question, now doesn’t it? Additionally, I must assert that unreported and untaxed earnings in the entertainment areas certainly can’t be measured, so we really don’t know how much tourism contributes to the economy.

But, to the point, it really begs the question to assert that Thai police crimes of all kinds against foreigners affect only tourism, and have only a 6-percent impact risk if left unchecked. Those crimes also affect the decision of world-class businesses that may choose to place their factory in some other third world hellhole instead of Thailand. Those crimes certainly affect the decisions of retirees who cannot even buy land here, and who must grovel and jump through hoops to keep their visas current.

Thailand already has enough “designed-in” negative issues (land ownership, visas, etc.) There are less desirable countries working very hard to compete with Thailand. I would not want to live in Cambodia, or the Philippines, or Malaysia, which is why I am here instead of there, but it would certainly be wonderful if Thailand would correct some of the crazy issues like land ownership, visas, and etc., which could easily be modeled on the practices of many of its more foreign-friendly neighbors. Thailand is a very desirable place to live, on balance, so expats, tourists, retirees and investors continually put up with the nonsense, much of which does not exist in neighboring countries.

But, at what point do the scales tip? The Thai government cannot continue to ignore Police crimes against foreigners. There is a lot more than six-percent at stake here, when you add up tourism, foreign investment, foreign retirees, and perhaps even exports. I encourage all of you to Google the “Don’t Buy Thai” campaign of about 15 years ago. Different issue, but Western pressure worked then and perhaps it can work again now.

Judge Dredd

[davejonesbkk]

I hate to throw cold water on this story but I doubt this will have much affect on future tourists and most people in the UK wont hear about this. Tourists/expats have been getting ripped off, robbed, arrested and murdered here for years....even before I came her in 2002 there were stories of it happening and yet there was a massive boom in tourist numbers until recently.

Once people have some money in their pockets they will all be back here....just wait.

[ozzieovaseas]

I agree.

These questions are very relevant and the one thing i would add is to ask if these couple had mobiles??

Of course everyone has cell phones right?

So,this talk of being under arrest in a hotel!!??..guards watching there every moove!??..

I would think anyone in such a situation would be ringing anyone with an ear and a mobile as soon as the hotel door was slammed.

Like another poster mentioned..ring overseas friends to help fight from your own country,police at home,members of parliament...anyone and everyone

Even if the embassy doesnt care, then complaining about that embassy and everyone else involved to current affairs shows in your own country might be worth a shot and create a bit of public outrage.

Look at what was accomplished by bar-mat-mum...a few dough eyed blonde haired kids and bobs your uncle.

I cant believe they took all this so softly and had to resort to "sneaking out"

Even someone at the hotel could have even been bribed for extra help..for far less than what they paid

Who are you to judge their state of mind, level of fear and uncertainty?

Well kind sir i do not believe i made any such judgement on their state of mind,and as for fear and uncertainty (which i dont believe i mentioned either) they surely show no sign of, considering they are going to take the incident even further and head on.

I dont know how you read any of that out of my comments,as with the other poster, i was asking the question why they didnt at least pursue other avenues of advice initially or at least seek help from multiple sources.

[asiawatcher]

So - from the 7 pages of blogs here no one has asked - what is being done to investigate:

1. King Power for allowing (aiding and abetting) this to happen given their presence at the airport

2. The Tourist Police who are tipped off to make the arrest - they would have the informants names from multiple arrests

3. The Police who are charging and detaining these innocents

The Special Investigations Division of this nature are what Khun Abhiset is livid about. Forget TAT, forget foreign media, forget all the excuses - simply roll with the facts. It is an ongoing airport scam and it is up to the Special Branches to investigate as local police simply laugh at all this sort of rubbish in these blogs as nothing is EVER done about the complaints.

