From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok,
September 20 2009
Pictures Gavin Hill/Vera
A British producer cameraman has had to flee Thailand after filming a sequence in which British Royal Marines were held at gunpoint by Thai mafia after hiring a Jet Ski on a paradise beach.
The cameraman Gavin Hill, 40, from Manchester, a former bureau chief for Associated Press Television, was today back in London, after fleeing Bangkok, as his Thai crew faced up to a year in jail.
They stand accused of assisting in the filming of a sequence which could ‘damage the country’s image’. A battle with the Thai authorities has raged for two weeks.
Hill, who also produced ‘Crime Squad’ for the BBC with Sue Lawley, and a series for Real TV said today (Sunday) : “I’ve made a tactitcal withdrawal and am in London to discuss how we can help our Thai colleagues. But yes, I did not wish to argue my case from prison.
Marine Tebbott, JJ, and producer cameraman Gavin Hill
“We filmed the mafia but suddenly we are the criminals apparently. The atmosphere is a little bit hysterical. The Marines are behind me thank god. ”
The gun incident happened on Phuket when a young marine Jack Tebbott from Leicester was kidnapped by tattooed mafia figures, who control what’s for sale on Phuket’s Patong Beach.
Twenty-one-year old Tebbott was seized after his colleagues from Delta Company 40 Commando told a scammer to ‘get lost’ after they were presented with a bill for 60,000 Thai baht (£1094) for damaging a jet ski which they had hired.
The marines, from 40 Commando based in Taunton, have lost three men fighting the Taliban in Helmand province of Afghanistan. Delta section’s most famous Marine is Joe Townsend who lost his legs in a mine explosion.
They had been warned about the scam and told not to hire jet skis before after arriving on HMS Bulwark in June, but did not anticipate coming up against a gunman in a Thai holiday resort.
Gavin Hill had received permission from the Thai authorities to film a series called ‘Thai Cops’ , a reality show which followed British volunteers in the Thai Tourist Police dealing with the hundreds of thousands of British tourists who travel to Thailand every year. However ,as a result of this incident and others, the title of the series had to be changed to ‘Big Trouble in Thailand’.
The Marines incident happened after producers received complaints from tourists and went to a Jet Ski operator called Winai Naiman, nicknamed JJ, to get his side of the story.
On camera he admitted beating up tourists if they did not pay.
The foreign and Thai production crew for 'Big Trouble in Thailand'
Then he called the production crew to film after catching Marine Tebbot and taking to him his yard three miles from the beach. Unknown to him Hill was also filming with the Marines. Naiman brought out a gun with a telescopic sight after a section of Delta Company react to a distress call.
The affair was settled after the arrival of Marine Police Sergeant and Detatchment Commander Tim Wright, from London, who told Naiman his was ‘corrupt and a crook’ after examining the jet ski and finding the damaged area had already turned brown proving it was old. But Sergeant Wright finally agreed to pay 35,000 baht, over £600.
Royal Marine Police Sergeant Tim Wright said at the 40 Commando base in Somerset: “I got my men out of that situation without claret being spilt and that was the important thing.
“The Thais are trying to say my men were not threatened or held at gunpoint. But by doing this they are questioning my integrity. I do not like my integrity being questioned especially by a two bit crook.
“We will make representations to the Foreign Office. The warning to tourists is not sufficient.
“ If Thailand wants to make a fuss about this I am happy to support the producer and raise the level to that of diplomatic incident. The case of Marine Tebbott was not the only case of extortion I had to deal with, not by far.”
The Foreign Office advisory warns traveller to ensure that the people whom they hire jet skis from are reputable. But they do not warn specifically about the extortions involved and that violence has been used.
Tourists have been milked for as much as 200,000 bat during these incidents in Thailand according to a group of foreign consuls, who estimated on the Thai island of Koh Samui jet ski operators, working with local police, had scammed nearly £100,000 out of tourists between December and April of this year.
“In almost all cases the police are called they make the tourists pay out and then they get the commission from the jet ski operators. In most cases it is old damage. In a case of new damage the cost of repair would not normally be more than £50, ” a local consul said on condition of anonymity.
Filming with Thai Tourist Police in Phuket
A spokesman for the Thai film board said the crew had violated Article 34 of the motion picture law by not having the contents examined by a Tourism and Sports Ministry film committee before they were broadcast abroad.
And Seksan Nakawong, director-general of the Office of Tourism Development, said the film-makers also violated Article 23 of the same law for making a film tarnishing the reputation of Thailand. The penalties are a £18,000 fine and a year in jail or both.
Meanwhile Police Lt. Gen Santhan Chayanont, chief of Provincial Police Region 8, whose officers are accused of being involved in the scams, says he has ordered his men to bring in all the Thai ‘collaborators’ .
40 Royal Marine Commando lost one officer Lt. John Thornton and two men, Marine David Marsh and Marine and Corporal Damian Mulvihill during a seven month tour of duty fighting the Taliban in Helmand Province in 2008.
