Bangkok Police officers suspended over alleged extortion of Italian tourists

[Gsxrnz]

Another chink in the facade that this group of monkeys in brown uniforms is supposed to uphold the law,

when in fact they are nothing more than extortionists with a government franchise.

Their mission in life is not to enforce the law, but rather to strip money from people. To even call them police

is absurd, and to append Royal in front of their name carries the absurdity even further. I have said it before

and I will say it again, fire every one of them, and start new with massive jail terms for behavior like this.

I agree with everything you say. However Thailand has the problem of who watches the watchers, and who watches the watchers that are watching the watchers.....it's a never ending chain of corruption that is so entrenched, nothing short of a western occupying force coming in with their guns locked and loaded is going to solve the problem. And that's unlikely to happen.

I cannot see any form of natural social evolution capable of dragging Thailand out of the current state of affairs. Maybe if there was a "real" civil war where the people revolted against the combined units of the police, army, and government. But that's not going to happen either. The Thai public are too laissez faire in their attitude, they're quite happy to be reamed every day by their civil and military masters.

Unfortunate to say, but maybe something like a huge national disaster resulting in millions dead, and a total financial and social meltdown which results in western aid and administration over an extended period, is the only hope that Thailand has for emerging as an altered society.

[zaZa9]

Let this be a warning to ALL potential new tourists to Thailand!

The Police here are allowed to act criminally and you cannot rely on them to help you in any way.

They are best avoided before they add to any problem you may encounter in Thailand.

Best you holiday somewhere with some semblance of the rule of law .

Edited August 24, 2013 by zaZa9

[Equalizer]

Innocent until proven guilty

[Rykbanlor]

What this issue higlights to me is with regard to the significant ranks of some involved. These are not simple traffic or beat cops and they hail from stations in the heart of the tourist belt.

This is the quality and character of what this country promotes in it's police force.

When you review the ranks opposite the rather poultry sum involved then it is not difficult to fathom how the rich and priveledged in this country can treat the law with impunity as there is a multitude within the RTP just waiting to get paid off. Criminal entrepeneurism in uniform.

2 million baht is a poultry sum? where do you come from?

I am assuming he comes from a chicken coop, as I believe the word is paltry, not poultry. But don't let me bog you down with semantics.

[tingtongfarang]

Another chink in the facade that this group of monkeys in brown uniforms is supposed to uphold the law,

when in fact they are nothing more than extortionists with a government franchise.

Their mission in life is not to enforce the law, but rather to strip money from people. To even call them police

is absurd, and to append Royal in front of their name carries the absurdity even further. I have said it before

and I will say it again, fire every one of them, and start new with massive jail terms for behavior like this.

I agree 100% there is NO chance of reform regardless of how much they were paid,

I have a strong suspicion that a few of these guys were the same criminals doing the shakedowns on foreigners on the asok intersection since some years, Also the same group who reportedly plant drugs on people at ekamai bus station then escort them to the atm

Edited August 24, 2013 by tingtongfarang

[bushwacker]

Just like shooting fish in a barrel. Arrested and taken to a police station. Interviewed by several officiers and given the choice to pay up or go to jail or worse. Talk about organized crime .... licence to steal ..... AMAZING THAILAND!

I wonder how many times they have been successful? Kind of puts the Jet ski scam into the amateur category.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

As I said in the other thread, I want to see what if anything the various western consulates will do/say in the wake of this case?

They're supposed to be here representing their nationals in country.

How about doing something to interecede with the Thai government so that foreign nationals aren't abducted off the streets of Central Bangkok and held ransom by "real" Thai police officers -- sgt. majors, lieutenants, majors???

As others have noted, this also isn't the first and only time this kind of thing has happened. There was the similar scam going on at Swampy Airport in recents years with the faked thefts from King Power outlets and tourists being held for ransom in those cases as well.

[Straight8]

Unbelievable.. T.I.T at its finest.

