British couple fights Bangkok airport extortionists

[Guest Astrrro]

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June 28, 2009

British couple fights Bangkok airport extortionists

Two tourists were held by an airport gang until they paid up £8,000

Michael Sheridan

 

A British couple who were falsely accused of shoplifting in Bangkok airport and were forced to pay £8,000 in bribes to secure their release are to take legal action for compensation.

 

They were the victims of an extortion racket that has ensnared other foreign travellers at the airport, which handles most of the 800,000 British visitors to Thailand every year.

 

Stephen Ingram, 49, and Xi Lin, 45, both technology professionals from Cambridge, were detained by security guards as they went to board Qantas flight QF1 to London on the night of Saturday, April 25.

 

They were accused of taking a Givenchy wallet worth £121 from a King Power duty-free shop and were handed over to the police. An official release order from the local Thai prosecutor’s office subsequently conceded there was no evidence against them.

 

They were freed five days later after a frightening ordeal in which they said they were threatened and held against their will at a cheap motel on the airport perimeter until they had handed over the money.

 

The bribes were paid to an intermediary named Sunil “Tony” Rathnayaka, a Sri Lankan national in his fifties who works as a “volunteer” interpreter for Thailand’s tourist police (motto: “To serve and to protect”).

 

“Our main motivation is to protect other innocent British tourists from being caught up in this nightmare,” said Ingram last week. “We intend to take every legal means to recover our money and obtain justice.”

 

Last week Rathnayaka admitted in a telephone interview that he had received cash and money transfers amounting to more than £7,000 from the Britons. He said the money was for police bail and for a payment to a figure he called “Little Big Man” who could withdraw the case against them.

 

“In Thailand everyone knows it’s like that,” he said. “They can go to jail or they can just pay a fine and go home. It is corruption, you know?”

 

Rathnayaka also agreed that the “bail” — about £4,000 — was never returned to Ingram and Xi. Thai law says bail should be refunded.

 

In a detailed statement the couple said they were first detained at an airport office of the tourist police and later taken to cells at a police station in an isolated modern building on the fringes of the airport.

 

Rathnayaka confirmed that he met them in the cells on the morning of Sunday, April 26, and arranged the “bail”. The police kept the couple’s passports. Rathnayaka then escorted Ingram and Xi to the Valentine Resort, a lurid pink motel a few hundred yards from the runways. They were to remain there for four days.

 

During that time, Rathnayaka warned them not to tell anyone about their plight, especially the British embassy, lawyers, friends, family or the press.

 

However, on April 27 they sneaked out of the hotel and found their way to the embassy, where they met Kate Dufall, the pro-consul.

 

According to the couple, she told them 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.

 

However, Ingram said the couple were so terrified by this stage that they decided to meet the demands for money, which they raised by bank transfers from Britain direct to Rathnayaka’s account. The Sunday Times has copies of the transactions.

 

Ingram and Xi were put on a British Airways flight to London early on Friday, May 1, having received their passports with official documents from prosecutors and police stating that no charges were to be brought against them.

 

They have said they are willing to return to Thailand and testify to try to stop the extortion if the government will guarantee their safety.

 

That could become a priority for Thailand, which has suffered a series of blows to its tourist industry through economic and political upheaval.

 

Inquiries last week established that Rathnayaka and his accomplices have continued preying on tourists who end up in police custody after being accused of theft from the airport duty-free shop. “I am just helping people,” he explained. “I don’t get paid to do this. All the embassies know me.”

 

Officials at the Danish embassy confirmed that a Danish woman fell into Rathnayaka’s hands about two weeks ago and was allowed to leave Thailand only after handing over more than £4,500.

 

When a Sunday Times journalist posing as a businessman in trouble contacted Rathnayaka last week, the first thing he said was: “If it’s a case, for example, of shoplifting at the airport duty-free then I can help. Bail is 100,000 baht (£1,800).” He later declined an interview, saying the Sri Lanka embassy — which employs him as an interpreter — had told him not to speak.

 

The 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.

 

A spokesman for King Power duty-free said the company had strict rules for evidence to be submitted to the police in shoplifting cases, but added: “We cannot control what happens after that.”

 

Additional Reporting: Andrew Chant

[Gaybutton]

This is the first I've ever heard of such a case and I'm not so sure I swallow the story quite the way it is told. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of people pass through the airport every day. Why would these two be singled out to be victims of a crime like this? Nevertheless, if one assumes the story is true, then the obvious thing to do would be not to enter the duty free shops at all.

 

If nothing else, based on other reported incidents I wouldn't want to be caught shoplifting in Thailand. A minor shoplifting incident in Thailand is often taken very seriously. You might recall the incident several weeks ago in which an Australian woman was accused of taking some sort of a place mat from a bar and damned near ended up with a prison sentence over the incident. It took requests from her government and a lot of publicity to get her out of it.

 

I recall an incident not too long ago when a farang was caught shoplifting a couple batteries from a convenience store. He ended up in jail for about a week and paying a hefty fine, and I think he was damned lucky that nothing beyond that happened to him.

 

When I go shopping, I keep the receipt with me until I've left the store and returned home. Even then, I keep it for a couple days before throwing it out. That might be a little over-cautious, but if someone ever tries to accuse me of shoplifting, I'm going to have the proof that I paid right there with me.

