Archive for the 'The Times' Category

Journalism and yak fur

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on December 8, 2009
in The Times
. 7 Comments

bhutansceneThis is a blog only

Today I hand over this blog to a missive from Roger Beaumont , my ‘hail fellow well met’ public school rebel friend, who used to work on the ‘Nation’ but left when the editors decided they could produce an English language newspaper with a designer from Milwaukee and without too many troublesome English language sub-editors and columnists.

Searching for perhaps eternal youth, or the meaning of life etc, lovable and always upbeat Roger, is now ensconsed in Thimpu, and the picture postcard land of Bhutan, the Land of (extremely exaggerated I suspect*) Gross National Happiness, aka, the Land of the Thunder Dragon. I think he went to the airport and decided just to get the third flight up on the display board, which is what I did in my youth. Anyway, after first thinking, Oh F..k!, he is now learning about inner happiness, under a pile of yak fur.

Roger

Roger

Yes, Roger loves it there, But what the brochures do not tell you is to what degree winters can freeze your goollies. So I guess he’s also up there on the net seeking mail order Agas (public school you know) second hand hot water bottles, etc.  Red Cross parcels can be sent simply to Roger, Thimpu, the whole town knows him.  Visitors to see him however will still have to pay the Government rate of US$200 a day. Roger keeps in touch with a number of us while warming his nether regions squatting I suspect over lighted candles  liberated from a local temple.

Anyway he still appears to be watching politics in Thailand, so here’s a copy of a letter he has written to the Bangkok Post. It may have appeared in the letters page. I am just guessing it has not because I have not been reading the Post this week, but the Post is not heavily into self flaggellation.  

So the  hills are alive with the ‘Sound of Roger’ and this also shows how Thai politics can really get to you.  Most foreigners  just head up to the top story of a local condo. Roger is amongst the highest mountains in the world.  Don’t do it Rodge, you’re out of it now, besides,  I’m buying the turkey tomorrow!

Footnote:December 9th. The Bangkok finally printed Roger’s letter today followed by two readers anxious to tell the newspapers sub-editors that Copenhagen was NOT the capital of Norway as the newspaper had claimed. Seems like they need some new sub-editors there too. (here too sometimes but you get my literals for free!)

*The land of Gross National Happiness is also credited with having the worst national dish, ‘ema datsi’,  a concoction of yak cheese, chillies, and onions. I believe the affects of this dish also gave the country its ‘Land of the Thunder Dragon’ tag.

Dear fellows,
I have no idea, as of writing, whether this will make BKK’s Postbag/letters to the editor page or not. I would have liked to have written it in green ink on immaculate writing paper, and by the way, how do you spell garrotted?
Best
Rodge
 
Dear Sir,
To the surprise of no one, Thai politicians, like most politicians, only obey the law when there is no alternative because they believe they are immune from the laws which they have made. They have ambitions but no ideals and will always compromise any promise for self-interest.
They know how material benevolence can gain public opinion, but forgot how moral failure can lose it. So, the question is: how do bright, conscientious Thais actually feel when they see the betrayal or inversion of the country’s best values and dreams? How do they keep their scruples and intellect intact when reality deems that any act that’s immoral, as long as it succeeds, is alright?
Surely, morality is where it all starts and in many ways ends. If a Thai – and anyone else for that matter - doesn’t have a moral foundation, or if they are not knowledgeable about it, or don’t know how to control it, and don’t feel historically tied to it by culture or family, then whatever they do is not as valuable or strong as it could be.
The point is, Thai politics is not a public service, it is a private business, and if those who have done no wrong can find no way to punish those who have, then they are all as culpable as one another. Just knowing that moral grown-ups don’t need rules to tell them what’s right is like wishing for an outbreak of common sense in Parliament.

New Bhutan wildlife

New Bhutan wildlife

What we have today is manga politics, brimming with vain, loathsome, cartoonish,
manipulative, insensitive bullies throwing dung at each other of  their own making. They ooze entitlement but none of them are likeable or forgivable and yet they insist on being wai-ed every five minutes, demanding more respect than those fallen in battle.
And now they want guns. Good. Perhaps they’ll eliminate each other in one glorious shoot out over a mia noi in a Yasothon car park. I wouldn’t trust any of them with the TV remote. They are bereft of decency and beyond parody. Are these so called leaders, the people young Thais should look up to as an example?
Their well-rehearsed response of being corrupt was like my university friend’s well-rehearsed response of being drunk; shift the blame by claiming victim status. Rather than apologise, my friend would insist: “I was led on by the treachery of others, sir.”
If the future of Thailand depended on the intellectual quality of its politicians, it would end at about happy hour tomorrow night.
What brilliant men they are not.
 
Roger Beaumont,
Thimphu, Bhutan

British woman raped in Pattaya - Part 2

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on November 19, 2009
in The Times
. 8 Comments

This is a blog only

Following a report here (written from Thai copy sent by our reporter in Pattaya) also sent to the British newspapers, some people down in Pattaya seem surprised that this event was not reported in the local newspapers, though I believe it has been now.   A thread even went up on Thaivisa.com http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Press-Censorship-Pattaya-t315227.html.

I never seem to be surprised that people down on the eastern seaboard put so much faith in their local press, when an even cursory look at some of the ‘hail fellow well met’ owners, and past owners, and their agendas, should ring massive alarm bells all around.

Censorship in Burma: Courtesy Msf/Bart

Censorship in Burma: Courtesy Msf/Bart

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are not in Burma so the censorship in Thailand is mainly self censorship. Of course you could get shot or ruined if you break the rules!

Actually one newspaper’s published agenda is to protect the city’s image against harmful foreign publicity and has been harping on about the ‘family resort’  ever since its conception, though its former chief reporter had a gun, a stun gun,  and interesting sidelines, both as a tourist policeman and an agent running a sort of SOS business for foreigners in the sh*t.

As for the other main English language newpaper, ouch, don’t go there. Never mind the boss, a member of the FCCT when I last looked, one of its TV interviewers is best known for his conviction for possessing child porn in the UK. I could go on…and on.

Ask yourself this. In trouble in Pattaya? Victim of injustice, fraud, or other crime? Need to expose a villain?  Would you go to your local paper for help? The answer is no, which is why many people contact their papers back home.

Want to perpetrate a scam?  Sell a puppy (in all senses of the word) Whitewash your past with a personality write up: Answer: Yes.

Anyway readers of ThaiVisa.com were treated to the  lifted Daily Mail version of my story. The Daily Mail claimed, under my name, that the woman was raped.  My story stated that the woman ‘claimed’ she was raped.  While it may be true she was raped, there is no conviction and two men were already in custody.

This seems to have been leapt on by a couple of posters as a prime example of dishonest or exaggerated reporting.  I was particularly intrigued by a post called ‘Aussiechick’ who asked people if they remembered my World Cup stories………..suggesting another case of maybe exaggeration or whatever.

Aussie Rules? No perhaps she meant the ‘Chelsea Headhunters’,  a bunch of thugs who ended up in Pattaya after being found not guilty on conspiracy to cause affray charges, when police were caught ‘verballing’ them (verballing: essentially inventing quotes).  They have long since diminished, victims to Thai women and the recession, I gather.  I understand also one or two were a little miffed to have been nabbed by Japanese police at Narita airport on the way to the World Cup there, way back when.  They put it down to me, but its much more likely to have been the British NCIS - The National Criminal Intelligence Service.

Stan the Monkey

Stan the Monkey

ThaiVisa even gave a convicted paedophile better known in the UK as ‘Stan the Monkey’ space to rant about me on the same thread.  He claimed I did a story about him without even meeting him etc.  My story was totally false etc.  For those who saw this rant, which has now been removed, here is the link and pictures of the first of two confrontations, working with the Metropolitan Police Women and Juvenile Division in Bangkok and FACE - Fight Against Child Exploitation.  They could have placed charges against him in Thailand by the way, but the Thai authorities found it a lot easier just to deport him for working illegally. Now its apparently my fault he cannot come back.  Or have you Alan?

And there was also this post from some guy calling himself Manarak (Anorak perhaps would be better) which I cannot resist quoting.

He says: “We don’t have any details on what precisely happened to this girl or how it happened. This makes the whole story suspicious.
The papers normally would pay a good price for a story full of disgusting details, but no… no story. Strange?”

What?

A little evidence here courtesy of ThaiVisa reflecting on the level of argument some of their members. :-).  Still,  if the posts keep coming in on mass the webmasters can cash in on more of those ‘Bangkok massage’ adverts.

But  is there likely to be a happy conclusion in the rape case ? No. It is very rare. The ‘raped’ woman asked for no publicity. The Pattaya Police did not want the story published. In low profile cases like this there is no chance of having the case fast tracked.

