THAILAND tourism is being battered once again, this time over an alleged scam at Bangkok Airport, along with accusations that the British Embassy does not do enough to help citizens in trouble.
A British couple, Stephen Ingram and Xi Lin, have told the Times Online that they were forced to pay bribes of 8000 pounds to secure their release after five days in captivity.
About 800,000 British tourists visit Thailand each year. The case and others like it have raised a storm of protests against corruption in Thailand and the British Embassy.
The couple, described as technology professionals, said they were detained by security guards at Bangkok airport in April and accused of taking a Givenchy wallet from a King Power duty free shop.
Handed over to police, their passports confiscated, they were detained in cells then at a lurid Valentine Hotel on the airport's outskirts.
The couple said a Sri Lankan man negotiated a ''bail'' payment. The Sri Lankan told them the money was for a character known as ''Little Big Man'' to withdraw the case against them.
On April 27, the couple said, they sneaked away from the hotel and contacted the British Embassy.
According to the article, a British official told Ingram and Lin that the embassy could not interfere with the Thai legal system and put them in contact with Prachaya Vijitpokin, a lawyer.
Vijitpokin and a colleague, Kittamert Engchountada, of the Lawyers Association of Thailand, urged them to stay in the country to fight the case and have since assembled a dossier for potential prosecutions.
Mr Ingram said the couple were so terrified by this stage that they decided to meet the demands for money and flew to Britain on May 1.
Having now told their account, they say they are willing to return to Thailand and testify to try to stop the extortion if the government will guarantee their safety.
The Sri Lankan, who says he works as an interpreter at the Sri Lankan embassy, has allegedly ''continued preying on tourists who end up in police custody after being accused of theft from the airport duty-free shop,'' The Times Online reports.
''I am just helping people,'' he told a reporter. ''I don't get paid to do this. All the embassies know me.''
The British Foreign Office said consular officials had offered to raise the case with the Thai authorities at the time but had been asked by the couple not to intervene, the Times Online adds.
The full report is at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6590584.ece
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A British couple, Stephen Ingram and Xi Lin, have told the Times Online that they were forced to pay bribes of 8000 pounds to secure their release after five days in captivity.
About 800,000 British tourists visit Thailand each year. The case and others like it have raised a storm of protests against corruption in Thailand and the British Embassy.
The couple, described as technology professionals, said they were detained by security guards at Bangkok airport in April and accused of taking a Givenchy wallet from a King Power duty free shop.
Handed over to police, their passports confiscated, they were detained in cells then at a lurid Valentine Hotel on the airport's outskirts.
The couple said a Sri Lankan man negotiated a ''bail'' payment. The Sri Lankan told them the money was for a character known as ''Little Big Man'' to withdraw the case against them.
On April 27, the couple said, they sneaked away from the hotel and contacted the British Embassy.
According to the article, a British official told Ingram and Lin that the embassy could not interfere with the Thai legal system and put them in contact with Prachaya Vijitpokin, a lawyer.
Vijitpokin and a colleague, Kittamert Engchountada, of the Lawyers Association of Thailand, urged them to stay in the country to fight the case and have since assembled a dossier for potential prosecutions.
Mr Ingram said the couple were so terrified by this stage that they decided to meet the demands for money and flew to Britain on May 1.
Having now told their account, they say they are willing to return to Thailand and testify to try to stop the extortion if the government will guarantee their safety.
The Sri Lankan, who says he works as an interpreter at the Sri Lankan embassy, has allegedly ''continued preying on tourists who end up in police custody after being accused of theft from the airport duty-free shop,'' The Times Online reports.
''I am just helping people,'' he told a reporter. ''I don't get paid to do this. All the embassies know me.''
The British Foreign Office said consular officials had offered to raise the case with the Thai authorities at the time but had been asked by the couple not to intervene, the Times Online adds.
The full report is at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6590584.ece
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thats one case more of hunderds where tourist were rip off from police. i saw myself such cases and nobody care about that because the thai police is so powerful and think nobody can stop them... its a shame !
Posted by shame on June 28, 2009 18:28