Bangkok Cops Caught On Camera Extorting Mall Vendor

[webfact]

Bangkok cops caught on camera allegedly extorting mall vendor

By Coconuts Bangkok

http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=WXYKkN6FB3M

BANGKOK: -- A Youtube clip of Bangkok police allegedly extorting a cashier for selling counterfeit goods at a mall has evoked angry reactions online.

The clip (ตำรวจหรือโจรเรียกค่าไถ่) was uploaded by Youtube user Mild Pond on Thursday and posted on the Facebook page of Mild Love Jrt, who claims to be the victim.

She says that a copyright owner came to the stall where she was working in a Bangkok mall and found that she was selling fake products. Police then brought her to the station for interrogation.

Mild Love claims that Pol Lt Col Choosak Chankwarng told her at the police station that she was under arrest for conspiring to sell counterfeit goods and had to pay at least THB50,000 bail to go home. [more...]

Full story: http://www.coconutsb...ng-mall-vendor/

-- COCONUTS Bangkok 2013-01-26

[gl555]

"“True love is like a good cop because you’ll never find one.”

LOL that's a good one!

[l33tfarang]

Standard operating procedure. Props to the person who (bravely) uploaded the video!

[Kilgore Trout]

So her reaction is to blame the cop for extorting her when she was breaking the law herself, pretty bold

Both of them should be arrested

Sent from my GT-S5660 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Redlines]

Cry me a river. Maybe it's time to quit selling fake crap and accept responsibility for your actions.

[Thaddeus]

I wonder how long it will take for the BiB to sue the victim for defamation.

[Card]

I wouldn't say this had anything to do with extortion because:

1. Like most people on here, I don't speak Thai.

2. Would the cops discuss a bribe when they know they are being videoed? Can't see that myself.

[kerrysum]

Funny,

Seems to be this way around the world.....

Maybe if you give me a little cash,

Then it is not fake???????

I am sure that many Nations are doing this.....

[siampolee]

She was wrong in selling counterfeit goods as are many vendors and department stores are in Thailand.

However the police should be beyond reproach, this video proves yet again that the BIB are indeed rotten to the core a cancerous scourge upon the landscape of Thailand.

No wonder so many of these creatures go into politics it is of course the natural course to take for these despicable creatures.

The option to impose one's will on another is an option that position alone wrongly affords all too many individuals. Indeed this option to impose on, rather than work with, this option to impose on without any regard whatsoever for due process, becomes, in the hands of most, a license to harm, if not destroy the careers and lives of others.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-robert-aziz/why-power-corrupts

[NewlyMintedThai]

I don't see anything unlawful going on here, other than the shopkeeper selling fake merchandise.

[UKJASE]

sure she was breaking he law.... but this is what the public do sometimes.....

you would expect this.......

but the cops being bent.... this is what you would hope wasn't happening......

[NewlyMintedThai]

There is no extortion going on that I can see. There's talk if bail for an arrested suspect. That's how it works.

[siampolee]

Newly MintedThai post # 11

I don't see anything unlawful going on here, other than the shopkeeper selling fake merchandise.

Read the complete article that that is linked and accompanies the video clip and you might well come to understand the situation fully

[NewlyMintedThai]

Newly MintedThai post # 11

I don't see anything unlawful going on here, other than the shopkeeper selling fake merchandise.

Read the complete article that that is linked and accompanies the video clip and you might well come to understand the situation fully

Read it.

What part is giving you problems, exactly. Looks like "by the book" to me.

[NeverSure]

I gotta laugh. No one on this board would use a pirated copy of Windows or watch a pirated movie or read a pirated ebook or possess porn or even download them in torrents, but let some minimum wage Thai cashier get nailed for selling it and watch the indignation, hahaha.

[Misterwhisper]

It's about time that all guilty parties would be taking responsibility instead of shuffling around the blame. The seller in this case is not only a victim, but also a perpetrator by selling those fake goods in the first place (and being fully aware that they're fake), thus equally guilty as the police trying to extort "bail money". If you're selling fake goods you shouldn't be all too surprised that eventually "someone" is going to take that as a pretext for fleecing you one way or another - and it serves you right.

[KhunHehe]

If the cashier rolled over, now every cop is going to hit her up for cash.

The charge: Selling pirated goods without a helmet!

Poor girl.