The airport is the stop off and the beginning of the scams - starting with Taxi's, sprukers from AOL making plenty on the side as no competition is allowed to greet passengers and so on. From there it is all downhill. Caveat Emptor - let the buyer beware. Notwithstanding all this, King Power need to have formal complaints made against it so that it at lest is made to toe the line when it comes to fraud originating on their premises.

Let the good time roll - on.

[jackdanielsesq]

The Judge is correct - there are massive implications in losing 'only 6%' of any GDP sector.

By the time everything else is factored in 12 months on, it is more like 20% effectively.

And it is never alone - the biggest problem in LOS is the political uncertainty, which bodes badly

for every sector that requires foreign investment. That pretty much covers them all.

Once (GMC) China is seen as being more user-friendly, watch them take off like a virus.

Shoot Mon - even the plane I love to hate is being built there. Go Big or go Home!!

No shipping even. A 6% hit can stop the economy - as we have just seen recently.

They have to clean up the airports before visitors simply bankrupt them.

BR>Jack

[Datsun240Z]

BR>Jack

Thaksin bondage and discipline is not what Thailand needs.

What's wrong with this? Bad people should be punished. And yes, drug cases should have execution at site. Same with everything else, the goverment is to softy. If you want to stop crime and traffic problems and whatever. Put big penalties, they won't do it again. If you caught for speeding for instance, not fine 500 baht, no 10,000 baht, you see how quick it is solved.

[sunholidaysun1]

How I see it is this : The original scam was put into place from the outset , possibly by involvement of the staff at KP and orchestrated by Mr.Sri Lanka or wherever he came from. They report the tourist for stealing , the police are called. The tourists are taken to the police station and interviewed , Mr Sri Lanka being the interpreter tells the worried tourists how much trouble they are in . The police have no idea what Mr Sri Lanka is saying and the Tourists are non the wiser either as they dont speak Thai .

Then Mr Sri Lanka tells the tourists he can keep them out of jail , which could be months before it goes to court , even though the police, possibly if they are not involved in the scam , have told them they are free to leave. Panic sets in and the tourists take what Mr Sri Lanka says as the truth. They know already he is the police interpreter and possibly trust him. He then tells them he can sort all this out so they wont have to spend any more time in jail and they agree to go with him. He puts them in the hotel , tells them to stay put , dont do anything to make matters worse for yourselves and let me do what I can .Then he tells them after they spend a few worried days in the hotel , its going to cost 8k GBP for everything to be dropped and for their freedom . MERRY CHRISTMAS Mr.Sri Lanka . I bet he is enjoying himself in his tea plantation at home by now.

If the police are involved Then they will get whats coming to them if proven . Somehow I have a feeling the police did their jobs for a change and on finding no evidence , released them . Hopefully we will get to the bottom of this but I dont think there is going to be anything happening other than to make others aware, but if it happens to you , maybe you or me would feel the same as them , scared stiff, especially if your only a tourist and know about the places like the BKK Hilton etc .

[BarryM]

As I understand it these poor Thais have paid thousands, even millions of (often borrowed) baht (depending on rank) to secure their "jobs" so we can hardly blame them for widening the net a bit to keep up with the repayments now that other souces of revenue (bars in particular) are under-performing.

[WeeGB]

Hopefully Mr Rathnayaka's plantation is in what was formerly Tamil territory, would serve the scheming bleeder right!

Be interesting to see what is done about all of this, over the next few days.

[endure]

What's wrong with this? Bad people should be punished. And yes, drug cases should have execution at site.

Don't you think it would be preferable to put them on trial and decide their guilt before killing them?

[Kitsch22]

Wrong, sorry.

Embassies can and do provide shelter and refuge in times of great need. This was a kidnapping and the couple having been held by a gang that obviously had police involvement and maybe more took place with the bail hearing (we don't know this) probably made the right call in not getting involved with any more Thais.

