shocking new scam at the airport 1 BEWARE OF SCAMMERS

A British couple who were falsely accused of shoplifting in Bangkok
airport and were forced to pay £8,000 in bribes to secure their
release are to take legal action for compensation.

They were the victims of an extortion racket that has ensnared other
foreign travellers at the airport, which handles most of the 800,000
British visitors to Thailand every year.

Stephen Ingram, 49, and Xi Lin, 45, both technology professionals from
Cambridge, were detained by security guards as they went to board
Qantas flight QF1 to London on the night of Saturday, April 25.

They were accused of taking a Givenchy wallet worth £121 from a King
Power duty-free shop and were handed over to the police. An official
release order from the local Thai prosecutor’s office subsequently
conceded there was no evidence against them.

They were freed five days later after a frightening ordeal in which
they said they were threatened and held against their will at a cheap
motel on the airport perimeter until they had handed over the money.

The bribes were paid to an intermediary named Sunil “Tony” Rathnayaka,
a Sri Lankan national in his fifties who works as a “volunteer”
interpreter for Thailand’s tourist police (motto: “To serve and to
protect”).

“Our main motivation is to protect other innocent British tourists
from being caught up in this nightmare,” said Ingram last week. “We
intend to take every legal means to recover our money and obtain
justice.”

Last week Rathnayaka admitted in a telephone interview that he had
received cash and money transfers amounting to more than £7,000 from
the Britons. He said the money was for police bail and for a payment
to a figure he called “Little Big Man” who could withdraw the case
against them.

“In Thailand everyone knows it’s like that,” he said. “They can go to
jail or they can just pay a fine and go home. It is corruption, you
know?”

Rathnayaka also agreed that the “bail” — about £4,000 — was never
returned to Ingram and Xi. Thai law says bail should be refunded.

In a detailed statement the couple said they were first detained at an
airport office of the tourist police and later taken to cells at a
police station in an isolated modern building on the fringes of the
airport.

Rathnayaka confirmed that he met them in the cells on the morning of
Sunday, April 26, and arranged the “bail”. The police kept the
couple’s passports. Rathnayaka then escorted Ingram and Xi to the
Valentine Resort, a lurid pink motel a few hundred yards from the
runways. They were to remain there for four days.

During that time, Rathnayaka warned them not to tell anyone about
their plight, especially the British embassy, lawyers, friends, family
or the press.

However, on April 27 they sneaked out of the hotel and found their way
to the embassy, where they met Kate Dufall, the pro-consul.

According to the couple, she told them the embassy could not interfere
with the Thai legal system and put them in contact with Prachaya
Vijitpokin, a lawyer.

Vijitpokin and a colleague, Kittamert Engchountada, of the Lawyers
Association of Thailand, urged them to stay in the country to fight
the case and have since assembled a dossier for potential
prosecutions.

However, Ingram said the couple were so terrified by this stage that
they decided to meet the demands for money, which they raised by bank
transfers from Britain direct to Rathnayaka’s account. The Sunday
Times has copies of the transactions.

Ingram and Xi were put on a British Airways flight to London early on
Friday, May 1, having received their passports with official documents
from prosecutors and police stating that no charges were to be brought
against them.

They have said they are willing to return to Thailand and testify to
try to stop the extortion if the government will guarantee their
safety.

That could become a priority for Thailand, which has suffered a series
of blows to its tourist industry through economic and political
upheaval.

Inquiries last week established that Rathnayaka and his accomplices
have continued preying on tourists who end up in police custody after
being accused of theft from the airport duty-free shop. “I am just
helping people,” he explained. “I don’t get paid to do this. All the
embassies know me.”

Officials at the Danish embassy confirmed that a Danish woman fell
into Rathnayaka’s hands about two weeks ago and was allowed to leave
Thailand only after handing over more than £4,500.

When a Sunday Times journalist posing as a businessman in trouble
contacted Rathnayaka last week, the first thing he said was: “If it’s
a case, for example, of shoplifting at the airport duty-free then I
can help. Bail is 100,000 baht (£1,800).” He later declined an
interview, saying the Sri Lanka embassy — which employs him as an
interpreter — had told him not to speak.

