Ride of terror: Malaysian tourist’s Bangkok kidnap nightmare with a twist

A Malaysian tourist recently shared a harrowing experience while travelling in Bangkok, accusing a Thai ride-hailing driver of attempting to kidnap him and his four friends for a human trafficking gang.

The Malaysian tourist, who goes by the name Andrew Tong on Facebook, recounted this life-changing experience. According to Tong, the incident unfolded on their final day in Bangkok as they were en route to Don Mueang International Airport on Tuesday, September 5.

According to a report on the Singaporean news agency, Must Share News, Tong revealed that he booked a ride to the airport via an application called inDrive.

From the screenshot shared in the post, the ride started from the Ascella Bangkok Hotel in the Phaya Thai neighbourhood of the capital, and the destination was Don Mueang Airport. The trip started at 7am.

The car that arrived to pick them up was a four-door pickup that seemed perfectly ordinary. However, they started noticing many strange things when they were in the car. Firstly, the car windows would not open and the driver was distracted, talking to someone on the phone all the time they were in the car.

As one of the tourists could understand the Thai language, the group knew that the phone call’s subject matter consistently revolved around their presence. Tong told his friends that the driver was talking about them to someone on the phone. The driver told the person on the other end of the phone how many of them there were, their genders, and other details.

Then, the tourists noticed that the estimated arrival time displayed on the driver’s GPS and that provided by the inDrive application was different. The journey to the airport was 30 minutes according to their GPS but the driver’s GPS stated 50 minutes.

After the driver noticed that they were checking the GPS, he talked to the phone…

“I think some of them can understand Thai.”

The tourists felt threatened so urgently requested the driver to locate a restroom, imploring him to halt at a nearby shopping mall. However, their pleas were met with refusal, as the driver opted to pull into a petrol station instead. The tourists heard the driver talking on the phone.

“I think they know.”

Tong said he and his friends decided to get out of the car and grab their luggage to escape. Tong stated that it was strange that the driver did not follow them or request a fare as a normal driver would do if passengers did a runner.

The post drew attention from both Thai and international netizens, and their opinions were divided. Some agreed with Tong that the ride looked very dangerous. Some thought it did not make sense for five people to sit in one pickup while others thought the driver might have been talking to his wife, friend, or the application support centre.

Tong issued a warning for all travellers urging people to keep tracking their journey with a GPS. Tong underscored that he did not mean to share the story to spread panic or stop people from going to Thailand or Bangkok.

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