So if she were to prosecute the case, there would only be her evidence, and perhaps the other evidence of what was stolen. She might have to wait out a year, even if the defendants pleaded guilty, two years or more if otherwise. If she left the country she would have to pay her air fare to come back.   And what was she doing alone in walking street at 12.30 they will ask?  

It would be an absolute nightmare.  So lets face the facts. For a foreign woman sexually abused in Thailand there is little recourse. Do not expect the same justice as you get back home. Don’t lose your friends. Be safe.

Its tragic - but true.

The script which ‘Big Trouble in Thailand’ found in a teleprompter

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on November 3, 2009
in The Times
. 5 Comments

Just when you thought this story had gone away now comes the news that Vera Productions have sold the controversial series ‘Big Trouble in Thailand’ to Channel 9 in Australia.

This will actually multiply its televion audience twenty fold. Previously it went out on Bravo with a viewership of about 116,000.

Vera Productions in the UK, run by comedian Rory Bremner and comedy producer/writer Geoff Atkinson has received accolades recently for its series ‘Bremner Bird and Fortune’.  However there has been a much publicised internal rift  between the series producer of ‘Big Trouble in Tourist Thailand’ Gavin Hill and the execs back in London, who were responsible for the edit.

There have been complaints of lack of fact checking and even unethically enhancing some scenes.

bird-and-fortuneIn its ‘Bremner, Bird and Fortune’ sketches- the two Johns -  Vera Productions has hilariously sent up the government and banking system. John Bird plays the character of George Parr. Fortune is the interviewer  However one sketch, based on the ‘Big Trouble in Thailand’ series appears to have been left behind in a teleprompter.  I re-produce it here below.

But first follow this link for Bravo Television’s quiz  for intellectually challenged British tourists in Thailand. I failed it on the question ‘What do you do when arrested for drugs. Call the Embassy or your mum? I replied: ‘My mum. (Get your mum to call the Embassy!)

———————————————-

JF: George Parr - you are a top TV executive and you seem to have a success on your hands with the reality show Big Trouble In Thailand.

JB:  Yes, we’ve sold it to Virgin Media and they are delighted with the ratings … it’s exceeded all expectations…

JF: So, it was your idea to make a groundbreaking documentary about the British volunteers hired by Thailand’s police force to deal with misbehaving British holidaymakers?

JB: No. The idea was brought to us by a freelance filmmaker called Gavin Hill who realised that he needed a company of the stature of Rory Bremner’s Vera Productions to ensure credibility.

JF: So, he must have earned the riches of Croesus?  Because I understand the budget was 400,000 Pounds ?

JB: Well, not exactly - more like the salary of a provincial bus driver …

JF: Really? How so?

JB: Well, you have to understand how TV today works.  It’s all very well that one person comes up with the idea, produces, directs, films the material themselves … often working like a maniac … seventeen or eighteen hour days aren’t unusual … but that’s only part of the job.

JF: So, what do you mean exactly?

JB: Well, the footage has to be edited …

JF: Yes ….

JB: And then there’s the administration …

JF: Ah yes, of course, the administration.  And what form does that take exactly?

JB: Well, for example we have to ensure that Virgin Media’s money is spent wisely and that cash isn’t simply frittered away.

JF: And, how do you do that?

JB: Well, we sent one of our top men, Dean Palmer, First Class halfway round the world and put him in a luxury hotel to monitor the project … you know, keep his eye on things for two weeks.

JF: And did he?

santhiya02JB: Absolutely, for two weeks,  well, er, when he could get out of his hotel. Of course it was rather isolated and there was just one boat a day. Little bit pricey, eco-chic and set  in 18 acres of lush tropical forests on a crystal bay apparently, but thankfully not too close to the awful people he had to film.
Still the fact that he was on the ground, in situ, so to speak, speaks more than words.

JF: Lush tropical forests, crystal bays, eco-chic, we did not see much of that in the series?

JB: Oh good heavens. No. That would be totally outside the remit, old boy, and financial suicide. We leave that sort of stuff to Judith Chalmers. Is she still around?

JF: But I understand you went to the Thai authorities and said this series would be good for Thai tourism.

JB : Yes absolutely. And it is, it is, let me tell you. My young boys are straining at the leash for some Thai totty, not to mention the old fellows down at the British Legion, chumping at the bit they were. Some of them will be travelling with their nurses, must say it seems a bit superfluous to me, what?
JF: Ah indeed. But but from press reports, especially on the question of sex tourism, many, if not most of the illegal incidents in this area,  which one reads about  making the courts, appear to involve, dare I say it, erm,  man on boy, rather than girls. Why did you not tackle this subject?
JB:  Well obviously you’re not considering a much longer career in broadcasting.  There are things that we really need to keep sacred. In general the public likes a bit of straight old rumpy pumpy.  Going into the area you mention is an absolute minefield.  Well, we’d be hung out by our balls by our own community.   

In any case we had lots of what are described as ‘pre-op’ ladyboys who described in detail what  many Brits want, so we think we have that covered.

JF: I noticed also that you blurred out a lot of British faces but used all the Thai participants full on. Was there a reason for that?

JB: Absolutely. In Britain there are strict laws governning filming without permission. We have to get permission, period. They have to sign waivers.  When they do we have got them though,  can’t change their minds.  Can you imagine how difficult that is with all these people making an ass of themselves in front of our camera?  Quite a few were well tiddly when they signed judging by the signatures.  Now when it comes to ‘Johnny Foreigner’ well that’s a different kettle of fish.  With their one pound fifty a day earnings they are not going to take us on are they. I mean what lawyer is going to open the door for them.

JF:  … I see … but Hill must have been given a decent budget to have been able to achieve the very possibly award-winning footage he obtained in some pretty hairy situations - wasn’t he shooting in maximum security jails and confronting armed mafia men …?

JB: Well, to be honest we’re weren’t too pleased about that …

JF: Really? It seemed to me quite riveting TV …

JB: Ah yes … but there were some health and safety issues …. he should’ve let us know that he would find himself in some rather unsavoury situations.

JF: But surely the working title of this series was ‘Thai Cops’ - isn’t that what police officers do?

JB: Yes, yes … of course … but the safety of our operatives in the field is paramount.

Thai cops from Bravo Promo

Thai cops from Bravo Promo

JF: So, you would’ve preferred him to have filmed officers doling out parking tickets, would you …?

JB: Well, of course not - we would never have sold the show …

JF: So, part of the budget was spent on bodyguards for Mr Hill?

JB: Well … no, but we did send Emma - our twenty-five-year-old assistant producer with a first aid kit, and we have lots of police bar bills.

JF: I gather there were lots of interviews with top policemen, prison governors and other officials. They might have provided an insight into what the Thais, er,  thought about the situations you were filming. What happened to them?

JB: Yes. Yes. Indeed. And of course we took all their thoughts and advice on board, as one does. But you know in a programme with this demographic, and we are trying to reach and educate young people here, we do not want to ruin the flow with all that gibberish in some sort of ying tong language…And we have to think of the budget too you know. We would have had to pay more for translators, voice-overs or put up sub-titles. 

JF: So … basically the budget is split 50/50 is it?  50 per cent in the field, and 50 per cent back in the office?

JB: No … there’s a raft of other payments that have to be made.

JF: Under the banner of administration …

JB: “Quite, quite. For example there’s the payment to Mr Bremner …

JF: “What for exactly …?

JB: Well … er … executive input - naturally.

JF: Ah, ah … yes … yes.

JB: And then there’s Mr Bremner’s assistant.  And Mr Bremner’s assistant’s assistant.  And the assistant’s assistant’s assistant and then of course, we had to find a narrator for the programme.

JF: I see. And are narrators expensive?

JB: Well they can be you know if you hire a celebrity or well known newsman who has an air of authority?

JF: And is that what you did? I can’t say I recognized the voice.

JB: Well, er no. We considered George Michael but he was engaged. In this case we wanted a voice to which our target audience could relate to. Not some old fuddy fuddy out of touch with today’s younger generation. Not to put too fine a point on it somebody who can say, well pardon me here, somebody who can say (lowers voice) bum without feeling uncomfortable, and some other words too.

JF: Oh I see. So where did you get him from?

JB: Hampstead Heath, when we were looking for George Michael.  But then of course we had to educate him in the pronounciation of Thai place names, the same as a typical British chav on holiday in Thailand might say them, like Foo-ket, and this all costs money and time too, not to mention the lagers Vodkas and Red Bull etcetera.

JF: And there’s the executive input TOO?

JB: Exactly.

JF: So, what proportion of the overall budget of 400,000 Pounds would Mr Hill have received to make this series?

JB: Well, approximately one thirteenth.

JF: And was Mr Hill happy about that?

JB: Well, we assumed he would be …. but the blighter went over budget.

JF: So, in the end he spent about half the budget after all …?

JB: No … he spent about one tenth of the budget.

JF: Well, that seems pretty good going to me … you must have welcomed him back a hero?