[gemguy]

So now we all know the "real" purpose of those security cameras.

[metisdead]

An off topic racist post has been removed.

[NewlyMintedThai]

Except that she's not being "fleeced".

She is being told to come up with bail money to be released before having her day in trial, where she can try to convince the judge of her innocence.

This is standard criminal procedure everwhere.

[Bluespunk]

I wouldn't say this had anything to do with extortion because:

1. Like most people on here, I don't speak Thai.

2. Would the cops discuss a bribe when they know they are being videoed? Can't see that myself.

Good point (number 2)

[Amaximus]

She's guilty as sin for selling the fake crap - but this answers my amazement when I first got to Thailand as to how they get away with it day after day - and of course it's that the police just take a bribe so they get away with it. The only way this is going to stop is when the US threatens massive penalties so that the authorities finally do something about it.

[tomross46]

Smile " You are on Candid Camera "

It is not unusual for police to solicit donations from all vendors, it is not extortion. In Chicago and Cook County they have the Police protection fund. There are dirty cops and bent politicians all over the world, it is a way of life and it will never change. 5 police convicted of murder are released on bail, because they can be trusted, a tourist accused of a crime no bail, tourist can not be trusted.

[gemguy]

So her reaction is to blame the cop for extorting her when she was breaking the law herself, pretty bold

Both of them should be arrested

Sent from my GT-S5660 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Yes..but this is the problem here in Thailand...who ever is wrong thinks they are right while near everyone around her is doing something illegal ( if you go strictly by the book ) while the other vendors and the women complaining would have to pay some sort of "legal" operating fee for selling somewhere or something so paying off a police officer for say 500 baht per month is the same like paying a legal operating fee ...if everyone and everything was legal that is.

Either way if you do not pay money to someone or some entity, legally or illegally, someone is going to come around and ask for some money so you can continue operating there, legally or illegally.

[tomross46]

It's about time that all guilty parties would be taking responsibility instead of shuffling around the blame. The seller in this case is not only a victim, but also a perpetrator by selling those fake goods in the first place (and being fully aware that they're fake), thus equally guilty as the police trying to extort "bail money". If you're selling fake goods you shouldn't be all too surprised that eventually "someone" is going to take that as a pretext for fleecing you one way or another - and it serves you right.

Is the software you use on your computer licensed? If are using fake goods and should be punished also. The fake goods would not exist, if there were not buyers My Microsoft 7 is licensed.

[samjaidee]

So her reaction is to blame the cop for extorting her when she was breaking the law herself, pretty bold

Both of them should be arrested

Sent from my GT-S5660 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Did you miss this bit of the original story?

"She also says that both the product distributor and the mall management maintained that she was not involved."

You really need to improve your reading skills.

[NewlyMintedThai]

Neither the mall operator nor the "product distributor" can simply make a criminal charge go away. Their statements can be entered into the record as witness testimony, but the lady has still been charged with a criminal act which must be defended in Court.

You really need to improve your knowledge of criminal procedure.

Edited January 26, 2013 by NewlyMintedThai

[oldsailor35]

So her reaction is to blame the cop for extorting her when she was breaking the law herself, pretty bold

Both of them should be arrested

Sent from my GT-S5660 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Read it all again and get the facts right!

[oldsailor35]

She was wrong in selling counterfeit goods as are many vendors and department stores are in Thailand.

However the police should be beyond reproach, this video proves yet again that the BIB are indeed rotten to the core a cancerous scourge upon the landscape of Thailand.

No wonder so many of these creatures go into politics it is of course the natural course to take for these despicable creatures.

The option to impose one's will on another is an option that position alone wrongly affords all too many individuals. Indeed this option to impose on, rather than work with, this option to impose on without any regard whatsoever for due process, becomes, in the hands of most, a license to harm, if not destroy the careers and lives of others.

http://www.huffingto...-power-corrupts

She was not doing the selling, she was only the cashier. The problem with counterfeit produce had already been resolved and they were waiting for the product to be collected, but the cops jumped in first, seeing some tea money of course. The cops cannot set bail, this has to be done by the court !

Edited January 26, 2013 by oldsailor35

[oldsailor35]

So her reaction is to blame the cop for extorting her when she was breaking the law herself, pretty bold

Both of them should be arrested

Sent from my GT-S5660 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Both the store management and the copyright owner said that she was not involved in the selling of the product.