Thai woman allegedly drugged and robbed by Bangkok taxi driver
A female Thai tour guide accused a taxi driver of drugging and robbing her during a trip from Soi Sukhumvit 11 to Soi Sukhumvit 81 in Bangkok on December 26.
The 47 year old Thai woman, Angkana “Oil” Rungpaisarn, sought help from the non-profit organisation Saimai Survive after she woke up on the roadside with injuries across her body and valuables missing. The amount of her losses has not been disclosed to the public.
Oil explained that she had been drinking alcohol with her friends at a bar in Soi Sukhumvit 11. She consumed five to six small bottles of beer before the bar closed at around 3am. She could only remember getting into a taxi outside the bar and could not recall what had happened afterwards.
Oil believes that the taxi driver must have drugged her and stolen all of her valuables, so she filed a complaint at Phra Kanong Police Station and Lumpini Police Station.
However, officers from both stations rejected her complaint and shifted responsibility between the involved parties. In desperation, Oil reached out to Saimai Survive for assistance.
The motorcycle taxi rider who encountered Oil the next morning, December 27, 30 year old Somphon Khemphet, told DailyNews that he saw Oil leaning against a traffic fence outside an apartment in Soi Sukhumvit 81 at around 7am.
Suspect at large
Somphon said he recognised Oil, as he previously provided a service to her, so he approached her to offer assistance. He noticed bloody wounds and bruises on her face and offered to take her to a hospital.
However, Oil was disoriented and asked him to take her to her condominium at the end of the Soi instead of the hospital. She told him that she had a severe headache. Somphon also suspected that she was sexually assaulted.
Saimai Survive founder, Ekkaphop Lueangprasert, accompanied Oil to Phra Kanong Police Station, supervised the area where the crime took place, and later handed the case over to the Investigation Division of the Metropolitan Police Bureau.
Ekkaphop later revealed to DailyNews that police checked Oil’s phone signal and found it near a popular electronics market in Bangkok, known as Suea Pa Market. Officers suspect that the thief may have already sold Oil’s mobile phone at the market.
According to Ekkaphop, police are reviewing security footage along the route. The taxi driver remains a suspect, but he will be summoned if it is found that he took longer than 20 minutes to drive Oil from Sukhumvit 11 to Sukhumvit 81.