JB: No, actually we fired him.  And threatened to sue him.

JF: Oh? On what grounds? 

JB: Gosh, where do you want me to start? For example he insisted on using new tape to film rather than re-using old tape.

JF:  Well, aren’t there good technical reasons for that … and tape’s relatively cheap, not like the old days of film and pretty damn vital too isn’t it?

JB: Well, yes … but of course you have to ensure there’s enough money for executive input.  And another thing he upset the Thai Government.

JF: Well, couldn’t you have forseen that in a series that examined the notorious sex industry, drunkenness and violence and was inevitably going to stumble across cases of corruption?

JB: Well, possibly …But then he put some unedited stuff up on the internet which upset our executives, who have been running around trying to get it off all sorts of websites.

JF: Sorry, I’m not with you?

JB: Well on a low budget production like this, often only having one camera, one just has to bring in sound and film from elsewhere for technical reasons. But we were made to look like we were creating well, not strictly true situations?

JF: But isn’t that what you did?

JB: Not at all. Not at all. Look the public don’t understand the intricacies of television making, and we would prefer it remained that way.
Actually I don’t understand them either, which is good because if I could make television programmes then the whole world could, and then where would we be?
Anyway the BBC are doing it all the time… Like the BBC we work on the principal of WYSIWYG. Or ‘What you see is what you get’. Only we then enhance it further to WWGYIWYG.

JF: W-W-G-Y-I-W-Y-G?

JB: ‘What we give you is what you get’, of course. That’s the Executive input. And it costs money.
JF: So, when exactly did the Thais get upset with your programme?

JB: Well, about the time we changed the title … from Thai Cops …

JF: What to?

JB: BIG TROUBLE in TOURIST Thailand.

JF: And Hill went along with this?

JB: Err … no, he protested. Vigorously, in fact.  And that’s another reason why we sacked him.  Because he was quite clearly a troublemaker.

JF: But of course changing the title wouldn’t have caused Hill any problems personally.  He could just come back to Blighty.

JB: Er … well … not quite … the Thais issued a warrant for his arrest and he was forced to flee the country leaving behind his home, his wife and child.

JF: So, you’ve had no choice but to stand by him and stand up for the integrity of the series and free speech?

JB: Well, no … on legal advice we’ve distanced ourselves from Mr Hill and withheld eight thousand pounds from his fee.

JF: Well surely it’s all a storm in a tea cup - it’ll all blow over in due course and Mr Hill can return to Thailand and get back on with his life?

JB: Well, very possibly.  But with the Thais you can never be 100 per cent certain.  Stories of chaps being flung into jail for getting on the wrong side of the rulers there and the key tossed away are not unusual.

Lardyao Prison

JF: So, let me get this straight … Mr Hill filmed in all these prisons and then the Thais threatened to put him in one.  How ironic?

JB: Ironic - yes.

JF: So, presumably you’ve hired a lawyer to defend Mr Hill.

JB. Er … no.  Actually we’ve hired a lawyer to sue Mr Hill.

JF: But of course now the show has aired on British TV you won’t want to inflame the situation further, possibly making life more difficult for Mr Hill, will you?

JB: No, of course not.  But you have to remember we have a commercial investment here.  We’ve already sold the series to Australia and we hope more countries round the world will snap it up.

JF: Australia!?  Isn’t Thailand one of the most popular tourism destinations for Australians?

JB: Yes … and the deadliest as it turns out … in fact we haven’t ruled out selling the format as well to the Australians so they can make their own version of the series.  Plenty of Australians falling foul of the law in Thailand … one Australian woman I gather was banged up for days merely for stealing a beer mat. Actually we have a few Aussie incidents left out of the original the edit. They certainly know how to party our colonial chums.

JF: The Thais won’t be very happy about that. But I assume, like here, the series will air on a little-watched niche cable channel?

JB: No, actually we’ve sold it to Channel 9, one of the biggest TV networks in the country.

JF: So, Virgin Media - isn’t that owned by Richard Branson?  What’s he had to say about it all, given that he has commercial interests in Thailand?

JB: Well, we’re rather hoping he hasn’t noticed.

JF: So, you must rue the day Mr Hill walked through your door with this idea.  Presumably as an independent film company you generate many commercial film ideas.

JB: Well, there’s a lot of competition.  We put our top man Dean Palmer onto it but in two years he found it very challenging.

JF: So, how many films did Mr Palmer get commissioned in two years - apart from Mr Hill’s that is?

JB: Well …. …. …. err …

JF: Ten, five … three …?

JB: Er , well just this one. But if he can do the same in the the Philippines where the Yanks  go, well then we’ve got Hollywood and bob’s your uncle.

JF:  And how much was Mr Palmer paid?

JB: Well too much of course, sixty thousand or so, but we pride ourselves on rewarding talent.

JF: For his executive input?

JB: Precisely.

JF: But it mustn’t have been too much of a worry to you because Vera’s trademark show Bremner Bird and Fortune is a much loved institution on the landscape of British TV.

JB: Well, indeed … but sadly it’s been axed this year.

JF: So, the company needs these sort of ventures?

JB: Yes, of course we’d rather stay with comedy, but like other companies you have to move with the times.

JF: But surely if you sue Mr Hill won’t other filmmaking hopefuls be reluctant to come to you?

JB: Well, we don’t think so and we set the agenda.  We would hope these people would put artistic integrity above financial gain.

JF: You mean you would like them to work for nothing?

JB: Well, in an ideal world yes.  On our website we state we do not pay for ideas. And you can’t put a price on fame.

JF: Nor executive input?

JB: Quite.

JF: George Parr - thank you very much.

———————————————————————-

Credits:

Pictures courtesy of Andrew Chant/Bravo/Fortune and Bird/Santhiya Hotel and Spa, Ko Phangnan:

Apologies for omitting pictures to:

Dream Hotel, Bangkok. “Heavenly slumber within five star accommodation.”

 Punpreeda Hip Resort, Koh Samui, ”designed with love and attention to detail. Splashes of colour ignite the soul”.

 Amari, Pattaya. “Soak in this scenic tropical panorama as you unwind on a shaded beach lounger, or drift into a blissful state of relaxation.”

British boy, 8, held with sharpened pencil in Bangkok stand-off

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on October 29, 2009
in The Times
. 2 Comments

From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok
October 26
An eight-yr-old British boy was held with a sharpened pencil to his throat held by an apparently drug crazed thief on the outskirts of the Thai capital Bangkok, his father said today.
Screaming and shouting in Thai, the thief, in his twenties, demanded cash after being confronted by the boy’s mother and Liverpudlian dad.

The boy's father Ron Raine

The boy's father Ron Raine

“I told him he would die if he did anything to my son,” said the boy’s father Ron Raine, 57, “but I was three yards away and too far away to make a lunge at him and stop him piercing my son’s throat.
“There was a lot of screaming and shouting.”
Amazingly the stand-off came to an end after Ron Raine, a graphics designer from Walton, Liverpool, produced the sum total of the only cash in his and his wife Fon’s wallet totaling just over eight pounds (sterling).
The thief then left, hurriedly letting go of Martin, a keen Everton supporter, and leaving not only his shoes behind but also a bag containing a knife and tools for burglary.
The incident happened in Krissada Nakorn village in Rangsit, 25 miles north of Bangkok on Tuesday evening. A police spokesman in Rangsit said: “We are confident we will catch the man as we can build up a picture of him quickly because he left his belongings behind.”
Ron Raine,  said he believed that the thief had got into his house during the day and was trapped inside when he got back from visiting friends, and his wife and son got back from the shops with Martin.
“I heard my son screaming and rushed inside to see the man holding my son with his arm round Martin’s neck and a pencil to his throat. It was a pencil Martin was using for his homework.
“The thief agreed to go after we produced all the cash we had on us, less than eight quid, and I promised I would not follow.   I had to stop my wife chasing after him.  I did not know what he might have done and decided to leave it to the police.
“ I was brought up in Walton within spitting distance of Goodison Park and later spent 15 years in Kirkby. This is a quiet suburb and has upset us all.  Martin says he wants us to move house.”

Foreigner arrested after ‘Big Trouble in Thailand’ documentary

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on September 17, 2009
in The Times
. 28 Comments

“I’m flying with the eagles,” says Australian con man,” but after landing at Bangkok airport he is in police lock-up.