Royal Marine Joe Townsend
The actions and conduct of Delta Company’s Marine Joe Townsend, who lost both his legs in a mine explosion in Afghanistan, have been held up in the UK as a shining example of courage of the British forces.
Marine Townsend recently accompanied Britain’s Prince Harry to New York to meet US serviceman who had lost limbs in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Karen Elephant Patrol -Andrew Drummond. See comments below
In a country where government is controlled by the highly-dubious election of corrupt politicians, it would not be too much of an exaggeration to call this LOS, the Land of Scams. Particular since it seems totally incapable of arresting & punishing any key players in both the criminal underworld & overworld. Rather, corrupt civil servants and their business paymasters use every opportunity that presents to persecute the economically-challenged and those who want to improve themselves.
Maybe someone should tell Thai authorities that their armtwisting methods will backfire if applied to the international media?
someone should take this to the UK press.
Not my cup of tea but the Sun or Daily Mail would surely be interested in hearing how our servicemen are being conned.
A big writeup in the UK press would offer some protection to the film makers if Thailand decided to escalate & detain or jail someone for exposing the scammers.
Thais in attempted cover-up, lying, bullying and threatening non-shock.
They’ve bitten off more than they can chew with this one though.
The truth always comes out in the end.
ScammerskillingThailand
Well its a bit historic now and the only news value is the Royal Marines. The story did appear in the UK press a few weeks ago but with little impact. Scams per se in Thailand are not that newsworthy. They are met with a yawn from newsdesks. Everyone assumes the place is corrupt. Had this sort of thing happened in he UK it would be in every newspaper.
But I suspect it is not over though…… There are meetings with the Thai Ambassaor in London scheduled for next week.
Its much better showing this on film. Had it been on ITV or BBC1 there would have been a bigger reaction.
The fuss is only in the papers here and on the internet.
What is it with the Thais using the word “Mafia” all the time? They have half of Europe and Australia thinking the Mafia is in Thailand!! These farangs actually believe the Mafia is in the LOS? There is only one Mafia aka “Cosa Nostra”! It’s a Sicilian criminal society!! They are mainly run their operations in Italy, New York, and Philadelphia .They are not running the jet ski businesses in Phuket and Samui! The real Italian Mafia are like magicians. They make you disappear! I am so sick of the Thais and the media stealing and abusing the word “Mafia”! That JJ clown would be laughed at by the real Cosa Nostra!
The time has come for Britian and other western governments to express a formal displeasure with this situation. In the case of noncompliance the penalty should be a public warning of all tourists to stay away, and elimination of Thai coastal cities as naval ports of call.
The west cant do that
Hi Gavin,
wise move to stay out of the country and to help your crew from abroad.
Did your filming touch the Tuk & Taxi mafiosi in Karon, Laguna, Bang Tao etc. that charge the double rates compared to the Patong based operators ? From Patong to the airport costs some 500 THB from BangTao and Laguna they demand 800 THB for a ride to Patong which is less that half way.
J, it seems they already have…
http://news.samuiexpress.net/headline/522-uk-seeks-action-against-jetski-thugs.html
The British Embassy website in Bangkok seems to be silent on the subject of jet skis and filming documentaries in Thailand.
“Operators also agreed that damage-claim disputes should be settled between operators and tourists in the presence of the police to ensure fairness and equity.” Samui Express
Yep, that should fix the problem once and for all.
May i comment on the article link posted by Mr. Ron: The article reads:
“Operators (jet-ski oeprators) also agreed that damage-claim disputes should be settled between operators and tourists in the presence of the police to ensure fairness and equit?”
My comment is that that the fee to be paid might even go up….!!!
It is my understanding that the police usually stands besides the arguing parties doing and saying nothing. Police is usually used as a psychological treat against the tourist e.g if you don’t pay you got to jail!!!!
I have never seen a police officer trying to lower any extortion fees by arguing with the local people! (tuck-tuck, jet-ski, taxi etc)
I have never seen police arguing with loal people trying to convince them that they are wrong and unethical.
I have never seen police arguing or waring local people that if they cheat people they will go to jail.
I recommend…Call your embassy if in trouble …or even better …. don’t use jet-skis! They are not good for the environment anyway!
I saw that a Thai teacher just had a video of himself beating a student broadcast on national television. He has resigned and may face criminal charges.
Maybe in the age of cell phones and youtube, face with the prospect corruption being exposed and the police officers publicly losing face, they will behave better.
(and then I woke up)
You are right Klaus. It is frustrating, as indeed it must have been for the marines, to know that the police and embassies are not on side and that there are diplomatic pressures to be considered.
I understand these but the embassies should give clearer factual warnings.
