Thailand travel woes: Cops’ highway robbery sparks outcry

A Thai travel agency took to social media to seek justice after a group of alleged police officers extorted 700,000 baht from Chinese tourists on a motorway heading to Pattaya.

The Thai woman, who claimed to be a representative of a travel agency, shared a dashcam video in which a group of men, claiming to be police officers, asked the car carrying the Chinese tourists to stop on the motorway at about 7.29pm on July 10.

The woman explained that her Chinese customers were stopped 200 metres away from the Pattaya toll fare collection booth. The men demanded 700,000 baht from the Chinese nationals, and both she and her customers questioned whether they were genuine police officers.

The travel agency representative added that the Chinese tourists were staying at a hotel near Terminal 21 in Pattaya, and she hoped the foreigners would get justice before they left Thailand on July 25.

Channel 7 reported that the men who claimed to be police arrived at the scene in two vehicles, a white Toyota Fortuner and a black Ford Everest. The media revealed more details of the incident, stating that the alleged police officers requested to check the Chinese nationals’ passports and visas.

The alleged police officers then took pictures of each Chinese tourist and later checked the driving licence of the driver. The nationality of the driver was not revealed but was suspected to be Thai.

The superintendent of the Nong Prue Police Station, Thawee Kudtalaeng, who supervised the area, revealed to Channel 7 that the Chinese nationals did not report the matter to the police.

Channel 7 reported that the reporter team attempted to contact the driver of the Chinese tourists’ vehicle to ask about the incident on that night but their attempt failed.

As per police reports, officers cannot do anything unless the Chinese tourists report the matter.

In a related report, another major case of extortion was reported in January of last year when a Taiwanese actress, An Yu-Qing, also known as Charlene An, came forward to expose corrupt Thai police officers. An and her friends were asked to pay 27,000 baht each at a police checkpoint to claim their freedom.

An’s exposure led to the imprisonment of five years for four police officers involved in the extortion. Two other police officers present at the scene maintained their innocence.