Pattaya, Pattaya Provincial Court has issued an arrest warrant for a rogue policeman who, along with a civilian, cut off a Chinese man on a motorway and extorted 700,000 baht from him. There are also four more suspects, one of whom is a real policeman.
Progress in the case of a Chinese tourist who was cut off by a group of men claiming to be police officers at a toll booth on the motorway, Highway No. 7, inbound to Pattaya, Nongprue Subdistrict, Bang Lamung District, Chonburi Province, and then kidnapped and extorted for 700,000 baht.
The Investigation Unit of Region 2 and the Investigation Unit of Pattaya City Police Station are working together to track down the Chinese victims for questioning after they refused to appear and provide information to the police. Then, on July 19, the police found the two Chinese men, Mr. Jin, age 43, and Mr. Chen, age 44, after they had fled and hidden in a condo in the Jomtien area, Nongprue Subdistrict, Bang Lamung District, Chon Buri Province.
Mr. Jin and Mr. Chen stat
ed that they fled from China in early December 2023 into Laos, crossed the Mekong River into Thailand in Chiang Rai Province, where someone picked them up along the Mekong River and took them to Chiang Rai Airport. Later, someone picked them up at Chiang Rai Airport and headed to Pattaya after arrest warrants were issued in China for gambling-related offenses.
Initially, the police investigation team took the two Chinese people into custody and sent them to the Chonburi Immigration Police to face charges of illegal entry. They also took Mr. Jin and Mr. Chen to be questioned at Nong Prue Police Station about being taken away by a group of men claiming to be police officers and demanding 700,000 baht in exchange for their freedom. The police questioned them for several hours, but have not yet come out to reveal the truth.
While today (23 July) the Pattaya Provincial Court approved an arrest warrant for Pol. Sgt. Maj. Thitiwat, the suspect under the Pattaya Provincial Court arrest warrant dated 22 July 2024, c
harged with ‘being an official who jointly abuses his position, being an official who jointly performs or neglects to perform his duty in an improper manner to cause damage to another person, jointly coercing another person to act or submit to something by making them fear that it will cause harm to their life, body, freedom, reputation or property, jointly restraining or confining.
Initially, Pol. Sgt. Maj. Thitiwat denied all charges. He was then taken to the Nongprue Police Station for legal proceedings. The other four suspects were one police officer (affiliated with the Central Investigation Bureau) and three civilians.
For this case, the page “??????????????????? Return prat 6” posted a 2-minute clip with a caption that says: Some clips… Claiming to be police extorting money from Chinese tourists. Social media, please help expand the issue. Hello, Sister Kim. I have a clip of a group of men claiming to be police and taking 700,000 baht from a Chinese person. It was about 200 meters past the 105 Patt
aya toll booth. The incident occurred on 10/07/67 at 7:29 p.m. I am a tour company and just met with the customer again this morning. We talked and found out what happened. – I just want to know if they are real police. If not, it is dangerous for Chinese tourists. The victim is currently staying in Pattaya, near Terminal 21. She will return to China on the 25th.
Source: Thai News Agency