Nana Police officers on the run after abducting Italian tourists and demanding Bt2m ransom

[kkup]

There's no point getting upset, this is Thailand and will be the same for many years to come, obviously in any other country this would make national headlines and the culprits would have all been caught. Most Thais will never even here about this.

We live in a developing/corrupt society here, daily wages match what we would earn in 5 minutes back home, that breeds scams, dodgy cops and ppl being ripped off. This is a consequence of your $2 dinner. Be aware, get smart and you'll be OK.

There's fire and ice on all sides of the spectrum, i love the fact that i can get caught speeding here and pay 200 baht for my misdemeanor, i can do this over and over, back home i would have lost my license by now plus a few grand. Like.

I feel for those guys, but nothing will be changing in a hurry.

[pcgeekz05]

These smart ass police are good , do you imagine that!? they kidnapped people they don't even understand what they are saying and infact these police can't even speak english WAHAHAHAHAHAHA! lesson of the day.. before you kidnap someone.. learn their language or else they can sell you..

[Thai at Heart]

Danilo Devito?

Hmmmmm.........

[JulesMad]

My standard solution in these situations is to not understand a word of Thai/English, and start to talk in my own language (or just talk Klingon, if you only know English)

Mostly they give up, and I just walk away.....

[YeaBiGgiEs]

Ehhh Mai pen rai. Can't trust taxi drivers, can't trust police at least the lady with the broom cart seems honest to me.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

My standard solution in these situations is to not understand a word of Thai/English, and start to talk in my own language (or just talk Klingon, if you only know English)

Mostly they give up, and I just walk away.....

I'm beginning that's likely to be my standard approach should I even encounter the police here.... sad as that seems. Most of them don't seem to speak or understand any English anyway... But just on the off chance, I'll make up something else as I go along.

Meanwhile, the scary and telling part of this story is the detail that emerged in the Khaosod article that two of the cops from were from the Lumphini Station, while the other two were from Thong Lor.. So whatever this was, it wasn't just a couple rogue guys acting alone. If there was coordination and cooperation between different BKK police stations on something like this, that's pretty bad!!!

When I read the first reports, and saw the mention of the Uzbek involved, I kind of wondered if maybe this wasn't another one of this episodes where Thai criminals are pretending to be the real police (or the real criminals as the case may be). But no...this wasn't the work of the ordinary criminals... But was the work of the professional criminals.

[chooka]

This is absolutely terrifying. I hope the guilty will be severely punished to set an example to the police force.

Moved to inactive posts for 6 weeks.

[H1w4yR1da]

My standard solution in these situations is to not understand a word of Thai/English, and start to talk in my own language (or just talk Klingon, if you only know English)

Mostly they give up, and I just walk away.....

Yeah! A Manuel from Fawlty Towers impersonation always does the trick here

"Que?"

"No entendos!"

"Habla Espenyol?"

"I know nothing!"

And I think the superior officers at Lumpini and Thonglor were well aware or even complicit in this crime.

I remember back in the '80's, Asian tourists were being kidnapped from the Silom area and ending up dead in a swamp somewhere. And guess who the perpetrators were. The local BIB!

Now where are the 'Thai can do no wrong' brigade when you need them?

Edited August 23, 2013 by H1w4yR1da

[koratkid2]

There's no point getting upset, this is Thailand and will be the same for many years to come, obviously in any other country this would make national headlines and the culprits would have all been caught. Most Thais will never even here about this.

We live in a developing/corrupt society here, daily wages match what we would earn in 5 minutes back home, that breeds scams, dodgy cops and ppl being ripped off. This is a consequence of your $2 dinner. Be aware, get smart and you'll be OK.

There's fire and ice on all sides of the spectrum, i love the fact that i can get caught speeding here and pay 200 baht for my misdemeanor, i can do this over and over, back home i would have lost my license by now plus a few grand. Like.

I feel for those guys, but nothing will be changing in a hurry.

Your assessment is very accurate, in my opinion. In 2015, when hordes of Asians are legally working here, Thais will get more desperate for income and this is by no means the last kidnapping or extortion. Tourism is at an all time high. That train won't stop for nothing!

Phrases like the "penny will drop" or the time is coming for Thailand to suffer for its misdeeds makes me laugh. This is a powerful train that will not and can't be stopped. My suggestion is to get the phone numbers of connected people and be prepared to pay them when they help you. That's your only hope: pay when your number comes up.

[lee b]

Oh my this is really getting crazy now. Who can a tourist trust now????

[Andre0720]

When an act of corruption benefits only the perpetrator(s), just no one will like it..., cop or no cop....

[Skygod2000]

Thailand is needing an Elliot Ness.

Scrub that, it's actually needing a couple of hundred thousand Elliot Ness's.

In my opinion there's only one way to end this level of police corruption. First of all raise the level of pay to the point where the job is truly worth doing in the first place, and hope to attract graduates.

Two, bring a bigger dog to the fight. The biggest in the country are the army. Tell the army commanders that for every conviction they get, they will get the entire proceeds of crime recovered from that officer. If that's his house, his savings, his land, the whole lot then great.

Police officers will go white with shock when army soldiers kick their door in at 5.00am. Give them a 20 year sentence to think about it too. If the public thought the army would do something about it the phones would be red hot.

They should make me Prime Minister for a day, but I think I'd get done in before breakfast.

Oh well, scrub that idea.

Challenge accepted, you can have the standard 3 months to change the world

[elzach]

There's no point getting upset, this is Thailand and will be the same for many years to come, obviously in any other country this would make national headlines and the culprits would have all been caught. Most Thais will never even here about this.

