Bangkok shakedown: Tourists report increased harassment by police

[tonbridgebrit]

Thailand, for God's sake, either make the announcement that you don't want the sex tourists in Bangkok, and you want to shift them to Pattaya.

OR, or just stop this harrasment and extortion of tourists. People reading this are not going to want to go to Bangkok. And that includes tourists who are not sex tourists.

[louse1953]

Thailand does not seem to be able to stay out of world news and NOT in a good light.

This, along with Hitler, along with murders just keeps on coming.

And for some reason little to no damage control at all.

You would think there would be an official statement from authorities to investigate the reports or issue a directive to stop.

Generally speaking, the Thais really don't care what foreigners think.

You actually think these pitiful stories make headlines in the world.World news on TVF would be the extent of it.

[brewsterbudgen]

I don't know why this is news. Been happening for years and years.

Wrong!!!!..... maybe the odd search, but nowhere near the level of recent weeks.

Soi 22 in particular has been a well known stop and search place, as has the Asok intersection, ever since I've lived here, which has been since 2005. What's different now is the influence of social media and Forums.

[gchurch259]

This has been happening for decades.

Thailand is under Marshal Law, remember.

I am not sure Marshal Law extends to the Police to act on their own without an Army Person present. They are to enforce the establish laws.

Correct me if I am wrong.

Dear General, if this is going on it needs to stop.

Having said all that I have lived here 11 years and have only had one run in with the police, that was caused by me entering a Bus Lane to make a left turn. Now I know.

Jerry

[sydneyjed]

was recently in Bangkok to do some work courses , medical etc and noticed a massive difference in the place since i was last up 6 months ago.. Have never seen so many police out on foot up and down the Asok, Sukhumvit area.. I was at Asok station, walked along the sky walk towards Exchange tower and across the road i saw 2 quite fit farang girls (aged around middle 20´s) taking some "selfies" photos of each other, when they went to walk up the stairs to the sky walk, 4 cops followed them up the stairs, surrounded them, while doing a search of their bags, while one stodd there with a bit of paper explaining something... No idea what they were stopped for, didnt realise taking photos was an offence??? But i also tried to film them , and when one of the cops saw me with my mobile in my hand he pointed at me , so i walked away...This was also the first time i´ve had someone try rob me on the street, since they started closing evry bar by 2 , noticed more and more hookers / ladyboys on the street, There was a mass of police in the nana plaza area, but further down the road loads of girls, and 2 ladyboys tried to take my wallet from my back pocket...and i thought that was a pattaya thing

That's another thing...as well as the day time street stalls have now been shut down on most of sukhumvit so have many of the late night street bars also especially Monday night now which sees no bars open from soi 7 onwards at all.Not just the police rent income has disappeared from here now so has a lot of the late night income for the street walkers who also rely on money from the farangs who used to drink there.One tip Ricky don't walk with a backpack around there at night time mate..that's just asking for trouble especially now!

[Sydebolle]

There is no money to be milked from the soapy operators and sleaze operators hence the BiB go straight to the source of the money. I keep telling the same thing over and over. There are alternatives.
Look at Bali; it took two gruesome bomb attacks ten years ago and today the Balinese have understood the importance of sustainable quality tourism since for two years after those horrible attacks Bali was dead.

[Hanuman2547]

Generally speaking, the Thais really don't care what foreigners think.

Unfortunately, this is true!

[Dustdevil]

Keep it up Thailand,, just keep doing what you're doing and you will get the result you are so desperate for.... That being loss of tourists and loss of foreign investment.

How many foreigners living here just feel like enough is enough right now? I have been stopped a lot of times riding my motorbike through Sukhumvit,, around Rama IV, Thong Lor and Prom Phong,, all nonsense as i had done nothing wrong but they wrote me a few tickets anyway. Always carry my ID, passport copy and work permit so everything is always in order... still doesn't stop them,

Such complete stupidity deserves nothing more then a huge hole in the economy, its coming, its not a maybe, its coming,,,,

I for one am looking at options elsewhere and as soon as they are finalised I take me and my business and exports with me..