Poor ol whitey doesn't stand a chance, when even the law is out to rip him/her off.

Disgusting!!

[Baerboxer]

Suspended? Not arrested yet

I thought I read that the 2 NCOs had been arrested and refused bail while arrest warrants had been issued for the 2 Lieutenants who were on the run.

It will be interested to see if they're apprehended.

Wonder why no action has been taken against the hotel staff to whose accounts money was transferred? Or the "missing Major".

Now we wait for justice to be seen to be done......................................................................

[tomross46]

While it may sound like another instance of police misconduct well familiar to Thais and foreigners alike, this case has resulted in immediate action by their superiors and abrupt suspension of the four police suspects, thanks to an Interpol inquiry conducted after the victims' families lodged a complaint.

​If Interpol had not gotten involved and made an inquiry, what would have happened. The two Italians arrested for making false accusations against Thailand Finest?

[spermwhale]

This is fair warning to all foreigners. Beware of this kind of activity by police and Thailand in general. You are at risk any time anywhere in Thailand.

I would clarify that your assertion is incorrect. THe Lumpini squad is the most notoriously corrupt in the land. I don't think you are at risk anywhere in Thailand.

[tingtongfarang]

Where is chalerm when they need him, i feel certain he could have come up with the excuse that its ok for police officers to ask for donations at this time of year, or is that only allowed on chinese newyear?

[Badbanker]

Friend of mine at Lumpini said all of the 5 were in hand cuffs and then put in the lockup and were going to court today. No bail!

The key senior officer or Major man is not being talked about which is a problem!

[tingtongfarang]

This is fair warning to all foreigners. Beware of this kind of activity by police and Thailand in general. You are at risk any time anywhere in Thailand.

I would clarify that your assertion is incorrect. THe Lumpini squad is the most notoriously corrupt in the land. I don't think you are at risk anywhere in Thailand.

Strange i was always told the thonglor bandits were the champions in this respect, seems they already teamed up.

[skyaslimit]

It is too sad to see some junior officers spoiling the reputation of well educated and trained police force as RTP.

sent by skyaslimit using thaivisa forum mobile app.

[tingtongfarang]

It is too sad to see some junior officers spoiling the reputation of well educated and trained police force as RTP.

sent by skyaslimit using thaivisa forum mobile app.

I commend you on your fantastic sense of dry humor

[ridkun]

alleged they say !!! not even sure, maybe it was someone else.....

Suspects are legally innocent and need to be treated as such, up until the time the police set up press conference with them handcuffed and tell the press... practically the whole country that they are guilty.

[Suffinator]

He'll get off; just following orders from the top. Look at the recent incident of a Thai Cop fleecing a shop owners in BKK; not the conversation in the article - http://meebal.com/thai-police-caught-in-the-act/

[Just1Voice]

what needs to be done is for everyone who has read this story, to post it on their FaceBook , then send copies to every major news media they can think of. MAKE this thing go virial so that people all over the world will see it. It think more than a few might change their vacations plans. And the resulting bad publicity, and the resulting loss of all important face just might - and I use that word sparingly - cause enough of a stir here in LOS to perhaps at least THINK about the corruption the has permeated every aspect of Thai society.

Lets face the reality of Thailand. The ONLY way they will even considering changing something is if it's something that attracts foreign media attention, and might possibly "tarnish the image of Thailand."

[Nooky2]

"The case therefore potentially brings shame upon the entire police force, due to its global exposure."

Global exposure is the magic phrase. These guys are sacrificial lambs to show Thailand will not "tolerate" corruption.

Who are they kidding?

[aussieinthailand]

HAH!!! an international opportunity for ( BRIBESPOT ) here

[kaobang]

today its huge news in italy the 2 main newspapers read by milions of people every day made this the biggest news

http://www.corriere.it/

[yougivemebaby]

My wife said she did not see anything on the Thai news about this. did anyone else see it?