From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok, September 17th

Lance Shaw's passport

Lance Shaw's passport

An Australian con-man working with impunity out of Pattaya has been arrested by police, who were about to be criticised by tourists for their inaction, in the television documentary series ‘Big Trouble in Thailand’.
Immigration Police arrested 64-yr-old Lance Frederick Shaw when he arrived back in Thailand early on Tuesday morning on a flight TG996 from Australia.
Shaw, who had allegedly conned people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in a gold investment scam and who has a history of fraud in Australia dating back over 25 years,  had boasted  to an angry British investor: “”Greed is good! There is no police or lawyers that money can’t buy,” according to the Bangkok Post.
He also wrote: “Investments are risky things, you know. I have enough money to last me two lifetimes and with it I can go where I want when I want and fly with the eagles.”
Furious British investors were filmed making their complaint nearly two years ago, when a pilot programme was made for the series ‘Big Trouble in Thailand.” A warrant for his arrest was issued in July 2008. But Shaw had been happily living  house number 670/70 in the Rama Gardens estate in Pattaya Naklua.  Investors told the Bangkok Post that although they had paid police 10,000 baht they believed the inaction was because Shaw had connections with police.

When they were contacted nearer the transmission date an angry investor Philip Shields, from Liverpool, who gave Shaw 5,841, 593 (£105,000) said: “The Thai police have done absolutely nothing. Neither have our Thai lawyers.” In the documentary an angry victim is seen banging on Shaw’s gate and ringing the bell - to no answer - without any assistance from Pattaya Police.  Pattaya Court issued a warrant of arrest for Shaw 14 months ago.
It is believed a rough copy of the third programme in the series ‘Big Trouble in Thailand’ was shown to senior police in Pattaya prior to the arrest passed on by a Pattaya Police Volunteer. But an expose by Erika Fry in the Bangkok Post over a month ago may also have been noticed.
The  investors, say they will be watching the development of this case with interest. Meanwhile Shaw has been charged with defrauding Philip Shields, from Liverpool.The programme, the third in an eight part series made by Vera for the Bravo Channel goes out next Monday and is being edited to include the arrest.

 Gold fever sinks a posse of investors - Erika Fry Bangkok Post

I apologise to the Thai people but blame the film-makers - JJ (updated)

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on September 15, 2009
in The Times
. 22 Comments

 

HMS Bulwark in Phuket

HMS Bulwark in Phuket

Phuket jet-ski operator JJ Naiman apologised to the Thai people for disappointing them on national television tonight, but said he was tricked into appearing on the controversial British television series ‘Big Trouble in Thailand.”

 

The jet ski operator who was shown bringing a gun out on British Royal Marines from HMS Bulwark, who were on Phuket on R & R, said he had been misled into thinking the film was ‘good for tourism’.

And Channel 3 gave a sympathetic hearing to JJ’s claim that the gun incident was set-up.   He claimed the producer filmed him with the gun separately and then introduced it into his confrontation with the Royal Marine, 21-yr-old Jack Tebbott.

Producer Gavin Hill reacted to the claim with mild amusement. “I do have problems with the way this show is being put together but the gun incident is quite clear. It  is a rolling shot, there are no cuts except when JJ tells me to stop filming

 “Perhaps he wanted to impress the Marines to show them, look I can use a gun too, but they definitely took it as a threat and have already posted their views up on the internet.

Royal Marine Police Sergeant Wright (right) confronts JJ

Royal Marine Police Sergeant Wright (right) confronts JJ

 “JJ is talking to Tebbott when he sorts of jumps a little and heads towards his hut.  I follow with the camera rolling thinking, well I hope he is not just going to take a pee, then he takes out the gun and brings it out.

 “I think they thought, ‘Boy we are dealing with a loose cannon here, maybe a whacko!”

“If somebody wants to make an issue of this I think I am on pretty strong ground.

“We of course never told JJ we were making a film to promote tourism. We told him we were filming with the Thai police to show how Brits behave on holiday.

“Actually they day we met JJ he said he had just come out of jail for having no licences for his guns.”

 

 

 

The gun - don't those pale legs belong to Marines?

The gun - don't those pale legs belong to Marines?

Footnote: The editors in London did however move sound from another part of the video and put it over the point when JJ arrived with the gun. Gavin Hill has complained about this.

Here are his comments:

No -(this refers to my question. Did I get it wrong, was this not rolling footage?) but good detective work going on there,(noticing the sound had been changed picked up by one website here (www.thailandlandofsmiles.com)  which accords with what I told you about Vera moving the audio.

 

 

 

There is no cut from the moment JJ walks out of his hut-like place where he keeps his guns.

I tilted down with the camera when he said don’t film.  After that there’s the effect of the TV going on the blink.

Why did they put that in? Because JJ goes and puts the gun back in his hut and everything fizzles out - that was the climax.

I can upload the video tomorrow - have it here, if that would help.

In terms of the link below you are right - there is no cut between JJ emerging with the gun, hidden behind his back and approaching the Marines, during which time I’m focused on the gun.

Anyway, the point is - in the midst of negotiations, whilst awaiting Tim, MP -  JJ produces the gun and the Marines are justifiably rattled.  They were, they said so at the time and have posted as much since.  But they weren’t scared out of their wits because, I guess, they’re used to being around guns and I think they’re quite smart, level-headed chaps not prone to panic.

I was worrying at the time far more than the Marines were.

Hope this clears things up.  The fact remains that Vera did over-sensationalize this clip by moving the earlier audio over to JJ approaching the Marines, gun in hand.  I am troubled by this, but aside from dramatic effect I’m not sure it alters what was an unnerving and unpredictable situation with a drunken lout backed up by thugs, holding a man to ransom and demanding cash from him.  The gun was an unnecessary addition and escalation to the proceedings and JJ only has himself to blame for that - whatever his motive was for bringing out the gun.  And it’s the only moment where I’m filming without his consent - that said he was to cover it all with a blanket release form.

 

Swiss couple flee jet ski operator in terror - Chaweng

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on September 15, 2009
in The Times
. 13 Comments

A Swiss couple were reported to have fled Koh Samui yesterday after telling local Embassy officials that they that the couple had been threatened with a beating and rape if they failed to pay 65,000 baht (2000 Swiss francs).

A source close to the Swiss Embassy said the couple were escorted to the airport by a consular representative and safely boarded a 3pm flight from Koh Samui to Bangkok after the threats by an operator on Chaweng Beach. “The woman was visibly shaking in the departure area.”

Officially the Swiss Embassy Consular department said they could not comment on individal cases and would neither confirm or deny the report. The couple could not be contacted to verify the report.

According to one Consular source, from data gathered together by foreign consular representatives  between December and April this year there were in the region of 150 cases of tourists having to pay for damaged jet skis on Koh Samui, approximately one a day.

The controversial documentary series  ’Big Trouble in Thailand’ is expected to highlight a jet ski  problem in Chaweng in a later programme in the series.

Thai jet ski boss took cash off the US Marines too.

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on September 13, 2009
in The Times
. 40 Comments

USS Boxer - US Navy Jon Rasmussen

USS Boxer - US Navy Jon Rasmussen

A now notorious Thai jet-ski operator accused of ripping off British Royal Marines in the infamous ‘damaged jet ski scam’ also took cash off US Marines in an incident just days later – and was ‘wai-ed’ by one US Marines in an apparent plea for lenience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

'I'm so sorry sir, I will pay back I promise' Marine tells JJ

'I'm so sorry sir, I will pay back I promise' Marine tells JJ

The US Marines from the  Boxer ARG (Amphibious Readiness Group)  which made a call in Phuket just three days after HMS Bulwark had left,  handed over the cash without even a protest – because, believes film producer Gavin Hill, they had disobeyed an order banning them from hiring the machines..

Pay out

Pay out

The US Marines were then handed over  to the Naval Police as Thai police watched,  after payment of 40,000 baht was handed over by a Naval police officer who asked for receipts, after the Marines used their credit cards. They later faced disciplinary proceedings.
“You’re going to have trouble when you get on board,”  JJ tells one of the US Marines.
Gavin Hill, who faced allegations made to police by JJ  (who was subsequently arrested for extorting 35,000 Baht of the Royal Marines) that he had set up an earlier incident with the Royal Marines, who were seen to be held at gunpoint, today released more footage obtained during the filming of ‘Big Trouble in Thailand’ as the controversy raged across Thai TV stations.
“I have released this material so that nobody can be in any doubt that any of these sequences were set up. I just shot as things happened. I should not have needed to defend my integrity, but it has now become an issue and I have to deal with it,” said producer/cameraman Hill.

