(More rushes from ‘Big Trouble in Thailand)
Link: JJ: My uncle is big Captain in police station
From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok, September 13
Royal Marines who claim they were swindled and held at gunpoint while on R&R in Thailand said tonight that they were ‘ready to go to war’ over an alleged cover-up of the incident.
The Marines of Delta Company, 40 Commando, based in Taunton, who were held at gunpoint by a Jet Ski operator on the Thai holiday island of Phuket, said they would take the matter to government to government level, if Thai authorities tried to shift the blame.
And they added that they would stick by a British producer/cameraman, who filmed the whole incident, and who now faces arrest accused by the Thai authorities of ‘setting up’ the scene for filming.
“The Thai authorities should choose to hold an adult approach to this incident. If not, we are willing to raise the level of this dispute to that of a diplomatic incident, though of course we will have to go through legal channels,“ said Marine Police Sergeant and Detachment Commander Tim Wright.
The row follows an incident which happened when Delta Company were on ‘R &R’ on the Thai holiday island of Phuket earlier this year.
Royal Marine Police Sergeant Wright (right) confronts JJ
The marines were held at gun-point and surrounded by Thai thugs after one of their number, 21-yr-old Marine Jack Tebbott, from Leicester, was accused of damaging a jet-ski and faced demands of over £1,200 in compensation.
Violence was only avoided when Royal Marine Police Sergeant Tim stepped and agreed to authorise a payment.
Marine Sergeant Tim Wright
The whole scene was captured on film by British cameraman producer Gavin Hill. The Jet Ski thug, known as JJ, has since been arrested on charges of extortion. But he has given a statement saying that the film was set up.
Yesterday Thai authorities began steps to try and block a series currently running on a minor British television channel and they said they wanted to question the producer over the ‘set up’.
They have also countermanded all ‘film release’ forms which were required for the filming and transmssion. Last night Royal Marine Police Sergeant Tim Wright from London said: “From what I gather people in Thailand are trying to impugn the reputation of the Royal Marines and of the producer cameraman involved.
“I have told the producer cameraman Gavin Hill that I and the lads will stand by him. What he recorded on film was the absolute truth. I do not like my integrity or that of the Marines being questioned. I live by my integrity.
“I especially do not like my integrity being questioned by a two bit swindler. If need be we will escalate this to a diplomatic incident. We also would like to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to put out an official warning on their Travel Advisory to Thailand.
“It is quite alarming to see how the film maker s are being treated. The Thais should be dealing with the problem not trying to blame someone else.”
The row over the ‘jet ski mafia’ began after the first of an eight part series called ‘Big Trouble in Thailand’ went to air last Monday on the Bravo Channel. The film shows the Commandos, who had arrived in Thailand on HMS Bulwark after a tour in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province, restraining themselves as the armed foul mouthed gang leader made his threats and demands for money.
Marine Jack Tebbott
Although the channel has only a small audience in the UK, copies have been circulating heavily in Thailand.
In the programme Marine Tebbott is accused of causing over £1000 worth of damage to a jet ski and eventually pays out the equivalent of £627. But Sergeant Wright, who examined the boat, insisted that the damage was old, very old, by examining the stained fibre glass”
He had already had to deal with other cases: “‘You are a crook. You are corrupt,” he tells JJ who replies: “I’m a f….g normal person. I am a businessman”. In rushes released yesterday JJ also claims: “I’m not worried. My uncle is big police here!”
A Royal Marine said later: “We could all have got out of there but there would have been claret spilt.”
The ‘damaged jet ski’ con is widespread in Thailand and complaints have already been made by several Embassies, including the British, Australian and Chinese, to the Thai authorities.
Prior to the film’s transmission the Provincial Governor had been ordered by Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister to act to end the rip-offs to preserve the country’s image for tourism.
Reliable reports say that corrupt police take a 20 per cent cut from all payments.
Gavin Hill - hung out to dry?
Meanwhile producer Gavin Hill, who was working for comedian Rory Bremner’s Vera Productions, said: “At the moment our relationship has come to an end. They have not given any support. They are also not honouring some promises I made to the Thai authorities or corrections I am making to the scripts.
“They appear to have left me out to dry. The Thai authorities are trying to get the series stopped. But actually if they look at it closely they come off quite well. We were primarily looking at British tourists on holiday.
“I actually love Thailand and would not wish to harm the country at all. The authorities cannot see who is doing the harm.”
The series which was shot with the co-operation of the Thai Tourist Police was originally called ‘Thai Cops’. The title was then changed to ‘Big Trouble in Tourist Thailand’ and the Thai Film Board protested.
“I told the production company that title was offensive to Thailand, but my views were apparently not ‘taken on board’ as they claimed they would be. It’s a mess.
““The situation with the Marines and JJ was real and menacing. It was not set up or scripted. I just recorded what happened”.
JJ's boys look on
.
Commendable sentiments!
you can have laws in place but at a local level all over Thailand there is major corruption
mostly out of greed the only people that get arrested are the ones that can not pay the bribe in time
I’ve just watched the “JJ v Marines uncut/raw/unedited video” on youtube.
The gun scene is missing!
What happened to it?
Another excellent piece, although I’ve never heard the word “drewling” before in regards to ladyboys… did you mean “drooling”?
Of course they positively salivate on Sukhumvit and Beach Rd Soi 6, especially late at night when another inebriated mug comes stumbling past with his phone and cash in easy reach….
I’d love to see Gavin do some hidden camera stuff in these areas, it would scare the living daylights out of many a farang.
