PHUKET: A South African family has told media there that a 10-day Phuket holiday turned into an ordeal at the hands of police who held a man captive until he had paid the equivalent of 790,000 baht to officers and lawyers.

Phuket Police Commander Major General Pekad Tantipong, who is supposed to be informed whenever tourists are arrested over serious matters in which passports are surrendered, told Phuketwan this afternoon that he had not been told about the case.

South African news outlets news24.com and iol.co.za today both carry full accounts online in which Gabriel Sequeira, of Johannesburg, tells of having his passport confiscated on the last day of a Phuket holiday and over the next month having to ''frequently pay out sums of money to the police and lawyers to apparently finance the 'case' against him.''

The reports do not specify which of Phuket's eight police stations was involved in the allegation that Mr Sequeira was passing fake US dollars.

''As Sequeira faced uncertainty in Phuket, his distraught family and friends in South Africa kept depositing money into his credit card,'' reports iol.co.za. ''At the same time the police kept taking it and demanding more.

''A month and 180,000 rand later, the family pleaded poverty,'' said a report. ''They deposited their last 20,000 rand and the 43-year-old man was able to leave and head for South Africa after finally being given his passport in a barter agreement.''

Mr Sequeira was reunited on Thursday morning with his family in South Africa. His wife Carla and two of his three children were there to greet him.

''Basically I had to buy my way out,'' he told the South African media. His passport was returned on Wednesday in exchange for him paying over the final 20,000 rand, both reports said.

A document from a travel firm proved that the dollars were genuine, and the couple said they exchanged the US bills on Phuket throughout their stay without a problem.

According to the South African media reports, a Tourist Police volunteer assisted - possibly unknowingly - in the alleged rip-off.

''While still in the cell a police officer brought a statement written in Thai for Sequeira to sign,'' a report said. ''He refused as he didn't understand the document.

''But a New Zealander, introduced to him as a tourism police officer and one of the few officials who could speak English, told him it was safe to sign the document as it was 'just a formality'.

''Unbeknown to Sequeira, by signing the statement he was acknowledging guilt.''

Eventually, the South African media reports, he paid a fine for overstaying his visa and was free to leave with no pending criminal action against him on record.

The South African embassy in Bangkok could not be reached for comment this afternoon.