Thai police accused of demanding 500,000 baht from Kazakhstan suspect

A Thai lawyer and a Kazakhstan thief accused Thai Immigration Bureau officers of demanding 500,000 baht in exchange for the temporary release of the suspect.

According to a Channel 7 report, a Kazakhstan man was arrested by Thai police officers from Mueang Pattaya Police Station, and Koh Samui Police Station, after he and his friends stole from a victim on Koh Samui, an island in the southern province of Surat Thani.

The Thai lawyer, Krit Neatidham, who took care of the case reported to Channel 7 that the Kazakhstan man was later apprehended by Immigration Bureau officers and imprisoned for over two weeks at the immigration office in Bangkok.

Krit stated that he and the suspect’s Thai wife attempted to gain temporary release for him to proceed with further litigation in court. However, the immigration police request a special payment for the bail and contacted the lawyer via phone call to negotiate the amount of the payment.

During the conversation on the phone, the police officer made an explicit demand, stating…

“You have to pay the court 500,000 baht for the temporary release of the suspect. Are you convenient for that? And may I ask you straightly? Could you pay the same amount to my team?”

The record was cut off, and the lawyer, Krit, had not yet responded to the offer. Krit explained that the immigration police said that the foreign man was imprisoned because he was involved in the attempted murder case in Phuket. However, the officers refused to provide details of the case.

While Krit did not explicitly state whether his client ultimately agreed to pay the bribes or not, he did reveal that the suspect was subsequently released sometime in February of this year.

As of now, the Immigration Bureau and relevant authorities have not provided any further clarification regarding the case.