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

[Soutpeel]

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.

You forgot CNN

[hansnl]

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.

One might think getting the army in might be a good idea.

However, one then might be afraid for an all-out war between the army and the police.

[Soutpeel]

However, one then might be afraid for an all-out war between the army and the police.

Ah but the police dont have tanks and heavy artillery....I dont think a motocy and a hello kitty arm band would stand up to a bit of tankage...

[Halion]

Police, Government, Army, it makes little difference as they all share the same culture. It is futile to try to fix the middle if the top is rotten. This is not a dilema of criminal behaviour, corruption or random violence as these are meerely manifestations of a cancerous culture that prevails in daily life.

Visitors may be shocked by what goes on here on a daily basis but to many of the local people it is a Mia pen rai scenario at best. It is what they have come to expect and to them this behaviour is their norm. They even vote for it.

This incident today is simply the tip of an iceberg and in accordance with the prevailing culture little or nothing except rhetoric will come of this. This is not a rotten apple in the barrel situation , it is a whole barrel of rotten apples..

[chiang mai]

This sounds familiar.

My wife mentioned that there is a new kind of ATM scam in Thailand now. The scammers leave an ATM card with the PIN written on the back on the ground at the ATM. If someone picks it up and puts it into the machine, the cops swoop down and 'arrest' and extort this person.

Absoluute nonesence.

[HerbalEd]

WOW , thats getting better ..... Corrupt cops ?? As they are all corrupt anyway , its always good to know in which part of town they are.

If indeed "they are ALL corrupt" then why does it matter where they're located.

[phantomfiddler]

The largest group of organised criminals in Thailand is ....... you guessed it right ! But you can,t blame them. When they see 15 million baht being "spent" on wall clocks that could most likely be bought for 350 Bht apiece, they have this feeling that they are being pushed to the back of the line to the feeding trough, and see nothing wrong in trying to catch up.

[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.

You forgot CNN

I left that for others. My fingers are worn out from all the emails I just sent out.

[PalleBorgselius]

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.

Do you realy think you can stop the corruption from the bottom and up?????? Taksin raised the police salary for the total police force years ago to stop the corruption - this was the excuse Did it helps ???

NO..NO....the corruption must be stopped from the top and down

[AleG]

no such thing as nana police though the article does mention lumpini later.

its rather funny really as the wording suggests that bad nana police committed the crime, while good lumpini police saved the day.

in fact nana police are from lumpini station.

interestingly, if they were apprehended at soi 57 sukhumvit, the responding police should have been from thonglor station.

By all accounts the bib at thonglor are even more corrupt, please dont call them police...in essence thailand does not have a police force in the true sense.

It could be argued that the BIB keep crime "low" by stifling the competition.

[schondie]

Thank Buddha I don't live in a tourist area! These sort of stories need to be forwarded to any relatives and friends thinking about coming here for a holiday. Maybe they'll think twice about coming here and opt for a safer destination such as Afghanistan or Syria.

Just imagine what'll happen when the economy finally hits meltdown.

[spidermike007]

no such thing as nana police though the article does mention lumpini later.

its rather funny really as the wording suggests that bad nana police committed the crime, while good lumpini police saved the day.

in fact nana police are from lumpini station.

interestingly, if they were apprehended at soi 57 sukhumvit, the responding police should have been from thonglor station.

By all accounts the bib at thonglor are even more corrupt, please dont call them police...in essence thailand does not have a police force in the true sense.

I always refer to them as a revenue collection agency, not a law enforcement agency. One of these years the government is going to have to get serious about paying them a real salary, giving them state of the art forensic equipment and labs, and hiring specialists who can perform the work. Until then, the LOS remains the laughing stock of the world in terms of law enforcement. Of course, they will have to improve the courts too. Until then, little in the way of a deterrent.

[SOTIRIOS]

they were a little ahead of themselves, these BiB's should have waited till the high end tourists started to arrive, then they fould have tried for the big bahts, they could afford 4-6 million easy!

......how does anyone know their success rate.....

[happysanook]

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

Seriously, you can't make this shit up. Stranger than fiction. I'm sure it's all a big misunderstanding. Go to the temple and do your merits. All will be forgiven.

[Emdog]

"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." You are the same as those that we who still can summon up some moral outrage deplore. Your (relative) wealth grants you immunity, so you seem to lack a basic understanding that perhaps laws against speeding are there for public safety, and not there to make your life uncomfortable. You have the same attitude as the son of Red Bull who most of us despise. You should lose your license if you can't follow the rules. No brainer.

[PoodMaiDai]

Anyone remember the tourists the police kidnapped from the airport a few years ago?

It is incredible how this sort of thing happens, and usually without any recourse.

[ginjag]

no such thing as nana police though the article does mention lumpini later.

its rather funny really as the wording suggests that bad nana police committed the crime, while good lumpini police saved the day.

in fact nana police are from lumpini station.

interestingly, if they were apprehended at soi 57 sukhumvit, the responding police should have been from thonglor station.

By all accounts the bib at thonglor are even more corrupt, please dont call them police...in essence thailand does not have a police force in the true sense.

I always refer to them as a revenue collection agency, not a law enforcement agency. One of these years the government is going to have to get serious about paying them a real salary, giving them state of the art forensic equipment and labs, and hiring specialists who can perform the work. Until then, the LOS remains the laughing stock of the world in terms of law enforcement. Of course, they will have to improve the courts too. Until then, little in the way of a deterrent.