As an American planning to retire in about 18 months, I was considerng Chiang Mai. But...how many farangs are there in Thailand at a given moment? Two million? Five million? How many get murdered per week?? Even Houston, Texas, a city of 5 million+, seems safer. I can locate several pleasent-enough locations in the U.S., places where there aren't any jobs so the houses are cheap, as low as $35-40,000 (I mean pleasant countryside, not Detroit). So even detached houses are cheaper in the US!--at least if you don't need to be near jobs.

There might be 150 murders a year in Houston, and almost none of them are white. (In other words, it's drug dealers shooting other drug dealers, or barrio macho guys losing their hot tempers). Meanwhile a farang gets murdered almost every other day in Thailand. I only consider Thailand because of the women, and I mean nice women, not bg's

Edited December 11, 2014 by Dustdevil

[maapaa]

The smoker deserved it! Nothing special, nothing new. Littering pavements is fined with 2.000 Baht since years. Good that he got caught. Somm numm naa. 5555

[lust]

This has been happening for decades.

Thailand is under Marshal Law, remember.

I am not sure Marshal Law extends to the Police to act on their own without an Army Person present. They are to enforce the establish laws.

Correct me if I am wrong.

Jerry

Martial law...

[lavender19]

...although due to their unofficial nature these reports remain unverifiable.

Like most of the TV fear-mongering messages.

They may want to justify themselves by catching a Farang with a big bag of Gear rather than give up the tea money

Or generate more clicks on TV and stir-up the "tea money" soap opera drama queens.

Maybe the police have some sort of special radar that can pick out the gormless twits.

You would be picked out every time you walked down there then

[Thai Travel Bug]

Thailand....Where is this place? Do tourists still really go there? A very strange place to go for a holiday, unless your idea of a holiday is death, disaster, accidents that just seem to happen, police that dont protect but harrass, scams that can rob you of your life, your life savings, or your loved ones. Parties that destroy kids who havent yet learnt to wipe their arse, destroys men who are in need and search of love, but dont know where to find it. Now thats my kind of holiday. To truly holiday in paradise and enjoy it, you need to expect the unexpected to happen, you need to be prepared for the worst to happen, and you need to be of the opinion that if i return home unscathed, it was a damn fine trecherous holiday that I was lucky to survive, and Im still alive to tell my friends. My happy snaps were number one hits on Pattaya one news, I smiled in handcuffs with some bibs because I was set up and refused to buy my ticket out, and my photo was rated second only to the two guys photos that graphically depicted their brains being spread all over the road in a high speed, alcohol induced motor bike ride down to the local 7-11 to get more beer. I had a ball. Thailand, when can i come back. It was a real blast.

[Equalizer]

10 years ago, first day ever in Thailand i got fined 2000 Baht for dropping a fag butt in a pile of other fag butts inside a filthy market. Guy was stalking me. Not a pleasant feeling and kind of scary. He gripped my arm and would not let go until we got to this booth. This is just the tip of the ice berg. Now the military have installed all their own Pol colonel's and these have been instructed not to butter the lower ranks bread anymore the lower ranks are rebelling. You cant sack them all!!! soon their will be industrial action i recon. That is unless our General increases the wages. There is no money for this so we are all <deleted>'ed

[mok199]

i was fined 1000 bt a few weeks ago for slapping the cigarette from a thai mans hand in a ''clearly posted'' non smoking area near the hospital in sri racha,at the police station i thought i would see some justice but no luck....sawadee (xtra crap)...

[elgenon]

I have seen it on the odd number side all the way down to Soi 3

[lcp0761]

This has been happening for decades.

Thailand is under Marshal Law, remember.

Martial law justifies harassment and extortion?

It doesn't justify their actions but it gives Thai police something to hide behind to say they are doing their job.

Now regarding the alleged fines, 99.9% it falls into their wallet versus into the general fund.

Post paying the fine, I assume the violator doesn't get a receipt???

[kevvy]

Keep it up Thailand,, just keep doing what you're doing and you will get the result you are so desperate for.... That being loss of tourists and loss of foreign investment.

