At least 2,000 Sri Lankans travel from Colombo to Thailand every week for business or leisure.
Most are, however, unaware of the dangers that lurk when they arrive or depart from that country’s main gateway to the world. At the Swarnabhumi International Airport, they run the risk of falling into vicious traps that will land them in jail or as the Thais call it “the Bangkok Hilton,” for shoplifting and other illegal acts. The only escape for the unsuspecting, when caught, is to cough out bribes to prove that they are innocent.
Details of how an organised racket has been operating have emerged following a BBC report about the ordeal of a British couple. Thai Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, has ordered a “clean up” of activities at the international airport. Thailand’s leading English newspaper the Bangkok Post made this issue the subject of a reader forum drawing comments of concern both from Thais and foreigners.
 |
| Stephen Ingram and Xi Lin |
At the centre of the scandal is the King Power Duty Free shops, a company that runs most of the duty free outlets at the airport. The showpiece airport was constructed during the tenure of the ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinwatra amidst allegations of corruption and faulty design.
Playing a pivotal role in the goings on is a Sri Lankan who has been identified only as Tony. Though he is widely known to frequent the Sri Lanka Embassy premises in Bangkok’s Sukhumvit area, officials there denied any knowledge of his activities. They said they were not sure about his whereabouts and whether he was now a permanent Thai resident.
This is what the BBC said: “ …..new allegations have been made that a number of passengers are being detained every month in the duty free area on suspicion of shoplifting, and then held by the police until they pay large sums of money to buy their freedom.
“That is what happened to Stephen Ingram and Xi Lin, two IT experts from Cambridge, as they were about to board their flight to London on the night of April 25. They had been browsing in the duty free shop at the airport, and were later approached by security guards, who twice asked to search their bags.
“They were told a wallet had gone missing, and that Ms Lin had been seen on a security camera taking it out of the shop. The company that owns the duty free shop, King Power, has since put the CCTV video on its website, which does appear to show her putting something in her bag. However, the security guards found no wallet on either of them.
“Despite that, they were both taken from the departure gate, back through immigration, and held in an airport police office. That is when their ordeal started to become frightening. ‘We were questioned in separate rooms,’ Mr. Ingram said. ‘We felt really intimidated. They went through our bags and demanded that we tell them where the wallet was.’
“The two were then put in what Mr. Ingram describes as a “hot, humid, smelly cell with graffiti and blood on the walls.’ Mr. Ingram managed to phone a Foreign Office helpline he found in a travel guide, and was told someone in the Bangkok Embassy would try to help them. The next morning the two were given an interpreter, a Sri Lankan national called Tony, who works part-time for the police.
“They were taken by Tony to meet the local police commander – but, says Mr. Ingram, for three hours all they discussed was how much money they would have to pay to get out.
“They were told the charge was very serious. If they did not pay, they would be transferred to the infamous Bangkok Hilton prison, and would have to wait two months for their case to be processed. Mr Ingram says they wanted £8,000 (more than Rs 1.4 million) - for that the police would try to get him back to the UK in time for his mother's funeral on April 28.
“But he could not arrange to get that much money transferred in time. Tony then took Ms Lin to an ATM machine and told her to withdraw as much as she could from her own account -- £600. He then withdrew the equivalent of £3,400 from his own account. According to Mr Ingram this was then handed over to the police, and they were both forced to sign a number of papers.
 |
| The Bangkok airport’s duty free shops. Pic courtesy BBC |
“Later they were allowed to move to a squalid hotel within the airport perimeter, but their passports were held and they were warned not to leave or try to contact a lawyer or their embassy. ‘I will be watching you,’ Tony told them, adding that they would have to stay there until the £8,000 was transferred into Tony's account. On Monday, they managed to sneak out and get a taxi to Bangkok, and met an official at the British Embassy. She gave the name of a Thai lawyer, and, says Mr Ingram, told them they were being subjected to a classic Thai scam called the "zig-zag".
“Their lawyer urged them to expose Tony -- but also warned them that if they fought the case it could take months, and they risked a long prison sentence. After five days, the money was transferred to Tony's account, and they were allowed to leave. Mr Ingram had missed his mother's funeral, but at least they were given a court document stating that there was insufficient evidence against them, and no charge. It was a harrowing, stressful experience,’ he said. The couple say they now want to take legal action to recover their money.
“The BBC has spoken to Tony and the regional police commander, Colonel Teeradej Phanuphan. They both say Tony was merely helping the couple with translation, and raising bail to keep them out of prison. Tony says about half the £8,000 was for bail, while the rest were "fees" for the bail, for his work, and for a lawyer he says he consulted on their behalf. In theory, he says, they could try to get the bail portion refunded. Colonel Teeradej says he will investigate any possible irregularities in their treatment. But he said any arrangement between the couple and Tony was a private affair, which did not involve the police.
“Letters of complaint to the newspapers in Thailand make it clear that passengers are regularly detained at the airport for alleged shoplifting, and then made to pay middlemen to win their freedom. The Danish Embassy says one of its nationals was recently subjected to a similar scam, and earlier this month an Irish scientist managed to flee Thailand with her husband and one year-old son after being arrested at the airport and accused of stealing an eyeliner worth around £17.
“Tony told the BBC that so far this year he has "helped" about 150 foreigners in trouble with the police. He says sometimes he does it for no charge. The British Embassy has also warned passengers at Bangkok Airport to take care not to move items around in the duty free shopping area before paying for them, as this could result in arrest and imprisonment.”
Some of the reader comments in the Bangkok Post express the concern shown by Thais. Here is a sampling:
Keith: “I was shocked to read that this sort of thing was happening in the Airport and the King Power Company may have shot themselves in the foot. I for one will not be buying anything from the Duty Free owned by them next time or any other time I come to the wonderful country that is Thailand.
“By being on the BBC news website this will be read by a lot of people and the only loser will be Thailand as it may put people off coming. I hope the management of King Power does something to discourage this practice or their profits will fall and if they find any employee is involved the full might of the law should be applied to them. But there is little hope with the police being involved in the scam. If you can't trust the police who can you trust.
“It does seem crazy in these difficult times when tourists are needed more than ever that a group of greedy individuals could put one of the major industries of Thailand at risk for their own selfish ends. I hope they choke on the money they made from conning the tourists.”
An anonymous reader said: “Once at the airport and paid your honest taxi driver the fee, don't touch anything you are not really interested in. Buy what you really want at a local Thai market. (it is probably cheaper and more authentic Thai anyway. Irrespective of what some may think is 'authentic Thai'.) And finally, run away if someone introduces themselves to you as Tony at the airport”
John, another reader said, “Considering the losses of income from tourists following the closure of Suvarnabhumi Airport in connection with the demonstrations earlier, and then this scam of false accusation of shoplifting and the police blackmail of innocent passengers, one would expect that the officials and the government would react quickly.
“This is apparently not so - and seen in the light of the current drastic drop of visitors to Thailand – one wonders why no action is taken by responsible authorities. My Thai wife and I have cancelled our next trip to Thailand in August. There are other nice vacation spots around the world with much less hassle.”
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) exhorts the world to visit “amazing Thailand.”
However, to imbibe in those amazing things, visitors will have to be lucky enough to escape the not so amazing traps by crooked policemen, duty free operators and middlemen. |
E-mail