It was the Embassy sending them back into this situation that caused the money to change hands. IMHO

I do not understand the rationale for these allegations of "kidnapping". Unless I have misunderstood, these people were charged with theft and then released on bail and while they were on bail approached the British Embassy but declined an offer for the British Embassy staff to make representations on their behalf to the Thai authorities. Can anybody point me to a credible factual report which contradicts any part of that analysis? The availability of a system of corrupt payments does not of itself convert a lawful arrest into an unlawful kidnapping.

Other than providing visits to nationals held in custody (not applicable here) and perhaps furnishing an introduction to a suitable lawyer, what precisely is it that the embassy staff are supposed to do?

Is it being suggested that the embassy should help defendants in pending criminal cases to skip bail? If so, would we be equally happy if the Thai Embassy in London helped its citizens in the same fashion to become fugitives from British justice?

Yes you misunderstood. Read the initial post again, more slowly this time, its all right there.

I have re-read the Sunday Times report and the whole of this thread. None of the quoted press reports and, indeed, nothing other than unsupported assertions made by TV members comes within a million miles of supporting any allegation of kidnapping. On the other hand, if the allegations were limited merely to a couple of farangs getting caught in an organised extortion racket, then few if any of the readership would be surprised.

Even then, it would still be ludicrous to suggest that the British Embassy should take on the role of the Lone Ranger and Tonto in these circumstances.

[capco1]

I've also forwarded this article to the travel editor at the Los Angeles Times.

[farseer]

http://www.andrew-drummond.com/tag/stephen-ingram/

[TheLaughingMan]

Kitsch22 They were not released as you said, they were brought to a hotel until their money came in. Were you under the impression they were doing all this willingly?

Datsun240Z Those are muslim protesters, not drug dealers, you really thought drug dealers hung out together by the hundreds? And all to be caught righteously by the Thai police? Cmon think man. 90 of those protesters were murdered shortly after those pics were taken. They were killed for protesting, does that fall into your bizarre sense of justice? As for the 3000 people that dies during the drug war, you truly belive they were all righteous kills too? Every single one of them a hardened drug dealer? They investigated and found many of them had nothing to do with drugs, you still feel they should have been killed simply for being in the way or on the bad side of the Thai police mafia?

Edited June 28, 2009 by TheLaughingMan

[toret]

Heard a story before about similar things happening to an asian tourist (a singaporean if I recall correctly) who alledgedly had an extra carton of cigarettes put in his/her shopping bag and assumed it was a gift or a promotion. Result: stamped out of Thailand with "Thief" in the passport.

Since the female half of the couple in this story has an asian name (and probably asian appearance) perhaps they thought they could still get away with it. Or maybe they just getting more confident, since someone alledgedly tried a similar stunt with a danish couple.

Lesson to be learned: If shopping at King Power or whatever it is called, leave your bags/coats/purses with a travel partner outside and triple check shopping bag towards receit before leaving the counter.

If this scam goes on in the secure area of an international airport, there is someone bigger than the staff behind it.

I would hate to see Thailand sink into such a "banana republic" state where one can be scammed even in the "secure" zone of the main international airport.

Actually I might extend my stay in a certain neighbour country with a horrible reputation for corruption if these things are allowed to continue.

[TheLaughingMan]

I already posted a link to that story, whats so crazy is he was a retired high official.

[lannarebirth]

This is not the first time people have been jailed under strange circumstances after visiting King Power

This is the sort of company king power are,

That's slanderous. I think unless you have something better than your cigarette anecdote and have evidence of company instigation of or acquiescence to any related activity you should take it back .

Seems to me the owner of Kingpower would be extremely upset about all this.

If I were the complainant I'd be straight on the blower to him.

Seems like he'd be the best person to get things done and get heads chopped if he were sent the relevant information.

John

sleepyjohn,

Might I humbly suggest you take a deeper look at the King Power organization and its ties to corruption everywhere.

[jitenshaman]

I strongly disagree with the poster who alleges that "tourism is responsible for only 6-percent of the Thai economy". That certainly begs the question, now doesn't it? Additionally, I must assert that unreported and untaxed earnings in the entertainment areas certainly can't be measured, so we really don't know how much tourism contributes to the economy.