Andrew, I am a big fan of yours as you will note from my previous posts but I have to ask if you know what happened to the last episode of BTIT? I have lived here for many years and it was just a ridiculous episode compared to the previous three which had some factual grounding. I know you have no direct involvement in the series but much as I want to embrace Gavin’s production as I feel it is good to present the truth, I felt it was just so far from any reality so be surreal in everything from the plane crash, Chiang Mai drugs patrol, Pattaya Walking Street issues and then the fire in Pattaya. If it has been altered in view of recent issues so be it but please, telling us the patrol in CM is on the case with drugs when we know they been pulled off for BKK crowd control, saying the pilot swerved into the old control tower (now fire station) intentionally (?!) and praising the efficiency of the Pattaya fire brigade (I have personally seen two fires where they arrived with no water, by the way…) and seeing the Tourist Police direct traffic (no regular Police?) and talk about a worried (really?) crowd are more than a little far fetched. I know it is all representation of a wider issue and country in a few reality minutes but the previous episodes were far closer to the core issues and far more credible. I hope you can take my points in a positive vein but this episode just looked silly, no more no less. Eddie.
Edward Boniface: Well Edward BTIT, and I am not a fawning fan. BTIT sort of lost its teeth in this episode. It was just a little bit boring. The airport stuff was a bit endless and repetitive. I could not take ‘Pepper Spray’ Paul Harrison too seriously, but maybe that’s just me, you know ‘crowd control and that fire stuff’ . And Tony the Thai Tourist Policeman in Chiang Mai seems to betray a character who is doing something on the side. Then again this is not an investigative programme. This programme is probably portraying Thai Police in general in a much more positive light than they are seen here. And it gets into trouble for accidentally exposing a little, well, thug! So anyone who does investigations in Thailand,well, you know what they are up against….73 % of the whole country apparently according to Channel 3. Does not bode well for progress.
Edward: And a confession. The trip on the boats with the Thai Border Police was just a little light diversion. It makes for good filming but less for substance. They do not get many drugs on the river. And you probably rarely see a boat patrol. Reminds me when I was filming a BBC doc with the KNLA (Karen) in Burma many years ago and we captured the ‘famous elephant patrol’ (as in Jungle Book). The Karen got tooled up on 20 elephant with lmgs. rpgs, mortars etc and set off through the jungle. Actually in those circumstances you are lucky to get three elepants in any shot! The KNLA do not using fighting elephant or go on patrol like this I rather think, but they do use them as heavy transport. Pretty pictures though and impressive.
Andrew: I agree with you entirely. I hope the next few episodes re-gain the initial momentum!
Gavin is on record as saying the series meant to put Thailand in a good light - see his posts.
There are limits to what can be reported. sad
The jetski incidents and the ego trip bravado of some of the volunteer police were spot on but in hindsight the producers probably feel they should have been edited out. I’m glad they werent.
having seen the btit i must say half of the visitors who get stoned out of there heads on drugs from britain know the law before they enter the country and if they get put in prison good luck to the thai police for putting them here, great pity england is not as tough as thai prisions its like a hotel in british prisons.
I have been going to thailand for 12 years and although now i am wary were i go i still love the place pattaya and bangkok are great.
my advice to brits going to thailand is to KEEP WELL AWAY FROM LADYBOYS, DONT WEAR GOLD IN PATTAYA WATCH OUT FOR GANGS ON TUK TUK BUSES THEY MOVE ABOUT WHILE YOUR ON THE BUS TRYING TO PUT THERE HANDS IN YOUR POCKETS, BE CAREFUL AT NIGHT LATE ON STAY AWAY FROM THE DARK AREAS OF WALKING STREET. WATCH OUT FOR YOUNG BOYS ON MOTORBIKES THEY WILL PINCH A LADYS BAG RIGHT OFF THERE SHOULDERS
WATCH WHAT THE BHAT BUSES CHARGE YOU THEY WILL RIP YOU OFF BIG TIME,IN PATTAYA KEEP OFF THE SIDE OF THE ROAD NEAR THE BEACH THIS IS WERE ALL THE LADYBOYS HANG OUT AT NIGHT.
DONT BUY ANY PACKETS THAT SAY VIRAGA THEY ARE PERHAPS YABA.
ANYONE OFFERING YOU ANYTHING JUST SAY THANKS BUT NO THANKS.
MAKE SURE IF YOU WANT A LADY YOU GO TO THE RIGHT PLACES A LOT OF THE BARS ARE OK BUT THE ONES ON WALKING STREET BE WARY.
STILL PREFER PATTAYA AFTER ALL THIS TO ENGLAND
GOOD WISHES TO ALL JOHN
If you know anything about south Asian culture, you’d know that police forces are never going to be honest. Way to get around this is to tell the Thais: “clean up your tourism industry, or we put a quota on how many Brits holiday each year” — Say cut the number by half and the Thais will suddenly ‘find’ they can do something! $$$$ are the only thing they understand… As for the law trying to stop a media depiction of the situation (ie. that Thailand has lots of trouble), it’s a right little semi-communist country isn’t it!!!! Goodbye freedom of speech!