"Paying THEM a real salary" equivalent to who/what ??? First investigate all for unusual wealth.

Do you think they then on the new salary would be (clean) and change their habits ??? Any road blocks they set up ALL money will have to go to the government. and instead of road blocks get them out walking the community, enforcing the law on a daily basis local people will soon latch on.

Biggest help would be setting up a police house in every village, thus controlling law and order-drugs/drunks/anger/abuse.

I would Get them out of the town police station where most are sitting and waiting-doing little, attending functions, escorting local government people around, when in fact they are nothing of importance.

[chiang mai]

Folks should not expect much different in the Nana area but be prepared for much worse also. This kind of thing has been going on for at least eight years, much of it away from the eyes of public view but occaisonally, such as this incident, it gets seen and publicised.

[wilcopops]

It jiust goes on and on...hardly a day passes without some "corrupt cop" story.....kidnapping murder, extortion, bribery, insider dealing, protection rackets, booze and bar rackets or just hassling passing motorists......all countries have corrupt cops, but Thailand takes the biscuit! And these are just the stupid ones who get caught. Lets face it their colleagues don't really seem interested in putting a stop to any errant behaviour so getting caught is really a sign of stupidity rather than any police thoroughness.

[RickBradford]

Here in rural eastern Thailand, the locals view the cops in the same way that a virgin in the night-time would regard Count Dracula. i.e. keep them as far away as possible or you will get sucked dry.

When a police pick-up truck is sighted, people make themselves inconspicuous -- they usually have time, because the news that the police are on the prowl is usually radioed ahead.

The culture here is to sort out all disputes, even major ones, within the framework of the village. Nobody would dream of involving the police.

[euroflash]

What scares me is that this occurs at a time when the economy is pretty good. What happens when Thailand enters recession? Not sure I want to hang around to find out.

[RickBradford]

What scares me is that this occurs at a time when the economy is pretty good. What happens when Thailand enters recession? Not sure I want to hang around to find out.

Thailand is in recession.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23751846

[ableguy]

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

Dream on, they were not stealing from thier own this will fade away,

[rametindallas]

I've told my friends for years that one of the nice things about Thailand is the Mafia is easy to spot; they wear police uniforms.

My understanding is the cops are independent operators and devise their own schemes. As long as they send the proper 'cut' to the higher ups, all is well. If, as in this case, the scheme blows up, their bosses don't know them and they lose their protection (unless they have a high level patron). I expect these guys will get some jail time and become non-police criminals after their release. Ex police are always in the news for extortion, murder, etc. Once a criminal, always a criminal.

[ableguy]

One would hope that DSI holds a full public enquiry into this police scam, (Yeah yeah) however lets be frank, they all learn from their masters, if politicians can be paroled to attend parliament , what message dose this send out to the rest of the community ,the path towards a general disintegration of the moral fabric of Thailand has been slowly gaining momentum over the last decade

They will simply be transferred to an inactive post, Put a whole bunch of thier own down ? think how this will reflect on the rest of this fine upstanding body of dedicated officers, The two italians probably need protection.

[DGIE]

This might be the group that extort to even Bt.20,000.

[zydeco]

Here in rural eastern Thailand, the locals view the cops in the same way that a virgin in the night-time would regard Count Dracula. i.e. keep them as far away as possible or you will get sucked dry.

When a police pick-up truck is sighted, people make themselves inconspicuous -- they usually have time, because the news that the police are on the prowl is usually radioed ahead.

The culture here is to sort out all disputes, even major ones, within the framework of the village. Nobody would dream of involving the police.

My wife says the same thing--and her cousins ARE the police, high ranking ones at that.

[Jim walker]

Corrupt police in Thailand well I never this story is almost hard to believe so many upstanding truthful officers in the Thai Police and a few crooked ones that spoil the good reputation of the other honest police officers both of them.

[mikemac]

"kkup" makes a good point. Most of the people on this forum who crap on about the corruption in this country are quite happy to pay 100/200 baht when they are booked for speeding and drive away, no demerit points or loss of licence. If they are so set against corruption they should give the copper 10,000 baht and the licence and demand to be locked up.

[SMSinBangkok]

About the Thong Lor-police. I have had one experience with them I´d like to share. Please note: I am not a Thai-apologist (anyone reading my former posts will see that hopefully).

Two years ago after a session at the gym in Windsor Suites Hotel, I stopped on my way home at a bar in soi 22. I parked my Honda CBR 250 on the soi in the front. In the bar were two policemen from Thong Lor police-station - in uniform and drinking. We, hehhe, became drinking friends that night and I ended up so drunk I gave my motorcycle key to the guys after they suggestede that they take care of the motorbike since I was drunk.

Unbelievably, I agreed. The next day I went to Thong Lor police station to pick up my Honda. The two policemen were out on a job, so a hi ranking female police lady took care of me until they returned. She took me into her office, gave me coffee and started to chat me up.

The two policemen came back to the station, and they were all smiling and friendly. Before I took of with my Honda, which they had taken care of and not driven more than a couple kilometers (I checked), the female police officer gave me her card with her mobile number on it and an invite to dinner sometime....

I am sorry I have never followed up on it...