Andrew Drummond

on June 28, 2009

Link to British couple fight airport extortionists

. 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.”

Pictures Andrew Chant

This is a blog only

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

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-logow I 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

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

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'

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

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.

Hollywood star was hung by his neck and genitals say police

Published

on June 5, 2009

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. 2 Comments

From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok. June 5 2009

Thai police today withdrew their suicide theory on the death of Hollywood star David Carradine and admitted that he may have died accidentally during a sex act.
After a night of confusion Thai Police General said the possibility that Carradine died while indulging in an auto-erotic sex had to be considered and that the death was accidental.
“There was a rope tied around his neck and another rope tied to his genitals, and the two ropes were tied together and they hung in the closet,” Lieutenant General Worapong Siewpreecha told reporters.
“Under these circumstances we cannot be sure that he committed suicide. He may have died while masturbating.”
The comments drew criticism from the US Embassy where an official described the police comments as a ‘violation of privacy”.
But as tributes came in for the 72-yr-old Hollywood star who rose to fame as Kwai Chang Caine or ‘Grasshopper’ in the seventies TV series the examination being carried out in Chulalongkorn Hospital, Bangkok, is likely only to reveal the cause of death , and that he died of heart failure brought on by asphyxia.
Tiffany Smith of his management company insisted: “David would not have committed suicide’ and his manager Chuck Bender sa id: “He was always full of life, always wanting to work”
Thai police say the body of Carradine, the lead in ‘Kill Bill’ and a star with over 100 Hollywood film credits was found naked in a cupboard by a maid around at around 11 a.m. in the Swisshotel Nailert Park, in Bangkok on Thursday.
When she entered the room she noticed that the beiges drapes were closed and the beige and cushions on the bed were still in their ‘day order’ at the head of the bed which had not bee n slept in.
Hotel records show that Carradine had had a couple of drinks in the lobby ‘Syn’ bar – ‘ a place to have a few wicked drinks’ and had retired at 9 pm. Records showed that he had used his keycard shortly after 9 pm and not used it again that night.
Police initially said yesterday that they believed Carradine had committed suicide. But later they amended their reaction to saying: “It looks like suicide.”
At Lumpini Polices station Bangkok Police Commander Somprasong Yenthuam ruled out any other person being involved: “All I can really say is that nobody else was involved. It looks like he killed himself. We have checked the CCTV’s and nobody else came in and out of his room.
“The room was also in perfect order. Nothing else seems to have been touched. There was some money lying around on a table and a bottle of drinking water and some water in a glass.
“His body has been taken to Chulalongkorn Hospital for a forensic examination but we expect they will find he died of asphyxiation. That is all I really can say on the matter. I do not wish to speculate.”
He said there was a foot print on the bed which did not match any of Carradine’s shoes but it probably was not relevant to the enquiry.”
Police estimated his time of death at between 11 pm on Wednesday and 1 am Thursday morning.
Carradine in Thailand to film a movie called ‘Stretch’ had failed to attend a dinner the night before with members of the production crew.
His death brought in many tributes from Hollywood including from director Martin Scorcese who said: “I am deeply saddened. I have fond memories of our time together.”
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.