But, to the point, it really begs the question to assert that Thai police crimes of all kinds against foreigners affect only tourism, and have only a 6-percent impact risk if left unchecked. Those crimes also affect the decision of world-class businesses that may choose to place their factory in some other third world hellhole instead of Thailand. Those crimes certainly affect the decisions of retirees who cannot even buy land here, and who must grovel and jump through hoops to keep their visas current.

Thailand already has enough "designed-in" negative issues (land ownership, visas, etc.) There are less desirable countries working very hard to compete with Thailand. I would not want to live in Cambodia, or the Philippines, or Malaysia, which is why I am here instead of there, but it would certainly be wonderful if Thailand would correct some of the crazy issues like land ownership, visas, and etc., which could easily be modeled on the practices of many of its more foreign-friendly neighbors. Thailand is a very desirable place to live, on balance, so expats, tourists, retirees and investors continually put up with the nonsense, much of which does not exist in neighboring countries.

But, at what point do the scales tip? The Thai government cannot continue to ignore Police crimes against foreigners. There is a lot more than six-percent at stake here, when you add up tourism, foreign investment, foreign retirees, and perhaps even exports. I encourage all of you to Google the "Don't Buy Thai" campaign of about 15 years ago. Different issue, but Western pressure worked then and perhaps it can work again now.

Judge Dredd

I agree wholeheartedly....6% my a** Just on any given night, the number of foreign visitors strolling down Sukhumvit or Patpong probably use enough taxi drivers, hotels, waiters, maids, hair stylists, tattoo artists, bar girls, flower sellers, food vendors, and consume enough bottles of alcohol to represent adding at least one 0 to the aforementioned figure..and that's without shopping

[capco1]

Maybe everyone here should show King Power their support!

http://www.kingpower.com/2009/index.php

[Kitsch22]

Kitsch22 They were not released as you said, they were brought to a hotel until their money came in. Were you under the impression they were doing all this willingly?

They were bailed, according to the Sunday Times. They were detained on the night of Saturday 25 April and held in police custody until the morning of Sunday 26 April when they met the fixer from Sri Lanka who arranged bail in the sum of 100,000 Baht. Thereupon they were allowed to leave and were accommodated in an hotel. Although the police retained possession of their passports it is unclear whether or not residence at the hotel was a condition of their bail. What is clear is that they were sufficiently free to be able to walk out of the hotel on Monday 27 April and travel to the British Embassy and then (apparently) return voluntarily to the hotel after that. They flew back to UK on 1 May.

No "kidnapping" there; just extortion.

[sunholidaysun1]

http://www.andrew-drummond.com/tag/stephen-ingram/

Are we talking about THEE Mr Drummond who used to prop the bar up in the old after hours drinking haunt " The Harbout Bar ' nr Cowboy.

Gin and Tonic if im not wrong !! any many of em ,lol Those were the good old days.

[sunholidaysun1]

This is not the first time people have been jailed under strange circumstances after visiting King Power

This is the sort of company king power are,

That's slanderous. I think unless you have something better than your cigarette anecdote and have evidence of company instigation of or acquiescence to any related activity you should take it back .

Seems to me the owner of Kingpower would be extremely upset about all this.

If I were the complainant I'd be straight on the blower to him.

Seems like he'd be the best person to get things done and get heads chopped if he were sent the relevant information.

John

sleepyjohn,

Might I humbly suggest you take a deeper look at the King Power organization and its ties to corruption everywhere.

Obviously a MEMBER of the red shirt brigade.

[MaiChai]

What amazes me about Thailand is how quick the Thais are at locking someone up for the most trivial of crimes. Is everyone assumed to be a lowly criminal? Is there no respect for 'guests in their country'? One would expect to be treated better that a lowly criminal, especially as its probably cost you quite alot of money to get to Thailand in the first place?