The Foreign Office said consular officials had offered to raise the
case with the Thai authorities at the time but had been asked by the
couple not to intervene.

A spokesman for King Power duty-free said the company had strict rules
for evidence to be submitted to the police in shoplifting cases, but
added: “We cannot control what happens after that.”

http://phuketwan.com/tourism/british...tortion-11274/

"nobody" wrote in message
A British couple who were falsely accused of shoplifting in Bangkok
airport and were forced to pay £8,000 in bribes to secure their
release are to take legal action for compensation.

They were the victims of an extortion racket that has ensnared other
foreign travellers at the airport, which handles most of the 800,000
British visitors to Thailand every year.

Stephen Ingram, 49, and Xi Lin, 45, both technology professionals from
Cambridge, were detained by security guards as they went to board
Qantas flight QF1 to London on the night of Saturday, April 25.

They were accused of taking a Givenchy wallet worth £121 from a King
Power duty-free shop and were handed over to the police. An official
release order from the local Thai prosecutor’s office subsequently
conceded there was no evidence against them.

They were freed five days later after a frightening ordeal in which
they said they were threatened and held against their will at a cheap
motel on the airport perimeter until they had handed over the money.

The bribes were paid to an intermediary named Sunil “Tony” Rathnayaka,
a Sri Lankan national in his fifties who works as a “volunteer”
interpreter for Thailand’s tourist police (motto: “To serve and to
protect”).


**Hmmmmmmm. Another crook who works for the volunteer Tourist Police. They
(the volunteer Tourist Police) do seem to attract all sorts of low-life. I
wonder what attracted Steve 'Kombat' Kramer to the job when he joined them a
couple of years ago??? )

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle6590584.ece

"nobody" wrote in message
...
A British couple who were falsely accused of shoplifting in Bangkok
airport and were forced to pay £8,000 in bribes to secure their
release are to take legal action for compensation.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm a little bit confused here by the logistics of this

From where is a foreign tourist, on they way out of the country, going to
find 8,000 (pounds/dollars/Euro) in cash to pay the bribe.

I have this sort of money available in a savings account, but if someone
plonked me in jail and say "pay me this money to let you out" I would have
to reply that this is impossible as it's not in my current (checking)
account. Even if the money was in the account and they did take me to a
cash machine, the maximum daily allowance is about 300 pounds so it would
take 15 trips, not very practical is it?

tim

On Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:45:23 +0100, "tim....."
wrote:


"nobody" wrote in message
...
A British couple who were falsely accused of shoplifting in Bangkok
airport and were forced to pay £8,000 in bribes to secure their
release are to take legal action for compensation.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm a little bit confused here by the logistics of this

From where is a foreign tourist, on they way out of the country, going to
find 8,000 (pounds/dollars/Euro) in cash to pay the bribe.

I have this sort of money available in a savings account, but if someone
plonked me in jail and say "pay me this money to let you out" I would have
to reply that this is impossible as it's not in my current (checking)
account. Even if the money was in the account and they did take me to a
cash machine, the maximum daily allowance is about 300 pounds so it would
take 15 trips, not very practical is it?


According to the report, the couple made a bank transfer to obtain the
money from the UK.

Chris

"Chris Blunt" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:45:23 +0100, "tim....."
wrote:


"nobody" wrote in message
...
A British couple who were falsely accused of shoplifting in Bangkok
airport and were forced to pay £8,000 in bribes to secure their
release are to take legal action for compensation.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm a little bit confused here by the logistics of this

From where is a foreign tourist, on they way out of the country, going to
find 8,000 (pounds/dollars/Euro) in cash to pay the bribe.

I have this sort of money available in a savings account, but if someone
plonked me in jail and say "pay me this money to let you out" I would have
to reply that this is impossible as it's not in my current (checking)
account. Even if the money was in the account and they did take me to a
cash machine, the maximum daily allowance is about 300 pounds so it would
take 15 trips, not very practical is it?


According to the report, the couple made a bank transfer to obtain the
money from the UK.

I understood that this couple managed to find the money.

The point I am making is that if most people can't raise the money, they
would give up running the scam

tim