Of an Embassy and Brits in the sh*t Part 11 - The Sequel

Published

on April 29, 2009

. 20 Comments

This is a blog only

simonburrowes042 Sometimes one has to really admire the Thai way of doing things. What went on down in Phuket this week was quite superb by Thai standards and my hat comes off for Amuporn Siripong one of the prosecutors in the local court.
I am talking about the case of Simon Burrowes. He is the Brit, who, after being wrongly arrested at Phuket airport on a false passport charge, let forth with a flurry of expletives at Immigration officials, who were treating him like a West African drugs dealer.
His case has been all over this website this year. But if you have not heard about him, Simon is a black Brit, something of a novelty to Immigration officials, who believe, not without some previous history in Thailand, that black people, usually have drugs down their underpants. He is something of a martial arts expert and had been in Thailand as trainer for British former kick-boxing champion Matthew Nagle.
Simon’s problems were compounded, or possibly initiated, by the fact the on a Friday morning in January a British Embassy official told Thai police that they could find no record of his passport, so off went tourist Simon to the squalid Phuket jail, where he remained for three weeks, while Embassy officials established the truth, and his bail money arrived.
Thai police dropped the false passport charge, but proceeded with the’ insulting immigration officers ‘charge. There was a matter of ‘saving face’.
After my story hit the mainstream British press, after first appearing in the black people’s newspaper ‘The Voice’ and ‘Phuketwan’, a progressive Phuket internet news site, Simon began receiving a lot of support.
He had lost his ticket home, his apartment and job in London, as a result of Immigration Police action. The matter has been taken up by his M.P. in England Dawn Butler, who had written to Lord Malloch-Brown, a Cabinet member and former Deputy Secretary General at the U.N.
Of course there were the usual ‘Hang the nigger’ type comments on Thaivisa.com, Thailand’s bastion forum for red-necked foreigners , but some pretty good people stepped forward. A businessman gave him 20,000 baht (about £400). A Thai girl back home in London rang her parents and they put him up in a hotel in Bangkok for a month. And previously in Phuket he had been given free accommodation and gym membership by local Thais, and a ‘British’ couple whom he had met on holiday.
Simon came to visit me at home and we laid on a Sunday lunch and invited around some very good Thais with the right connections. Calls were made, when it came to the court case, everybody involved knew Simon’s predicament, and a Thai solution was found quickly.
Simon was told admit the insults, explain the reasons for his anger, and he would be out of the court the same day with a nominal fine. (I was thinking between 1,000 and 5,000 Thai baht £20-£100).
He had a good reason to be angry but no defence to abusing the police, except for a strong plea of mitigating circumstances.
The day before the court case, of course, things began to go wrong.
I flew on ahead to Phuket and from my hotel rang Simon’s lawyer at Simon’s request. For the first time in a month he answered his mobile phone to me (on Embassy instructions according to his assistant, but probably not)
I asked the lawyer to come and see me and Simon in the hotel. Not possible, he said, he was busy.
I told him it was quite important as Simon was due in the court in the morning and had a pre-arranged meeting with the prosecutor.
I’m going to paraphrase the next bit but it went something like this.
Lawyer: “What do you mean he’s meeting the prosecutor?”
AD:“Simon says he is pleading guilty. He would rather go home than wait for a year or two for a result.”
Lawyer:“What do you mean? I am his lawyer. Why is he pleading guilty? What did he do wrong? He’s pleading not guilty.”
AD: “Well he has sworn at immigration officials, and they have four officers who are going to testify to that. What defence are you putting in for him then because he does not know!”
Lawyer:“Don’t tell me the law, I have been practising law for XX years”
“And I am a journalist who has seen foreigners being screwed by Thai lawyers for 20 years!”
(click) The lawyer put down the phone.
Suddenly, as any expatriate living in Thailand will know, I had put myself in quite a dangerous situation, separating a Thai lawyer from his money! If the case goes as the lawyer wishes, it could run, and run and run. On the other hand my card may have been marked…not for the first time.
Even in the implausible situation that Simon could win, all the prosecution needed to do was appeal, another four years, and then another four if it were go to the Supreme Court, and all with Simon stuck in Thailand without any ability to earn any money.
I met up with Simon, got him a room at my hotel, and later we went off to dine with a lovely young couple called Luke and Saskia ( I love that name), who live in Andorra, that glorious tax haven in the Pyrenees.
They had paid for Simon’s gym for a month. Saskia and Luke eat healthy foods, don’t smoke or drink, study yoga etc. I rather think I was fulfilling the role of typical Fleet St hack with my beer and Bensons.
Before we left Saksia said to Simon words to the affect ‘Keep cool. Eat a little humble pie. Understand the culture!’.
“Sure”, said Simon.
Phuket Provincial Court Monday
With some enlisted help from Oi (Chutima) at ‘Phuketwan’ we finally get to see prosecutor Umaporn Siripong. We don’t need to tell her the story.