How many foreigners living here just feel like enough is enough right now? I have been stopped a lot of times riding my motorbike through Sukhumvit,, around Rama IV, Thong Lor and Prom Phong,, all nonsense as i had done nothing wrong but they wrote me a few tickets anyway. Always carry my ID, passport copy and work permit so everything is always in order... still doesn't stop them,

Such complete stupidity deserves nothing more then a huge hole in the economy, its coming, its not a maybe, its coming,,,,

I for one am looking at options elsewhere and as soon as they are finalised I take me and my business and exports with me..

As an American planning to retire in about 18 months, I was considerng Chiang Mai. But...how many farangs are there in Thailand at a given moment? Two million? Five million? How many get murdered per week?? Even Houston, Texas, a city of 5 million+, seems safer. I can locate several pleasent-enough locations in the U.S., places where there aren't any jobs so the houses are cheap, as low as $35-40,000 (I mean pleasant countryside, not Detroit). So even detached houses are cheaper in the US!--at least if you don't need to be near jobs.

There might be 150 murders a year in Houston, and almost none of them are white. (In other words, it's drug dealers shooting other drug dealers, or barrio macho guys losing their hot tempers). Meanwhile a farang gets murdered almost every other day in Thailand. I only consider Thailand because of the women, and I mean nice women, not bg's

So there are no nice women in America. Please come and try to learn the culture not just the women.

[hawker9000]

This has been happening for decades.

Thailand is under Marshal Law, remember.

Thailand is under Marshal Law, remember.

Who is Marshal Law? Is he related to Jude Law? I thought the Thai PM was a general named Prayuth... How can Thailand be "under" somebody named Marshal Law?

OHHHH, YOU mean 'Martial' Law, about which you seem to know about as much as you do the fact that this article is reporting an INTENSIFICATION of these police shenanigans!! This is being so widely reported at this point that I can't believe there are still those with their heads in the sand trying so desperately to convince the uninformed that there's nothing new here - nor do I understand why they're trying so hard to bury the truth.

The growth of this police-run industry recently, which has little or nothing directly to do with martial law btw, and the fact that it's apparently not going away, is a really good reason to either avoid this area entirely, or have someone you can call 24/7 (e.g., a senior police acquaintance or good reputable lawyer) with enough say so to get the police to move on to easier pickings. Or, you can roll the dice....

Edited December 11, 2014 by hawker9000

[brewsterbudgen]

Keep it up Thailand,, just keep doing what you're doing and you will get the result you are so desperate for.... That being loss of tourists and loss of foreign investment.

How many foreigners living here just feel like enough is enough right now? I have been stopped a lot of times riding my motorbike through Sukhumvit,, around Rama IV, Thong Lor and Prom Phong,, all nonsense as i had done nothing wrong but they wrote me a few tickets anyway. Always carry my ID, passport copy and work permit so everything is always in order... still doesn't stop them,

Such complete stupidity deserves nothing more then a huge hole in the economy, its coming, its not a maybe, its coming,,,,

I for one am looking at options elsewhere and as soon as they are finalised I take me and my business and exports with me..

As an American planning to retire in about 18 months, I was considerng Chiang Mai. But...how many farangs are there in Thailand at a given moment? Two million? Five million? How many get murdered per week?? Even Houston, Texas, a city of 5 million+, seems safer. I can locate several pleasent-enough locations in the U.S., places where there aren't any jobs so the houses are cheap, as low as $35-40,000 (I mean pleasant countryside, not Detroit). So even detached houses are cheaper in the US!--at least if you don't need to be near jobs.

There might be 150 murders a year in Houston, and almost none of them are white. (In other words, it's drug dealers shooting other drug dealers, or barrio macho guys losing their hot tempers). Meanwhile a farang gets murdered almost every other day in Thailand. I only consider Thailand because of the women, and I mean nice women, not bg's

"A farang gets murdered almost every other day in Thailand"??! Nothing like a bit of ridiculous exaggeration to make your point eh?

[sanuk711]

So the Thai police are hassling everyone & people have even opened a Facebook page about it , that you can contribute to if it's also happened to you...(& it seems by the posts that its happen to a lot of people) & the Facebook address is----Don't know.... Its a secret / no ones telling / its fantasy /....... take your pick,

.

.......why do so many T.V. discussions end up this way. ...................................