I spoke to several Thai friends. None have heard a thing about this. I even asked one to google it in Thai. As of a few hours ago they still didn't hear anything about it.

The full force of the brooms is in action.

[Tchooptip]

My wife said she did not see anything on the Thai news about this. did anyone else see it?

Yes they explained everything on the news yesterday night, but I could not tell you which channel?

[umbanda]

I wonders how many cases like this are not reported every year.....If you are assaulted by the police...where you will go to report it?????

[balo]

And these fine police officers work in the tourist areas in Lumpini and Tonglor So as a foreigner we should avoid any contact with police stations in tourist areas,

Note to self: If you are in trouble do not call the police.

[lee b]

I'd like to see a police photo with the Italian victims pointing their fingers at the Thai cops.

Now that would be good

[Tchooptip]

My wife said she did not see anything on the Thai news about this. did anyone else see it?

I spoke to several Thai friends. None have heard a thing about this. I even asked one to google it in Thai. As of a few hours ago they still didn't hear anything about it.

The full force of the brooms is in action.

In spite of the broom... my wife saw the whole story, yesterday night newsflash, cannot tell you wich channel, four police officers and two farangs implicated.

[Tchooptip]

Suspended? Not arrested yet

They ARE in jail, bail refused .

[camo007]

As per my story already posted this happened to me and none of the police involved had anything happen to them. I have taken the matter to the Australian Embassy and the Head of Bangkok Police. While they said they knew what had happened and who was involved they never got me my money back and the police involved are still working in Bangkok as police. The asking price from the Police in my case was THB 5 Million in cash.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/592937-my-story-fake-police-raid-in-bangkok/

I share my story so that others can learn from what has happened to me.

I found myself having a dispute with a local business owner over his dislike for my Thai staff. Many threats had been made but his parting comment was “I can have you shut down”.

The very next afternoon I walk into my office to see my staff lined up by people claiming to be police. In fact at least 2 of the 11 people were police however no uniforms.

They showed a warrant looking for an illegal boiler room however they did not have a copy for us and would not allow us to make a copy.

Demands were made and they informed they would have us all arrested despite having no evidence of any wrong doing. We were told we could be held without charge for up to 2 weeks and they would use that time to inspect all our activities and computers.

Having a completely legal business our only fear was the interruption this would have on the business.

A demand for a cash payment to go away was demanded and we were escorted to a local ATM and demanded to withdraw cash in order to not be arrested.

After this event I contacted my Embassy, Local Police and the Anticorruption department.

A meeting was held in our office within days and it was made very clear to us the whole thing was a setup.

The following points were made by the investigating Internal Police:
You must be issued with an original copy of a warrant to keep.
A uniform Police officer must be present.
To seize goods a separate warrant or explicit terms must be present in the warrant.
All Police must supply Photo Police ID on request. If they don't have it then you should not allow them in.

We have since discovered the warrant was a FAKE and most of the people were only friends of the police and as such not only breaking the law but also trespassing.

We have installed Video cameras as a deterrence to future events and also commenced staff training every 3 months as to what to do in the future. The Police that entered our office were not from the local police office.

The one key thing we had been told was we should have called 191 as this is not only a recorded hotline but also requires a Uniform police officer is dispatched. This would have seen them run as a report would need to be made.

If you are doing nothing wrong you simply should call your Lawyer and the Police and get them all onsite immediately. As a westerner in Thailand it’s a standard thing to need to have video cameras recording everybody entering your office and or location.

While you may not be able to make the call the idea if that one of your staff will be in a position to do so and be trained well enough to know this is what they must do without question.

We have visited the Internal Police and made reports also. They have said that simply having the right info and having your Thai staff inform quickly the fake Police that the game is not going to work and that you have called the local police already to come resolve the matter tends to result in them moving on to an easier target.

I hope this information assists others doing business in Asia (Not only Thailand) and that you start talking about such matters with your staff. Make sure everybody knows what number to dial and possibly put Emergency numbers up on signs all around your premises.