Extorted Taiwanese actress’ friend told to pay fine or go to jail

The Singaporean friend of the Taiwanese actress, who says she was extorted by police, says he was told to pay a fine or go to jail.

The man was found to be in possession of illegal vaping devices that he had bought in Bangkok. The 29 year old man, who identifies himself as “Sky,” spoke to Bangkok Post at the Davis Bangkok Hotel of former politician and massage parlour tycoon Chuwit Kamolvisit.

Sky says he and his three friends, which included Taiwanese actress Charlene An, joined a friend’s birthday party in a Sukhumvit restaurant on the night of January 3. After, he says they took a Grab taxi to head towards the Huai Khwang area.

They were stopped at a police checkpoint and asked for their passports, which Sky did not have at the time. The group was ordered to get out of their taxi and take off their shoes and were allegedly searched. It was then that they found the vaporisers in Sky’s possession.

He says the police then demanded money from him in exchange for being spared from charges related to vaporisers and an alleged failure to have a visa. The Singaporean responded by saying he had a visa on arrival.

He says police told the group that they would be jailed for two days if they did not pay the bribe of 27,000 baht.

“I was very stressed and wanted to get away quickly. I was afraid of the police and imprisonment. So, I gave all the 30,000 baht that I had then and they took 27,000 baht.”

Sky says he bought the vaporisers at a market in Huai Khwang without knowing they were illegal as they were being sold everywhere.

After the incident, Sky says that he remembered the faces of the police officers who stopped the group. He also says he would love to revisit Thailand in the future (after he arrived back home), but said he was afraid of Thai police and had already learned the Thai word thai, meaning extortion.