[gyrosman]

I suggest the more people file a complaint with there Embassy, it will get noticed.

[nigelnigel]

Having lived in Bangkok for most of 2003-2008 I can tell you that this was never happening then, and no one was talking about it. Rarely (very rarely) a person was asked to pay a fine for littering, but that was it.

Man this happened super frequently on the sky walk near MBK! I mean a lot. I stood around for 10 minutes and I counted at least 5 people getting fined for 'littering' or even smoking. This is totally not new but regardless is really F'd up!

[wellred]

The ironic thing is if this sort of thing was happening here in the UK (i.e foreign tourists being stopped and harassed) it would be all over the news and most locals would probably also be outraged.

[BudRight]

I don't know why this is news. Been happening for years and years.

Tourists report increased harassment

It's been increasing for years.

[gemguy]

I have no doubt that the shake downs are happening to all to many people and more than ever before.

However, every time I walk around the area, from Nana to Askoe and further down I always forget that the police may be around to nab people..

Fortunately I have never been approached in 25 years.

Maybe I look like someone that has been around for 25 years so they do not bother me...maybe ..or just lucky???

Tonight I was in the same area and I was remembering this time that the bad boy police may be around ....so this time I was looking around for police officers maybe to be seen on the corners or where ever they may be hanging around and ready to pounce.

This evening, I did not see any police officers while I was looking around every where I went.

That does not mean to say the police were no where to be found but it so happens, the first time I was actually looking for them, hoping to observe some of them in action, I could not even see one of them around.

Probably already busy with numerous victims at the police stations

I did see the usual Men in Green, in front of McDonalds, near Nana, nabbing the smokers while I was walking along Sukhumvit with a piece of paper in my hand looking for a rubbish bin and you know what....I could not find a rubbish bin along Sukhumvit and certainly not one that was obvious without having to really look around as to where a person could discard a piece of rubbish.

I kept on walking and walking thinking that there has to be a rubbish bin ahead somewhere but I could not see one anywhere along the side walk.

If they are there, they certainly are not obvious.

I have sat there at McDonalds numerous times watching the Green Police stop people for discarding their cigarettes and then watched the money changing hands and all smiles and even handshakes after the transaction....while they sometimes glance over at me once with a look of acknowledgement that says: "We have seen you around here often enough"

I have also been walking along and walked along side people who are smoking and told them to be aware that the Green Police guys along Sukhumvit are looking for and apprehending people who throw their cigarettes on the side walk.

Most people say thanks for the heads up but some of them look at me and give me the look of .."Yah Yah ...spare me the details"...... while a few have told me they know already and thanks for the reminder.

My turn may come...that is if a person keeps on going back to that area.

Cheers

Edited December 11, 2014 by gemguy

[DeviousMB]

From personal experience less than two years ago, the thing lot police did complete searches of myself walking back to my apartment. Unfortunately I was stopped 3 times walking from soi 30 to soi 20. I wasn't worried about drugs being planted because they had received a 'tip' a tourist was carrying a large quantity of ice. After speaking in Thai they apologized and said thank you. Have been mistreated by police a lot worse in Belfast for no reason.

[charliebru]

I have been visiting Thailand since the 60's and retired here for 5 years. I have never been stopped for anything and certainly never had to piss in a cup. Most of that time was spent on Sukhumvit and quite a bit around Asoke. If I ever do get stopped and shaken down or asked to piss in a cup; i will be making plans for an immediate departure the next day. That is totally unacceptable conduct.

[ThaidaGwaii]

Maybe it's a plot to get rid of Farang tourists to make room for Chinese tourists? (seriously...)

Can you imagine if Thailand put that energy into curbing terrorism in the south?

Regardless, except for the on the spot money grab, you have to carry your passport... or else. It's the law.

[bangsaenguy]

Is it tourists, or is it those who live here also? I've never experienced an incident because I speak Thai.

If you live here, learn the lingo. If you don't.... not much will change in ATTACKING tourists, I'm afraid.

How do you figure the BIB know which farang speak Thai before approaching them? You are mistaken

[ricardofel]

I don't know why this is news. Been happening for years and years.

BS...it has not