With police in attendance JJ prepares his bill

With police in attendance JJ prepares his bill

The film begins with an interview with JJ being asked what has happened as he waits with a group of Marines on Patong seafront in Phuket on June 26th.
“It’s serious damage. We have to make a new bottom. If we can’t make new bottom the jet-ski will sink.
“If a boat gets a hole it will sink.”
He claims later the Marines ran the boat over some rocks.
JJ estimates the damage at 70,000 to 80,000 Thai baht, but again the damage to paint on the boat’s hull does not seem , from images, to be that costly to repair.
“They have agreed to pay for it, but they do not know how much. They give too little money,” says JJ.
As a group of US Marines wait, a large naval patrol officer arrives having been called by mobile phone.  There is no

No protest

No protest

issue.   The Marines have to pay he says.  There will be no argument. He has a short discussion with JJ.
As the group waits for police to arrive a young Latino Marine wais to JJ saying:  “I’m so sorry sir.  I’m sorry. I’ll pay back I promise.”
The arrival both of Patong ’Beach Patrol’ and a motorcycle officer is met with much wai-ing and saluting.  The Naval policeman counts out the cash to the ‘manager’ and the US Marines are handed into the custody of Naval Police.
Another bad day in paradise.
Said Gavin Hill: “It was quite a different situation that that of the Royal Marines.  The US Marines did not want the cameras.  They also knew, I believe, that, as they had breached an order, they could not argue. I have no idea whether they caused the damage or not, but they admitted it. They clearly did not want any trouble.”

“JJ said it would take two weeks to repair the boat. In the meant

Bt40,000 worth of damage

Bt40,000 worth of damage

ime he had to charge a day rate also for loss of earnings.”

Gavin Hill insists that the Thai authorities have overreacted to the British television series and says he had no  intention of hurting Thailand, but filmed what was in front of him.

The first in an eight part series called ‘Trouble in Tourist Thailand’ went out last Monday and showed how Royal Marines had to hand over 35,000 baht to JJ, even though, claimed Marine Police Sergeant Tim Wright it was ‘old damage’.
Thai authorities have announced a crackdown on the scams, although there is evidence they may have been part and parcel of them.

Next stop the gangplank?

Next stop the gangplank?

 

Footnote: The highest known payment made by tourists in this scam has been 200,000 on Koh Samui. That involved a collision between two Jet skis.   Unless you  know better.

‘We’re not all Rob Roys ye know’

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on September 9, 2009
in The Times
. 1 Comment

drummond-badgeBlog only
Dropped down last night to the Soi 8 bar on, Sukhumvit Soi 8 of course,  for the ‘wake’ of Lydia Riach.  People familiar with Scottish wakes of course will know they are a celebration of a life, rather than the mourning of a death and this was no exception.
Some 200 people attended the cremation and this brought out the Bangkok Scots in force and oddly enough Scandahoofians too.  With a Norseman pouring large tumblers of ‘black’ I found myself joining in ‘The Skye boat song’, ‘No awa abide awa’ , ‘Flower of Scotland’  ‘Will ye no come back again’ and of course the old time classic ‘A wee doch and dorris’.  Well I was joining in quietly. I didnt want to be shamed for getting any words wrong.
A good night. I can’t remember leaving. And I don’t know whose umbrella I came home with, not from the Soi 8 bar, because I was still soaked when I remember meeting some Brit foreign office people in another bar later.

Anyway it was a warm and cheerful event and the crowd probably represented Lydia and Dougie’s popularity here. Thai Police made a nice gesture by also attending the cremation.

 I am Scottish of course but as I have what people regard as a public school English accent I have difficulty convincing people.  I was educated at boarding schools in Scotland but as my father was a pilot I had to live in the home counties (mostly Berkshire) within driving distance of Heathrow.  I usually fall back defensively on the old: “We’ll, we’re not all Rob Roys ye know”.   I am clearly not getting the message across, because at one point Dougie made a funny comment about the English then apologised to me.

drummond-clansmanIf (left) this is what my ancestors looked like maybe I should just keep my mouth shut. I wouldn’t want to meet him down Sukhumvit
Actually as connoisseurs of this site will know from recent revelations I went to school at the Abbey in Fort Augustus, Inverness-shire and this was at the same time as Dougie Riach and his brother Eddie went to Inverness Academy. We probably had a few rucks at Rugby ( Ahem I think Inverness Academy was one of the easier sides to beat!)

Anyway I had bettor not dwell on this as  it was a Drummond who lost the Battle of Cullodon (near Inverness) for Prince Charlie. Scotland thereafter could only rule the world by joining up with the English.
The last wake I was invited to was one at Drumnadrochit on the banks of Loch Ness.  At the time I was Scottish News Editor at the News of the World.  Each year a bunch of us,  which always included Jimmy Grylls, News Editor of the Scottish Daily Mail, Wee Nigel Benson , a vertically challenged reporter with the Glasgow Evening Times, and  stocky Glaswegian Bobby Orr, would hire a cruiser from Inverness and weave down the Caledonian Canal.
Every year, fortified from our ’40 ouncers’ of Bells, Wee Nigel would also abandon ship after seeing ghosts off Invergarry Castle. Eventually Nigel died, though not from drowning in loch water.  I was away but  Jimmy and Bobby went up for his funeral  and wake to ‘Drum’.
As they respectfully viewed ‘Wee Nigel’ in his coffin Bobbie Orr said: “He’s looking awfie good. In fact I dinnae think I’ve ever seen him looking so well.”
“Aye” replied Jimmy, “that’ll be because he hasnae had a drink for a couple of days.”
That seemed to have broken the ice because not long afterwards they were ‘all awa with the fairies’.
Anyway Dougie and his son Roger and daughter Patricia are flying back with Lydia for a service in Inverness Friday week. My best wishes go with them.

Scots woman mugged in Bangkok woman loses her fight for life

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on September 7, 2009
in The Times
. 3 Comments

From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok, September 7 2009

Links:BBC Scotland  Scotsman The Scottish SUN

Murder hunts as Scots woman loses fight for life in Bangkok

From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok

An Inverness woman who was mugged in Thailand a week ago last Saturday has lost her fight for life in a Bangkok hospital.

Lydia Riach, 58, was pronounced dead at the police hospital in Bangkok at 11.44 last night (Sunday) her cremation will be held (Tuesday in a Thai temple in Klong Toey, Bangkok.

Her husband Douglas Riach, 57, a former director of Caledonian-Thistle Football Club said today: “She passed away peacefully.  I will be returning home with her ashes on Friday.

“It has been a gruelling week and now the inevitable has happened. In a way it comes as a relief and a blessing.”

Her death means that Thai police are now involved in a murder hunt. No suspects have been arrested but spokesman for Thai Police at Thonglor said last night: “We have a witness and leads. We will apprehend the killers.”

Douglas Riach added: “Please let me take this opportunity to thank all those who have given their support. It has been tremendous and has helped the family through these trying times.

“It has really helped us get through these last few days. The Embassy have also been very good and helped us through the business of sorting out cremation arrangements and organising a ticket so I can get home quickly now.

“I am returning with Lydia on Friday so we can be among relatives and lifelong friends.”

Lydia Riach was attacked by a motorcycle snatch team who grabbed her hand-bag as she walked in single file behind her husband in a narrow lane of the city’s Sukhumvit Road. 

Lydia, who was wearing her bag around her head and shoulders was dragged to the ground and her skull was split on the roadway.

The couple, were on their way to watch Saturday football at the Scottish owned Twenty Two bar owned by  Ray McLaughlin, from Paisley.

Expatriates at the bar shocked at the attack have been giving to a fund to help pay for hospital costs.

Said  Mr.McLaughlin: “It’s such a sad thing to happen to a very lovely and obviously happy couple. Everbody wants to help out.  It has angered many people to see this sort of thing happen in Bangkok.

“When I came here 15 years ago this sort of thing would have been unheard of.”

Douglas, is an Honorary Life President of the Highland Car Club, and former rally driver. The couple were popular both in Inverness and Bangkok where they had started a new life.

He said: “This has not changed my view of Thailand and Thai people who have been very kind to us both. It could happen in other cities. Wrong place wrong time. Nothing more than that.”

Douglas arrived two years ago and got employment as a sales consultant with Infinity, a financial consultancy.

Lydia was due to start work in an orphanage helping under privileged children.

 

 

 

 

Special medication ceased for Scots woman mugged in Bangkok

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on September 4, 2009
in The Times
. 11 Comments

From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok, September 3 2009

Other publications from same author: Scottish Television  video:drummond/chant/hill

Scot attacked in Bangkok will be allowed to die - The Scotsman

I have to watch mugged wife die - The SUN

No hope for Thai mugging victim - BBC Scotland

Inverness Courier

Pictures: Andrew Chant (later)

Doctors in Bangkok have ceased to provide special medication for a 58-yr-old Scots woman who suffered severe head injuries when she was mugged in a Bangkok street at on her 30th wedding anniversary at the weekend.
But they have refused to switch off life support systems for Lydia Riach from Inverness as it is against Thai law and the family’s wishes.
Now children’s charity worker Lydia from Inverness will be left to die naturally at the Police Hospital in Bangkok where she was admitted last Saturday.  The possibilities of a recovery remain slim.

