Andrew Drummond

Londoner falsely arrested in Thailand on passport charge allowed to go home.
‘We feel sorry for you,” says prosecutor
From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok, April 27 2009

A London martial arts expert, who was wrongly arrested on a false passport charge, and then jailed after Embassy officials failed to confirm his passport was real, was today told he was free to leave Thailand.
Prosecutor Umaporn Siripong told Briton Simon Burrowes, 44, from Wembley: “We feel sorry for you. It should not have come to this.  You should not have insulted our officers, but we understand why you were angry.
“Officers were misinformed about your status as a British citizen. They believed your passport to be false, but were later told it was not.”
Burrowes has been stranded in Thailand for three months after being jailed in January on a charge of having a false passport.
Today he was fined 500Thai baht, just under £10 at the provincial court on the island of Phuket after admitting insulting Thai Immigration officers.
He had let forth a flurry of expletives after he was detained by Immigration police on suspicion of having a false passport, when he was about to leave Thailand in January this year.
In his passport issued in Australia passport he was not wearing a shirt. Immigration officials at Phuket told the local press he was naked.
He became furious after his flight, for which he had a non-refundable ticket, left without him, even though he knew his passport was valid. He had been in Thailand as a trainer to former British kick boxing champion Matthew Nagle, studying Thai kick boxing.
His case was not helped, he said, when on a Friday, the morning of his arrest, an official at the British Embassy in Bangkok contacted police to tell them they had no record of his passport.
“I asked the Embassy to double check, but they said it was a Friday and they closed at midday and could do nothing until the following week.  It was not that important to them, but I was going to jail.”
As a result Burrowes was already in jail by the time Embassy officials confirmed after ‘three working days’ that Burrowes’ passport was in fact genuine. He subsequently lost his job and apartment in London, and could not get out of jail until £2000 was sent from England for his bail.
He had been in jail for 21 days when he was finally released.
Meanwhile he claimed he was beaten with a leather strap by a court guard, and forced to sleep in an area just 52 centimetres by 126 centimetres, with over 100 prisoners, many of whom had skin infections and tuberculosis.
“It took me three weeks to get out of Phuket jail where people are treated as sub-human,” said Burrowes.
He added: “I do not want to have anything to do with the British Embassy. They could have saved me from prison but they just could not be bothered because it was a weekend.”
Burrowes, whose father is from Guyana added: “There was probably an element of racism in my arrest because I am always being stopped.  And I still have issues with the behaviour of the immigration officials towards me.  But I cannot forgive the Embassy for what they did.”
Before leaving the court Burrowes thanked prosecutor Umaporn for her understanding.

Immigration officials unhappy with sentence

*When Simon Burrowes later went to the Immigration office in Phuket to get a visa in his passport he was asked for 20,000 Thai baht (about £400). As he did not have the cash he had to leave and can be arrested and jailed anyway in Thailand.  Immigration officials claimed it was his fault he overstayed.

Immigration police have wide-ranging powers in Thailand and can deport without recourse to the courts.