Simon Burrowes with Oi from 'Phuketwan' outside the court

She knows it in every detail. She has had calls from Bangkok. She totally understands why Simon got angry and so does the court. It’s no big deal. Simon could enter his plea of guilty and everything would be over by lunch time.
In steps indignant Simon. He questions the evidence presented by the Immigration officials, bit by bit. “I did not say ‘F..ck you’. I said ‘f*cking idiot” etc. etc. etc.
Simon does not get it. He has been advised by lots of people and they are all telling him the same.
‘Bend like a straw and they will not break you! ‘
Meanwhile his lawyer is trying to break in. He was expecting a quick adjournment for trial.
Simon refuses to sign a form pleading guilty. We go outside. Now it’s my turn to use the four letter words. I tell him if he contests the evidence, even though its embellished, then the prosecution have no choice but to call the Immigration police witnesses one by one. ‘When that happens Simon ‘You’re f..cked’. I said raising my voice and look around to see more than a few eyes on me. Yep that word is fairly international.
Agreement is reached whereby he does not have to sign the form, but can admit the matter in court and then explain the circumstances. At last!
Outside Simon continuously writes copious notes. He has written his defence but been unable to print it out from his computer for the translator. He wants to make his speech.
Back into court. With Oi by his side as translator he is asked did he wish to plead guilty or not guilty.
I am about five ft behind him. Silence. ………………..
The question is repeated. Simon is alternatively looking at the ceiling and the ground. Simon mumbles.

Clearly after his experience in Phuket jail and his treatment at the hands of Immigration, a guilty plea is a bitter pill to swallow.

The judge calls for a temporary adjournment.

A message comes through from the prosecutor. ‘Ask Simon to keep calm. There is no reason to worry. He is only going to be fined and not much either”. Oi has to interrupt Simon and his lawyer, now huddled in a corner of the court, to pass the message on.
Outside the court room Simon’s lawyer grabs him and starts talking about three year prison sentences and how he can get the sentences suspended. I interrupt angrily. ‘Stop talking rubbish to your client. There is no thought of a prison sentence here!”
Finally Simon signs his guilty plea. The judges come back. “Fined 500 baht. Case dismissed”. It was over in seconds.
Afterwards I look at Simon’s notes. Thank God. The prosecutor Umaporn has saved Simon from himself. He has written a long winded diatribe essentially lecturing police on their professionalism.
As soon as the judge had heard that he would have had no choice but to order a trial!
Afterwards Oi and I have a laugh. Being a foreigner I can understand Simon’s paranoia with the Thai court system. But he did not realise how close he was to a long exile in Thailand!
Meanwhile his lawyer has applied for the return of the bail of 100,000 Thai baht baht (£2000) and tells Simon he will send the change to the British Embassy.
We teach Simon the Thai expression ‘The sugar cane has already entered the elephant’s mouth’. And I’m thinking, as any self respecting journalist would, here’s one guy who is going to get away with unreceipted expenses.
Simon, asks for his papers in the case. The lawyer says they will be sent to the British Embassy too.
The British Embassy is the last place Simon wants to go to.
I leave Simon later in the afternoon. He has an appointment with Immigration the following morning to sort out his visa. He wants to celebrate. I’m knackered. As I leave I recall Simon quoting a British Embassy official telling him: “We empathise with your self-righteousness”. The British Embassy spokesman said later that the Embassy could not recall such a quote. I cannot help laughing. The Embassy guy had it spot on (that is if he can recall it).

Paradise on the cliff but you have to climb it

I settle into a hotel in Kalim Bay, switch on the box and pick up a guest copy of The Phuket Magazine, the glossy mag aimed at people with far too much money who want to spend $US2-4 million on a property in Phuket they can never own. This issue also has an obsequious feature on a former British Honorary Consul’s furniture business.
I put the magazine down. Once you have read the expression ‘Heaven on Earth’ three times in the same magazine, you know ‘Heaven on earth’ it is not!
The owner of this magazine complained to the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand after the Tsunami in 2004 about all the adverse publicity the island was getting. His message essentially was why don’t the press all sod off to Indonesia where the problems were much worse.
Actually Thailand was the story for the foreign press because that’s where all our foreign nationals were. But for Phuket businessman it was all, cash, cash, cash.

Heaven on earth?

Anyway the following morning I am sitting by the horizon pool at my ‘paradise cliff-side’ hotel, thinking sod this I’d rather be in Bangkok with my daughter who had let out a huge: “Waaaaaaaaaaaa!” when I told her on Sunday I was off on a plane.
I check out and get the next plane home. Besides the problem about staying at a cliff side paradise means you have to climb the bloody cliff to get to it.
At the airport my phone is buzzing with sms’s from Simon. Turned out he had hired a motorcycle and gone celebrating. He had missed his appointment at immigration due to the fact that the ‘c..t’ who rented him his bike did not tell him the fuel gauge was faulty.
By the time I’m back with daughter Annie

Annie

in Bangkok Simon has been to immigration, where they are demanding 20,000 baht, to give him a visa. His ‘overstay’, they explain, was his own fault! Oh well, another time, another day. Seems Immigration had wanted their day in court!