Douglas Riach and son Roger at Bangkok Police Hospital

Douglas Riach and son Roger at Bangkok Police Hospital

Husband Douglas Riach, 57, a former director of Inverness Caledonian Thistle football club said: “I have received confirmation that Lydia no longer has brain stem function. The law denies the choice in terminating life support.
“She has been moved out of the Intensive Care Unit to a ward where life will continue, but medication will be capped. We anticipate a matter of days only, which is a blessing as she is gone already.”
The news was broken as the Lydia’s son Roger, 34, an operations manager for Securitas in Glasgow, daughter Patricia 37, and their uncle Eddie Riach,flew into the Thai capital to be with her.
“They have arrived together and the family will be together for Lydia’s last hours,” aded  Mr. Riach known to hisa friends as Dougie.
Son Roger said: “It is a godsend that we have been able to get here in time to see our mother.  We would never order her life support to be shut off. She will go in her own good time.  But the prospects do not look good.  There has been no improvement in her condition.”
The mugging of Lydia in Bangkok’s Sukhumvit Soi 22 has angered many expatriates who say they are beginning to fear for safety in the streets of Bangkok.
Regulars  from the ”Twenty Two ‘bar, where ‘Dougie’ and Lydia used to go to watch Celtic matches, earlier in the week called on the police station at Thonglor in Bangkok to demand action over the attack.
Bar owner Ray McLaughlin, from Glasgow said: “They were very concerned that the police wake up to the seriousness of this crime.”
A spokesman for Thonglor Police however said that a witness had now come forward and they would be issuing pictures of the suspects tomorrow (Friday). “We are aware that if she dies this will become a murder investigation. However we have new information and are confident of making an arrest.”
But Douglas Riach said: “If there is one thing I want to get across is that I do not blame Thailand or the Thais for this. It could happen in many places. The Thai people have been very kind and wonderful hosts to both Lydia and myself.

The spot where Lydia Riach was dragged to the ground

The spot where Lydia Riach was dragged to the ground

“Lydia’s treatment in hospital has been caring and excellent. I do not find Bangkok a dangerous place, in fact it is safer than most, so I would not want people to say they are not coming to Thailand because of this event.
“She is a great woman. My best friend. My soulmate. It has been a privilege to have been her husband for 30 years.”
Lydia received her head injuries when she was dragged along a round by motor-cycle snatch these who grabbed her handbag, which was around her shoulder and neck, as they drove past. Her head smashed into the road.
Added Roger:  “Our mum was everybody’s friend and a very cheerful person.  She loved her new life in Bangkok .  She was forever sending us cheerful emails.”
Mr. and Mrs Riach have been a popular couple in the expatriate community of the Thai capital. Douglas Riach first arrived in Bangkok two years ago and secured work as a sales consultant for Infinity, a financial consultancy, before Lydia flew out to join him.  Mrs Riach was due to start work helping children at a Bangkok orphanage before the attack.

‘Evil from the gates of hell’ - The Thai assassination of a Canadian husband

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on August 27, 2009
in The Times
. 10 Comments

From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok,
Thai wife, her lover, and hired gun jailed for life for murdering Canadian husband

Link: CBC - Slain Canadian’s wife gets life

Other Links

The Times: British farmer fed to tigers after divorcing Thai wife

The Observer The bar girl and the expat - a killing foretold


A Thai court today jailed for life a Thai wife, her lover, and a professional hit man for the avaricious murder of her Canadian husband.
Dale Henry, 48, was murdered on the orders of his 27-yr-old wife Maneerat  nicknamed ‘Nee’, the court found. She had conspired with her boyfriend Amornsak Ketkaew, and hired a professional killer Jinda Sae Tee, who faces another assassination charge in Thailand.
Jinda Sae Tee said he accepted the contract for a mere 60,000 Thai baht or $1,935 Canadian.

Dale Henry with ' sweet and beloved Nee'

Dale Henry with ' sweet and beloved Nee'

Although Henry is by no means the first foreigner to have been murdered on the orders of his Thai wife this case shocked the local foreign community in Thailand.  Henry had no idea that his wife was anything but in love with him.  And right up until his death he told relatives how lucky he was to have his live with his ‘darling sweet Nee’. He was totally besotted.
All the while Nee was plotting her husband’s death  for the US$1 million insurance money. She already had the family home, which as a foreigner he had to buy under her name.
On February 3rd last year Nee put her plan into operation.  Once Henry had fallen asleep she contacted her lover  by mobile phone and summonsed him and the hit man to her house in Ranong, near the Burma border, to put an end to their six year marriage.
Dale Henry was gunned down  as he slept.
Although Henry had bought her a home and car and generously provided for her out of his US$10,000 a month salary as an oil company safety officer, his wife was also aware of his £1 million life insurance policy made out in her favour.
Henry, who was born in Victoria moved to Thailand ten years ago. He had also worked as a fire-fighter in Cochrane, Alberta. He met Nee while holidaying from a job as a safety officer with an Noble Drilling in Nigeria. Nee was a bar girl on the holiday island of Koh Samui.
Immediately after his death his wife’s family started looting his house making off with his motorcycle and cars.
Dale Henry’s sister Mary Jane Matheson from Calgary said: “Dale was a very happy, generous fellow. He loved his life and it made him so happy to be able to provide well for Nee and her family. None of them needed anything. His monthly salary was more than enough ($10,000.00 US). Right up to two days before he died, he had e-mails to his “Darling Nee”  and others to friends of his saying how he was so lucky to have such a great wife!
“There was another telling Nee that he didn’t care how much a better roof was for the home he bought for her mother would cost..he said ‘Mom deserves the best’. Also in his mail was a letter arranging boat plans, he was going to finally build one. One of his big dreams since he was young…Such a shame…he would have accomplished so much more and made a positive difference in many lives.”
Mary-Jane said that the insurance money would be staying in North America. “It is incomprehensible for me to understand this depth of evil, right from the gates of hell”.
The trial had been monitored by Dale Henry’s brother Richard, also from Calgary and officials from the Canadian Embassy in Thailand. 
The brother Richard was concerned that justice would not be meted out. Dale Henry’s mother-in-law was apparently not very grateful for her new roof. Outside the court she told Richard Dale still owed her money. 
The defendants also got bail after his wife withdrew a total of 800,000 Thai baht ($25,775 Canadian) cash from his bank account in smaller amounts on six different occasions while she was still in jail.

Both Henry’s Thai wife and lover can appeal the verdict and be granted bail. If they lose their appeal they can appeal again to the Thai Supreme Court. The process can actually take eight years to get somebody into jail in Thailand if they have the cash for the legal charges involved.

Meanwhile the trial of a Thai policeman accused of murdering Leo Del Pinto, from Calgary, in Pai in January 2008, has yet to be resumed. It was abandoned earlier this year after Thailand’s Department of Special Investigations conducted an improper investgation.

Although Richard Henry has power of attorney over his late brother’s estate most of it has alreay been taken by Henry’s wife and family.

Picture: Pick-up

,

Brit journalist flees Bangkok airport (update)

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on August 15, 2009
in The Times
. 16 Comments

This is a blog only

I’m have been on holiday in Wester Ross  in the Western Highlands of Scotland with my wife Pat and daughter Annie and then finishing off down in Berkshire.

Here’s Annie before the summer temperature dropped to 9 degrees C! and also in a second picture by the stream at the Mayfly pub near Andover when it warmed up again.

annie-kilt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

annie-mayfly-pub-aug-2009

Suicide bomber on 18th floor of Jakarta hotel

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on July 18, 2009
in The Times
. 1 Comment

Link to Evening Standard

 

Nine people including foreign tourists were killed today in suicide bomb attacks on two hotels in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta.

The explosions in the city’s business district hit the Ritz-Carlton and the Marriott Hotels in the early hours, blowing out windows and scattering debris and glass across the street.

More than 50 people were injured in the attacks, which were carried out by suicide bombers staying at the Marriott, police said.

At least 18 foreigners were killed or injured, including a New Zealander who died and several Americans who were hurt. Britons are feared to be among the casualties.

The first bomb went off in the café of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel at 7.45am local time followed two minutes later by a bomb in the basement car park of the Marriott. The facades of both hotels were reduced to twisted metal.

Manchester United, who were due to check into the Ritz-Carlton tomorrow, today cancelled their trip. The team, including Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand, were due to start the Indonesian leg of their Far East tour. They had been booked into the hotel for four nights.

Manager Sir Alex Ferguson said: “We got the news as we landed and it is very disappointing. I have never been to Indonesia before and I know the Indonesian FA have worked very hard on this. It is terrible news but we have taken what I believe to be the right decision in terms of safeguarding our players.”

Jakarta police chief Major-General Wahyono said the suspects of the Marriott bombing stayed on the 18th floor of the hotel where undetonated explosives were found after the twin explosions. “There were several perpetrators,” he said. “They were disguised as guests.”

He added a severed head of a suspected suicide bomber was found in the car park of the Marriott.

