Bangkok's international airport: shoplifting at duty-free shops or police extortion?

Beware of scams at Suvarnabhumi Airport's duty-free shops

To cut to the chase, the lesson to draw from this article is: don’t enter the duty-free shops at Bangkok’s sparkling, sprawling international airport, even if the Thai police, on the orders of the Transport Ministry, now say they're cracking down on all scams at the airport.  With the exception of restaurants and coffee bars, I'd advise avoiding the entire blocks-long swath of glossy open-front shops on the way to the boarding gates.The shops sell designer-labeled leather goods, perfumes, make-up, jewelry and liquor. All these shops are operated by King Power, the concession holder. The chief of King Power is one of Thailand’s richest citizens. Given the prices, why anyone would buy anything in these shops is beyond me,  but now there’s a much scarier reason to stay out.

The British couple whose expensive five-day ordeal brought the airport racket to full light was arrested for shoplifting a Givenchy wallet priced at $200.  Although initially arrested on April 25 by the Tourist Police  (who quickly disappear from the saga), the two were brought to a cheap hotel near the hotel, where they spent five days and almost $13,000 negotiating with the police through a Sri Lankan fixer and transferring ATM withdrawals to his account.

Video evidence

Bangkok residents are calling it the "Monopoly scam" because it recalls the get-out-of-jail deal in the board game. At the end, the fixer returned their passports with documents from police and prosecutor dropping the charges for lack of sufficient evidence.  Their side of the story  was first told in  this London Times article. A July 20 BBC story adds some details of the negotiations.

Before jumping to conclusions, take a look at the CCTV video of the couple that King Power released. It sure looks incriminating. But even if husband was caught red-handed with the wallet (it’s not clear whether that occurred), the ensuing process and shakedown are outrageous, even by Thai scandal standards.

Sri Lankan middle man

For a start, although the two were arrested by the Tourist Police at the airport, the case was turned over to the local provincial police. The latter apparently have a standing relationship with a freelance Sri Lankan interpreter-fixer known as Tony,  as the Tourist Police told this local travel trade publication.

The process and the freelance interpreter make ones wonder about the purpose of the Tourist Police; it employs Thais who speak English and other foreign languages. Why is there a need for a freelance foreign interpreter? Why were the accused thieves told not to contact their embassy or a lawyer?  And what happened to King Power? Isn’t King Power interested in what happens to those it sends to the police? Or wondering why employees aren’t asked to testify at trials? Are there ever trials? Does management even know about the number of these shoplifting incidents?

Irish scientist pays off

The reasoning behind the couple’s decision to make the pay-off is all too familiar. An Irish scientist in a similar predicament  reached the same conlusion in early July at a cost of about $16,000 (or 10,000 pounds), as described by British journalist Andrew Drummond. Her initial bail was close to $3,000--on the charge that she stole an eyeliner priced at $25. King Power has now also posted a CCTV video of her, but I can't tell much of anything from it. Unlike the British couple, she did go to the counter and pay for one item with a credit card. She says she thought she paid for both items.

The Sri Lankan man’s advice to the alleged shoplifters that they not publicize their plight was probably right too: once an arrest hits the press—particularly if it involves drugs or child sexual abuse—it’s difficult to go into reverse and erase charges.

Investigative journalist Andrew Drummond

Would-be and newbie tourists should read through the other posts on Andrew Drummond’s site as well as his replies to comments. Note that he says police have acknowledged 160 people were victims of the scam in April alone.  Although his website looks amateurish and the puncutation is poor, he probably knows more than any other foreigner about police corruption in Thailand—in other words, a lot more than he is able to write about. He has been based in Thailand for many years and regularly contributes to the British newspapers and TV networks he lists on his site.

Britons make up the largest group of Western tourists and of Westerners in Thai prisons. Yet they aren’t especially conspicious in most parts of Thailand perhaps because, like a large expat contingent, many are single men who spend their time in Pattaya, the sex resort. At any rate, Drummond finds many crazy stories start in Pattaya. Of course, wherever there is so much prostitution, there are also many varieties of of gangsters and other criminals, from many countries. He’s forever covering cases of  crimes emanating from the sinkhole, such as British men killed or fleeced by prostitute wives. He’s also investigated trafficking routes that end in English massage parlors and who makes the money behind the “long-necked” Padaung women freak shows, a story that he mentions on the site.

Million baht per month scam?

But to get back to these these shoplifting/extortion cases, I  found these two remarks by Drummond interesting:

This scam is probably netting millions of Thai baht a month. Legally I cannot say where the money is going. But the first 100,000 baht bail goes to police and is not returned and the rest goes through a ‘fixer’, often a Thai speaking foreign police volunteer.  After the payments are made the victims receive a letter from the Prosecutor at Samut Prakarn Court saying a case has not been pursued through a lack of evidence. If the prosecutor were to have been paid, and of course I cannot say that, then other officials at the court would normally be too.”

“If similar cases in the past are anything to go by the Sri Lankan national will be the fall guy who will be presented to the press at a table with piles of 1000 baht bills in front of him.  And all local officials will be vindicated.”