Harry. I had better get that sorted then
Harry, I agree with you but actually Gavin could spend the rest of his life covering scams here in Land of Scams as there are so many…
Shall we start a list here?
BKK jewellery scam as temple is closed
Accident anywhere but always foreigner has to pay
Traffic violations of 100 THB and upwards for nothing
Airport - a whole list in itself from duty free to touts to taxis
Jet skis - covered
Motorbike and vehicle rental - as per jet ski con
Bar girls - a whole list too from inflated bar bills to sick buffalo
Hotel touts - lingering outside to sell you anything at a price
Immigration - paperwork always ‘not quite right’, married here for many years but still not believed each year
Property - 30+30+30 leases are not real and Tilak wants a house as cannot be in a foreigner’s name
Dual pricing - up to 20 times the price for everything for a Farang compared to a local
Driving licence - a bribe needed
Restaurants - gold card etc discounts get applied but the service charge is on the whole amount
Customs - apparently the worst country in the world to get anything out
Luxury ‘taxes’ - 420% on every bottle of wine, a new BMW here at 4 times the European price etc.
Shopping - at least 100% on any imported brand goods
Enough from me! I’m not bitter, I just know the reality of LOS by the way and what really lies behind that smile…
Keep up the good work Andrew.
I don’t understand - they quote “JJ” as saying “I’m not worried. My uncle is big police here!”. But from the photo above with Sergeant Wright, JJ appears to be a farang? The article seems to imply he is a Thai. Could someone clarify?
JJ is half dutch apparently…..His dad forgot.. (edited on the grounds of presumtion :-))
His father was a Dutchman with the surname Naiman. One supposes that his mother was Thai and that JJ has a Thai passport.
Well done Andrew a good accurate portayal of everyday life over there.
People need to remember they are not waltzing about at home, this place is and can be very dangerous, for not only the gullible but also the experienced traveller.
As to that creep JJ and his mates, it is a pity the marines weren’t let loose on them, now that would have been some great footage.
A friendly warning to those who are heading there, any time you see these characters covered in tats (coloured) like the one with the white glasses on his ugly mug, they are part of a gang, my advice is to keep away from any dealings with them.
JJ is a sea gipsy with a Thai nationality. JJ has a lot of power at Katong police office. He knows his way very well there. Opens all draws, confiscate tourist passports, gives orders to police men.
He earns money by impressing his victims, behaving aggressive, shouting, but he overestimates himself. He says stupid things which in legal sense, works against him. Don’t you think it is pretty stupid to behave like this in front of the camera ?
Nobody would. That is why I think he is pretty stupid. And that is the reason why we did not pay anything when he tried to rip us off.
Our arguments were stronger than his shouting and bigger than his power. Even the police could not cover his ass when we were there in July. My story has been published in the Phuket Ghazette.
Regards, Marnix
JJ is half-Thai, half-Dutch apparently.
He is half Dutch half Thai.
Yes he commented on his police connsctions
Sea Gypsies have a tendency to remain stateless.(edited)
The Phuket Gazette site says that you have to login to search, but placing a site name & surname in the Google search box turned up this interesting .pdf. When open, search for ‘hesteren’ to find the right page:
http://phuketgazette.net/digitalgazette3/Aug15_09.pdf?thequerytype=&id=76259&Cat=34
I’ve been mulling over the idea of forming an expat defense organization. But it is almost certainly fraught with difficulties, since local lawyers are a pretty mercenary bunch. I thought of contacting a local (and fairly new) law faculty on the slightly dodgy grounds that folks still tend to have just a few ideals when they are young. But I suspect that is a wrong assumption.
I note Marnix swung his case because he found a lawyer who immediately spotted JJ’s weak spot. So legal advice would be very important to any such organization, but I don’t fancy the idea of getting involved with such dubious folks as ThaiVisa.
Marnix wonders why JJ has the gall to act so stupid in front of cameras, but he should note that local hoods act in this manner all the time. It’s partly because they are overindulged by others. But it’s also part & parcel of the threat mechanism they use. And when all is said and done, I see no real difference between JJ’s boorish & loutish behaviour and say that of Police Captain Thaksin or his coup-advocating cousin General Chaiyasit. Locals call such hoodlums ‘Jeeko’. If you hear that description of anyone you are around, it is best to beat a careful retreat. But the loutish behaviour usually gives them away immediately. When I see folks like this, I usually act like I haven’t seen them and leave as soon as possible without being too obvious.
(Local rivals of whom have been known to end up dead.)
I think it would have been quite comical if they had come to blows with the Marines.. Without being disrespectful of Thais, the Marines are trained professional soldiers. They could dispatch the lot in seconds.
OLD FART: you’ve certainly confirmed your age, the label ‘Jikho’ has long since been dropped out of common use quite a while (decades) ago
With respect Skippy, the Marines that i seen looked like a bunch of frightened teenagers. You would have thought they would have taken care of the matter but instead were happy to cower behind the big MP
and let him deal with JJ.
Not how i would ever imagine Royal Marines to act.
It’s called DISCIPLINE!
Disciple allows you to let some two bit crook take the piss and basically rob money off you ?
Scottish Gary or should your use name be Jikho loving scum… Had Delta company wanted to they could of without a doubt took your Jikho mates out (Just like they did with the Taliban scum. (or are they to your mates as well ? )
Jikho scum heres a message for you your the cowards and not 40 commando!!!
Royal marines are Heros always have been always will.