We live in a developing/corrupt society here, daily wages match what we would earn in 5 minutes back home, that breeds scams, dodgy cops and ppl being ripped off. This is a consequence of your $2 dinner. Be aware, get smart and you'll be OK.

There's fire and ice on all sides of the spectrum, i love the fact that i can get caught speeding here and pay 200 baht for my misdemeanor, i can do this over and over, back home i would have lost my license by now plus a few grand. Like.

I feel for those guys, but nothing will be changing in a hurry.

Thanks for the "lenient" post. Now I know, "too bad, nothing we can do about it". Plus you are suggesting that in any developing/corrupt country you might be kidnapped by the police?

How about if you forward this news to all your Thai friends (if you live here, you have many) and tell them "hey you're losing face big time lately". That's what YOU can do.

[Songhua]

Oh my this is really getting crazy now. Who can a tourist trust now????

Things are fairly dire when the most trustworthy people in the land are car salesmen.

[rct99q]

Arrest all the police as every single one is corrupt. Bring in the Army to control the people. Rename the country Burma as it is now available and begin systematically killing anyone who does not believe in the army.In my opinion this is the only way to tackle this problem!

[elzach]

Doesn't it seem that this country is slowly but steadily becoming a "joke country"?

The Thais must be amused with all the foreigners still flocking in.

[edwinchester]

Thailand is needing an Elliot Ness. 

 

Scrub that, it's actually needing a couple of hundred thousand Elliot Ness's.  

 

In my opinion there's only one way to end this level of police corruption.  First of all raise the level of pay to the point where the job is truly worth doing in the first place, and hope to attract graduates. 

 

Two, bring a bigger dog to the fight.  The biggest in the country are the army. Tell the army commanders that for every conviction they get, they will get the entire proceeds of crime recovered from that officer. If that's his house, his savings, his land, the whole lot then great.  

 

Police officers will go white with shock when army soldiers kick their door in at 5.00am.   Give them a 20 year sentence to think about it too.  If the public thought the army would do something about it the phones would be red hot. 

 

They should make me Prime Minister for a day,  but I think I'd get done in before breakfast. 

 

Oh well, scrub that idea.  

The army is as corrupt as the police, they just use different means to screw Thailand for every baht they can.

Sent from my GT-I9003 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Lando]

Doesn't it seem that this country is slowly but steadily becoming a "joke country"? The Thais must be amused with all the foreigners still flocking in.

Even if Thailand will become corrupted as North Korea, at risk of kidnapping as Venezuela and of killing as Somalia you'll still see tourists flocking as far as booze and prostitutes will be cheap...and with less tourists around perhaps their price will go down so those Thai-leban will be happier !

[bigbamboo]

Make it viral, then see if effects tourism!

They'll sue!

[zaZa9]

This is nothing short of outrageous!

Believe me , it WILL have a noticeable affect on tourism if it gets the press it deserves.

These people are a disgrace and should face the full brunt of the law.

[Soutpeel]

This is absolutely terrifying. I hope the guilty will be severely punished to set an example to the police force.

Moved to inactive posts for 6 weeks.

Yes...but not for holding people for ransom, but for being stupid and getting caught

[Lando]

And anyway if you are kidnapped when they ask for ransom just say "NO HAVE" and they will let you go...

[slipperylobster]

Watch out for fake cops as well. I was set up near soi 15 and sukamvit near the Honey Hotel. It was late, and I had only a 20 baht note left in my pocket after a good night at Soi Cowboy with my buddy. He was a big spender and somebody must have "tagged us". He took a Taxi, and I walked the four short blocks back to Honey Hotel. I Saw two "slightly uniformed" men who ducked around the corner as I searched for the Hotel. As I walked by, they lept out and one of them held my arm as the other searched my pockets. I grabbed his wrists and held his hands in my pocket and yelled for help as loudly as I could. LOL. Before they ran away, one of them picked up the 20 baht note that fell out of my pocket and handed it to me. They looked very nervous... fortunately, Their shoes and lack of Police Parephenelia (guns/belts and badges/caps) gave me courage to give them the hardest target possible. I was lucky that night.... but what a hell hole of cops and bandits. Cannot tell one from the other !!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

or drag you out into a field somewhere and shoot you in the back of the head...

or leave you locked up in a room somewhere and start cutting off misc. body parts until you're persuaded otherwise.

[yougivemebaby]

After Interpol got involved 4 cops have been arrested from 2 stations Lumphini and Thonglor

Can you post a link please?

[arthurboy]

This story has just been aired on Thai PBS news.

The police have arrested 4 policemen and the Uzbek chap. The police station was jammed with reporters taking happy snaps of these fine, upstanding gentlemen.

Of course, I would really like to know what is the connection between this latest scam and foreign organised crime, and how long has this - or similar - been going on?

This is going to go viral...ho ho ho.

[espinoza]

What does "inactive position" mean ? Do they not need to work for their salary ?

If so I wish I can be sent to an inactive position.

Punishment - they will be moved to inactive positions

[Lando]

It's amazing how Thailand attracts (and gives safe haven, as the only one hassled are the ones who have regular visas and WP's) scum from all corners of the world, after Iranians, Liberians, Nigerians and from LatAm now it's the turn of the Uzbeks...probably only Eskimo scum is missing !

[Benmart]

I would recommend that every TV poster send a copy of the original news story to their hometown newspapers/TV networks. Who knows, it may hit the national news and do more to effect change than any internal investigation can. I'm sending it to Fox, NBC, ABC, CBS, the San Jose Mercury News and the LA Times. Spread the word please.

[ginjag]

Latest on IN channel at 19-30 2 police were arrested, and 2 are on the run.