British businessman Geoffrey Head, who was staying at the Ritz-Carlton, said: “I looked out of the window — I could see down to ground level and I saw there was a lot of broken glass. I thought it was time to actually get out.”

He added: “The surreal thing was going down in the elevator and walking through the lobby and looking across to my left and noticing the café was completely blown out.”

Alex Asmasubrata, who was jogging nearby, said he walked into the Marriott before emergency services arrived and “there were bodies on the ground, one of them had no stomach,” he said. “It was terrible.” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the attack was carried out by a “terrorist group” and vowed to arrest the perpetrators.

He said it was too early to say if the South-East Asian Islamic militant group Jemaah Islamiyah, blamed for past attacks in Indonesia, including a 2003 bombing at the Marriott, was responsible.

In October 2002, Indonesia suffered its worst terrorist atrocity when bomb attacks on two Bali nightclubs killed 202 people.

A boy’s drowning and Thai Visa.com - A protest

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on July 12, 2009
in The Times
. 17 Comments

Blog only: Statement:

I very rarely lose it but I am absolutely disgusted at comments allowed on Thai Visa.com in the news cuttings section ‘Boy drowned under whirpool in Pattaya Park’ and this is after censorship by the board’s moderators. This is about a 14-year-old boy Nathan Clark a British boy who drowned a couple of days ago.

These comments by arrogant idiots clearly do not represent the views of most posters. However I feel personally ashamed that I might even come from the same country as these people. So moderators , if you have any sense of public decency, please delete them now.

All the bad boy-girls love a sailor

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on July 10, 2009
in The Times
. 5 Comments

Lady boy of Bangkok walks off with Australian Navy’s little secrets

 Exclusive

From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok

Link to The Australian 

 

An Australian Naval officer has lost his official computer after picking up a ‘lady boy’ in a Bangkok red light area.

 

Nana Plaza

Nana Plaza

The officer Lt. Commander Peter De Maskens, a qualified helicopter pilot, was in Bangkok on official business  and had gone out for the night to the city’s Nana Plaza, an entertainment zone in the city full of ‘a-go-go’ bars, and where ladyboys also solicit in the streets..

 

The Lt.Commander De Maskens, a recipient of the Medal of the Order of Ausralian, for meritorious service in the field of maritime communications and information systems, is reported to have asked the lady boy to go back with him to the city’s Banyan Tree hotel, but told Embassy colleagues later that he did not know that his date was a man.

 

 

 

hmas-albatrossThe Lt.Commander De Maskens, formerly based at HMAS Albatross, at Nowra, NSW,  (Motto: Ever Watchful)  reported that he ‘blacked out’ inside the hotel room and did not wake up until the following afternoon. Meanwhile his lap top computer, cash and personal belongings had disappeared. He could not remember anything after entering his room.

 

Normally unregistered guests at the hotel, used regularly by the nearby Australian Embassy, have to hand over their I.D. cards before entering a guest room, but last Friday night the rules were apparently relaxed.

Order of Australia

Order of Australia

As a result, coupled with the fact that the lady boy was not paid out from one of the five lady boy bars at Nana Plaza , police at Thungmahamek police station, Bangkok, have little evidence to go on, and have called for the hotel’s CCTV videos.

 

In another incident across town at the city’s Mercure Hotel on the same night, a lady boy drugged a Korean client, police reported, but she was stopped as she left the hotel with the Korean’s belongings.

An Australian Department of Defence spokesman today insisted there was little vital to the security of Australia on the officer’s computer, but in any case the thief would not get past the computer’s built in security.

australian-naval-ensignIn a brief statement the department reported: “A Navy Lieutenant Commander staying in Bangkok has had personal belongings (including a Defence-owned laptop computer) stolen from his hotel room.

“The laptop contained only the lowest classification data and was fitted with appropriate security software to deny access to any information on the computer.

“The incident is under investigation and no further details are available at this stage. The Lieutenant Commander has received the assistance of the Australian Embassy Bangkok and the Thai authorities”. 

 

Drugged by lady boys

Drugged by lady boys

The Lt. Commander and the Korean are just the latest in a long line of victims who have been drugged by lady boys.  In one notorious case in Pattaya three Austrians, slept for over 48 hours, after they claimed they were drugged by lady boys, who rubbed knockout gel onto their nipples.   Videos of the snoring Austrians were transmitted nationally.

 

The Lt. Commander is also one of several officials across the world to have lost their laptops containing different levels of classified information.

 

 In July 2000 a British Naval Commander had his laptop stolen from his car outside his home in London. The laptop contained classified information about an operation called ‘Purple Wizard’.

Commander Paul Lloyd was subsequently court-martialled but escaped with a reprimand.

This post was edited to include name witheld until published in The Australian

£10,000 for eye shadow at King Power?- The Bangkok airport scam

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on June 28, 2009
in The Times
. 136 Comments

Police volunteer admitted that 160 tourists were scammed including six Britons.

“No I dont want a laptop I’ve got too many of those. Jewellery will do.”

Link to British couple fight airport extortionists

Pictures Andrew Chant

This is a blog only

Duty free

Duty free

She sat there clutching a plastic bag containing a lipstick along with a till receipt for 570 baht. Sian, from Kilkenny in Ireland saw her life ahead in a Bangkok jail and was clearly dumbstruck.
“I never intended to steal anything. I paid for the lipstick and had also picked up some eyeliner worth about 900 Thai baht and taken it to the till.  This is all a terrible mistake.  I paid by credit card. I thought I had paid for both items”
Sian faces a year in jail……unless.

Ratchatewa Police Station

Ratchatewa Police Station

Friday 4 pm: I am at Ratchatewa Police station just off the perimeter road at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport to see ‘Sian’ who had been shopping at King Power, the massive consortium which has a virtual monopoly over tourist duty free sales there,  when their security pounced.
 I tell Sian (not her real name)  I am a journalist. “Oh this is not going to make the papers is it?  Please do not write anything”. I put down my notebook and pen.  I give Sian my telephone number and make my excuses and leave. 
What I wanted to talk about, I could not say with the police officer present. The policeman, who I believe, thought that I had come to help the lady financially, asked why I was going so quickly.
 Sian  had a lawyer and has already got bail for 100,000 baht (about £1800) and has paid the lawyer a deposit of Bt 50,000 (£900). Her lawyer is recommended by the British Embassy.
Before her, laid out on the desk were colour stills printed on A4 taken from one of the thousands of CCTV cameras King Power have installed in their airport shops. Do they show she is guilty?I have no idea.
kingpower-logowI cannot pursue this story unless she makes a complaint. To do so in Thailand could seriously jeopardise her future. She knows it. The lawyer knows it. The police know it, the courts know it. I know it. So I’m not expecting a call – at least not until she is safe back in the old country.
Guilty or not guilty Sian is now embroiled in one of the infamous Bangkok scams.  The scam is a variation of what happens in police stations all over the country but here it catches tourists when they are most vulnerable, often tired penniless and psyching themselves up for a long haul flight. Similar scams around the country account for why paedophiles are repeatedly released and why when we read about arrests we rarely read about the outcome.
Sian does not want any publicity. She was in Bangkok for a ‘Save the World’ type conference.
She has been told she will have to wait at least a month to go to court. She could go to jail for a year. She is another potential candidate for the TV series ‘Banged Up Abroad’.

Scammed? you may end up in this pink hotel

Scammed? you may end up in this pink hotel

The option which has been given to all those tourists  from many countries,who have preceded her (several a week) is, of course, to pay up.  Police will keep the bail and she will be required to pay a large payment for letters which will say that police can find no conclusive evidence of her guilt and allow her to leave the country.

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.
Today Michael Sheridan, a colleague on the Sunday Times, exposes the case of Britons Stephen Ingram and Xi Lin. Sheridan identifies a Sri Lankan Sunil “Tony” Rathnayaka as the fixer who extorts  the cash and pays it out to a man known as ‘Phua Yai Noi’ – the little big man. ‘ This pre-supposes there is a ‘Big Big’ man. Tony’admits taking the cash from the couple. He is only there to help, he says. He boasts he has three houses and does not need to do this for the money.
Ingram, a former Cambridge graduate, now an IT and electronics expert and Xi Lin, an IT consultant and BSc and Msc, were arrested and accused of stealing a Givenchy wallet worth over £120.
The threat was all the more severe because (a) they were charged with organised crime (there were two of them) and that (b) the crime took place at night (when most European bound flights leave the airport) all adding to the severity of their case.

British royal with Vichai and sons: courtesy Siam Polo Club

British royal with Vichai and sons: courtesy Siam Polo Club

Guilty or not guilty King Power presented CCTV evidence as usual and claim, while they do prosecute severely, they do not prosecute without absolutely firm evidence. Nevertheless the video evidence is by far means conclusive and the couple were not caught with the wallet in their possession.