[2lz2p]

I'm not sure, but recall reading another story about this type of scam. According to that story, someone at the duty free shop "drops" an additional item into the bag when a purchase is made - not knowing the item is in their bag - the person is accosted later and accused of shop lifting the item. Anyway that is what I recall, but it might have been the sales person not ringing up all the purchases - thus the receipt does not show the item was paid for.

 

[Gaybutton]

someone at the duty free shop "drops" an additional item into the bag when a purchase is made

I've heard stories like that too, but I'm not sure how much truth there is in them. If those stories are true, that's one thing, but I can picture those as rumor too. I would have thought if scams like that are actually taking place, then the embassies would be raising hell about it.

 

Whenever I've bought something at a duty free shop, they either seal the bag with staples or they deliver the bag to the plane themselves. Either way, though, it is still a good idea to make damned sure as to what's in the bag before they seal it or you walk out of the shop with it. It's also a good idea to keep the receipt, not only for customs inspection when you arrive at your destination, but again as proof you paid for what's in that bag.

[Guest fountainhall]

someone at the duty free shop "drops" an additional item into the bag when a purchase is made

 

This is all very interesting. Having flown several million miles, I have never once thought of this sort of fraud when purchasing anything from duty-free. Like GB I have considerable doubts about such stories. Then, when I think about it, I can see how easy it would be for some corrupt airport cops to be in league with a salesperson in one of the stores. If the 'mark' is chosen carefully, it could make them some cash. The problem, though, is they could not do this more than a few times before someone somewhere gets suspicious.

 

At Suvarnabhumi, I have only ever purchased liquor as almost everything else is cheaper at other airports. But it could happen anywhere and so i will certainly be more careful in future to double check the bag content before I leave the store.

[2lz2p]

On one of the other forums, there is a similar thread. One person wrote about the sales clerk saying there was a 2 for 1 promotion and gave the buyer an extra item -- of course, when checked by the police, the receipt showed only one item.

 

That comment kind of jogged my memory - I think that was the scam I previously read about instead of the clerk "dropping" something in the bag.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

When there is really a 2 for 1 sale they put 2 items on the bill and then deduct one of them.

[Guest]

I've seen several reports of this nature & would be taking care with receipts & so on in duty free shops. Or better still, avoiding them.

 

I would be more worried if the extortion racket moved on to gogo bar customers.

ie the type of thing where someone offs a guy who is 20, looks 20 & has a good ID card that backs that up, then someone tries to claim otherwise until money is paid.

That would be more difficult to avoid, but thankfully it doesn't seem to be a problem?

 

[Guest ReneThai]

Have a look at what the CCTV camera saw :

 

http://www.kingpower.com/2009/popup/pop_case2.html#

 

[Guest lvdkeyes]

Have a look at what the CCTV camera saw :

 

http://www.kingpower.com/2009/popup/pop_case2.html#

A picture is worth a thousand words.

[Guest fountainhall]

Fascinating! Having assumed that these Brits were the victims of a scam, the video seems pretty convincing that the lady was shoplifting. So whatever happened thereafter was really their own fault.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

Maybe (?) now we can stop being so paranoid about perceived scams and just get on with our lives. So many of them seem to be just rumor and innuendo.

[Gaybutton]

Maybe (?) now we can stop being so paranoid about perceived scams

I think the reason many were taken in by this was because of the way the article so emphatically states they were victims of a scam. It turned out a little differently. Of course, maybe the couple in the video were paid actors and not the real couple. Just part of the scam to make innocent people look guilty . . .

 

Where is the couple anyway? Still in the hotel? Still in Thailand? Back in the UK? If they are, and anyone owns a store there, watch out!

 

Despite the fact that I have never seen a "cheap motel" anywhere near the airport, does it make sense to anyone that they would have been held in such a place, rather than the airport security's holding cell until handed over to the police? Have you ever heard of anyone being held in a hotel? Have you ever heard of anyone even claiming to have been held in a hotel? I haven't. Oh well, there's a first time for everything.

[Guest thaiworthy]

Have you ever heard of anyone being held in a hotel? Have you ever heard of anyone even claiming to have been held in a hotel? I haven't. Oh well, there's a first time for everything.

 

 

Actually, there have been many times I have held someone in my hotel room. My boyfriend for one, some boy specials, and a couple hundred go-go boys. I held them close, too. It's an epidemic, and I hope it never ends. I wonder if I'll ever get caught?

 

 

[Gaybutton]

I wonder if I'll ever get caught?

Looks like you just did . . .

[Guest gay_grampa]

Rathnayaka then escorted Ingram and Xi to the Valentine Resort, a lurid pink motel a few hundred yards from the runways. They were to remain there for four days.

 

 

Despite the fact that I have never seen a "cheap motel" anywhere near the airport,

 

 

And here's its website: Valentine Resort

 

 

[Guest Astrrro]

If you need to stay one night near the airport Great Residence is a good cheap choice if you book thru Agoda. It includes roundtrip airport van. Very small but comfortable room.

 

But if you're wondering around the airport freelance reps will book you there at triple the price.

 

Great Residence via Agoda

[KhorTose]

What is new about the latest BBC report is that the Danes have a similar or similar cases.

 

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Danish-Embas...ml#entry2883435

[Guest fountainhall]

These two incidents at Suvarnabhumi