The chairman of  King Power is Vichai Raskriaksorn a polo playing acquaintance of Britain’s Prince Charles,  though maybe not a close chum because, although a promise that Charles son William will playpolo  in Thailand has been made it has yet come to fruition.

King Power say they cannot be held responsible for what happens in the police station.  For sure they know how the system works but its unlikely any management are involved - no matter what some people think of their prices.

In all cases they say they have solid CCTV evidence against the ’shoplifters’ and have started to post the videos on their website.

In a written statement describing their ordeal Ingram and Xi Lin insist they were told that some of the cash would have to go back to King Power. But its only hearsay and police could just be upping the ante.
The couple were held virtually hostage for five days in a  pink love motel while their cash was ATM’ed here by the maximum amount possible per day (£300 each) and also transferred from the UK. Conveniently there were ATM’s at the police station and hotel.  Xi Lin had to use the £5000 saved to start her Eton educated son’s university education.  From their statements they were scammed right up to the point of departure when ‘Tony’ demanded a further £1000 to clear matters with immigration.  They claim that Tony, who they refered to as ‘Officer Z’ said that in April this year some 160 tourists had been nabbed at the airport, six of them Britons.  Apparently Tony no longer took laptops in lieu of cash as he had too many, but he would consider jewellery.

Police to Immigration 'No intention to steal'

Police to Immigration 'No intention to steal'

What stands out about Michael Sheridan’s investigation is that we have here for once, not the receipts for the bribes, but the letters which they obtained which showed they were innocent and allowed them to leave the country albeit at a price of £8000.

The  first letter (left) is from Ratchatewa Police to Immigration police saying the couple can leave the country.

The second letter (below right) is from the Prosecution Office at Samut Parkarn which stated the court had dropped the case through lack of evidence.

And there we have it.
Personally, guilty or innocent I might not take my chances against Samut Prakarn court. But one worrying aspect about Ingram and Xi Lin’s testimony is a quote attributed to Kate Duffall at the British Embassy saying that people ‘had been arrested walking around King Power shops with goods in their hands’.  Dufall has not confirmed her statement.

However it is not difficult to see there may be some over zealous staff being used here, particularly if they have to pay out of their wages for goods that are stolen. In most countries one has to leave the shop first before theft can be established.

No evidence - Samut Prakarn court

No evidence - Samut Prakarn court

Mr. Ingram and Xi Lin have now been recommended a lawyer whom they say has been known to the British Embassy for 15 years and they want to pursue a matter through the Thai courts. I’m not holding my breath.

As the British Embassy may protest, there may be an investigation. But of course their standard quote is: “We will not interfere in another country’s justice system” 

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

Former Premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who gave King Power the airport concession did after all announce proudly: ‘There is nothing under the sun the Thai police cannot do,” though I guess he meant it in a positive way.

So there you have it.  Be very very careful out there.

That eye-shadow or eye-liner could cost you up from £4000 - £10,000!

Finally just a reminder of another scam which has been widely reported.   Arriving passengers who stop to buy stuff at King Power duty free,  which are over the maximum duty free limit, have reported on the internet that their purchases are tipped off to the ‘Thai authorities’.  They are later stopped, not in the Customs Hall, but as they exit the airport.

NB This report has been edited from the original version. Sian did call back.  During our conversation she stated categorically that she took both items to the till and presented her credit card. When she signed the slip she thought she had paid for both items.

Paedophiles fight back in Thailand

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on June 16, 2009
in The Times
. 2 Comments

From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok, June 15
Two suspected paedophiles have had a former Thai police volunteer arrested in the Thai resort of Pattaya for harassment and blackmail.
The two paedophiles,  a Swede and a Briton, whose names have been withheld, had both agreed to pay £2000 and £3000 respectively for indulging in under age sex with young boys.
One withdrew the cash from the bank. The second paid in full.  But when they realised their blackmailer was not a normal policeman, they made an official complaint.
The arrested man Khun Wansanor said that he had worked voluntarily with police and grabbed their, apparently lucrative, list of names of suspected paedophiles. 
Critics, however, say he would have had to have been given the list by a Thai police officer.
Thai police were at pains to say that Wansanor was not a real policeman. Police Major General Koson Paowes said:  “He was impersonating a policeman but he has not had any police training.”
Nevertheless despite one or two high profile cases many arrested paedophiles in Pattaya, a resort known for its sex and sleaze, are eventually released after paying large ‘fines’ which go to local police. Those arrested claimed they have had to pay up to £15,000.
Among those released,  have been two arrested in a joint operation with Britain’s CEOP last December which was described as a triumph of international police co-operation.
“The Royal Thai Police has demonstrated an unerring commitment to making Thailand a hostile environment for UK offenders,” said CEOP’s chief Jim Gamble at the time.
One Briton, Maurice Praill, known as ‘The Ghost’ abused children for over twenty years, paying off police many times, before finally being sent to jail in January for 14 years after  outrage was expressed by child protection agencies at the local police’s failure to keep him behind bars.

Memorial for DJ who ‘needlessly’ drowned in Thailand

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on June 16, 2009
in The Times
. 8 Comments

Memorial for drowned DJ  June 16 2009
From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok,

Link to Surrey Advertiser
Friends and relatives are to host a memorial party to a 21-yr-old DJ from Surrey,  who,  they say,  needlessly drowned in Thailand after authorities in the holiday island of Phuket cut down on beach safety procedures.
James Patton (Facebook)Last week James Patton, 21, from Beacon Hill, Hindhead, was the third tourist to drown in two days on Karon Beach on the Thai holiday island.  It was the last day of his holiday.
Like the other tourists he was dragged out to sea by the undertow.  Several hundred tourists watched the spectacle. His girlfriend Bethan Jones, also 21, was saved by British tourists.
One of the witnesses, Briton Sian Mulley said: “The police did nothing, and the life guards wouldn’t even go in, they tossed a board at my brother to use instead.  My brother is in bits that he couldn’t do more and he is so angry that the lifeguards and authorities were useless.”
Patton’s family have set up a Facebook site to warn tourists of the dangers of swimming in Phuket during the rainy season.
Last week local authorities admitted that they had not as usual employed teams to warn tourists not to enter the water due to shortage of funds and volunteers.
Although the sun may shine and the sea look calm rip tides in Phuket during the rainy season are notoriously ferocious.
The memorial party will be held at the Woodcock Pub, Churt Road, Beacon Hill on July 3rd.

Link http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=205123015113&ref=share

Sex game riddle of ‘Kill Bill’ star found dead in hotel cupboard- Bangkok

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on June 5, 2009
in The Times
. 1 Comment

Sex game riddle over ‘Kill Bill’ star found dead in Bangkok cupboard.
From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok. June 4 2009

Link to Daily Express

Link to the SUN

Hollywood Actor David Carradine  was found dead in a Bangkok hotel today  amid suggestions that he killed himself accidently during an attempt at auto-eroticism.
The 72-yr-old actor and lead in ‘Kill Bill’ was found dead in a hotel in Bangkok famous for its shrine dedicated to phallic power.  The body of Carradine who rose to fame as ‘Grasshopper’ in the series ‘Kung Fu ‘ was found by a chambermaid.
Police in Lumpini Bangkok said Carradine’s naked body was found hanging  in a closet in room  352 of the Nai Lert Park Hotel, Bangkok.  ‘A rope was attached to his neck and also to his genitals,” said an officer in the case.
The rope used was the rope to draw the rooms curtains.
Police initially said they they believed Carradine had committed suicide. There was no suicide note. But later they amended their reaction to saying: “It looks like suicide.”
Police estimated his time of death at between 11 pm on Wednesday and 1 am Thursday morning.  When police were contacted again a police spokesman said could neither confirm or deny the suggestion that the Hollywood star may have been involved in an act of auto-eroticism.
“We have nothing to add at this stage that apart from the fact that we do not believe anybody else was involved in his death. There is no investigation although a post mortem will be carried out.”
The BBC also reported Thai police as saying: that the 72-year-old was found by a hotel maid sitting in a wardrobe “with a cord around his neck and other parts of his body”.
His manager Chuck Bender described the news as shocking: “He was always full of life, always wanting to work- a great person.”
Carradine in Thailand to film a movie called ‘Stretch’ had failed to attend a dinner the night before with members of the production crew.
The Nail Lert Park hotel, next to the British Embassy in Bangkok is famous for its penis shrine, a tribute to penis power.  The shrine is associated with fertility and visitors make offerings to the female Spirit of Tubtim who hovers around a nearby canal. 
The offerings come in the form of phalluses in all shapes and sizes.
In November 1997 INXS star Michael Hutchence was found dead in a hotel in Sydney. The coroner returned a verdict of suicide, but because of the lack of suicide note or history of depression  he was widely believed, even by members of his own family,  to have died attempting an act of autoerotic asphyxiation.

Reason for edit: Punctuation error noted by Bob Smith