Simon’s case could so easily have been lost in the system. I have a feeling he still has issues. And I understand why.

Finally, Simon will not thank me for this, but for those back home reading this don’t forget to ask Simon on his return to tell his prison story involving, a sphincter, a prison doctor, 300 inmates, and a tiny tube of antiseptic cream.

So here’s a few lessons for Brits from Simon’s experience
1. When you rent a motorcycle in Thailand open the tank and check the fuel. Normally there is only enough to get you to pump. Sometimes not even that.

2. The British Embassy place a ‘disclaimer’ at the end of their list of English speaking lawyers. This means, if you are diddled, you’re on your ownsome chum!

3. Do not take on Thai police, particularly Immigration Police, without backing at the highest level, preferably Prime Ministerial, and even then probably not. Nobody wins, especially not foreigners.

4. The word ‘f*cking’ is offensive and is well known by the Thais. Normal people find this word offensive, even when used purely to emphasis a point, even where I come from. Do not use it in conjunction with the term ‘bitch’ to describe a female immigration officer, or ‘country’ to describe ‘Thailand’. You could be charged in your home country if you said the same. If you wish to swear, Welsh or Gaelic are still options but smile when you do.

5. When a Thai lawyer says you have nothing to worry and you can sue the pants off everyone, estimate your sentence at something between 40 years and life.

6. Get Simon to tell you his prison story. I almost cried with laughter. You’ll have to buy him a beer first though.

Postscript: I have been asked if Simon’s case was so simple why could not the matter have been dealt with back in February. On investigation the answer is: ‘April 27th was the first date Simon’s lawyer said he was available’.

Edited 30 April: Reason: Outrageous spelling gaffe, obsequiousness, and not enough laughs

Ousted Premier fails to take back power in Thailand. Brits trapped in riots

Published

on April 14, 2009

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. 1 Comment

From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok

Link to Herald Link to Daily Record

Ousted Thai PM fails to to seize back power. Britons trapped in Bangkok riots
April 13 2009

Pictures: Andrew Chant
A last ditch attempt by ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to seize back power in Thailand seemed doomed tonight as tens of thousands of his red-shirted followers changed their clothes and headed home.
After a day in which the Thai army, under the orders of Eton and Oxford educated Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, cleared barricades set up by the red-shirts and finally cornered them in a one square kilometre area of the capital, Shinawatra’s ambitions seemed destined to fail.
Thaksin Shinawatra, a onetime owner of Manchester City Football Club where he was known as ‘Frankie’ protested from exile in the Middle East to both BBC and CNN that his followers were being ‘brutally suppressed’.
He claimed the army had fired live rounds at his supporters. Army officers insisted they had fired only blanks. Hospitals in Bangkok who admitted 94 people for injuries during the day, denied there had been any fatality. But there did appear to be gun shot wounds in two cases.
redshirt01 Two people were however killed in clashes between red-shirts and members of the public in a market area of Bangkok.
For over a week Thaksin Shinawatra, already banned from Britain, had been urging his protesters, mainly from the poorer regions of North East Thailand to ‘seize the moment’. This was ‘the golden time’ to take over the government, he urged from Dubai.
He had cultivated their support while in power by providing them easy loans and an innovative and cheap medical scheme.
Red shirted supporters last week succeeded in disrupting a planned meeting of ASEAN (The Association of South East Asian Nations) and then moved on to the capital encouraged by their success. They seized city intersections, hijacked buses, and armed themselves with Molotov cocktails
Protesters, once numbering 100,000 supporters , had dwindled to 20,000, and that number was decreasing further by the hour . Many protesters could be seen leaving the area, having changed their colours.
And Bangkok’s silent population began taking a toll of the pro-Thaksin protesters as they fled the scene.
The city’s taxi drivers, the majority of whom are Thaksin reporters, were the subject of bottle and stone attacks, and Muslim’s from the Petchaburi Road area of the capital took the law into their own hands after a Mosque was damaged, allegedly but red-shirted members of the ‘Democratic Alliance Against Democracy’.
While the battle is not yet over, the protest has now been contained. The protesters have been confined in an area where supplies of food and water have been blocked on what is one of the hottest weeks of the year.
But for Thaksin however it seems that a triumphant return is now off the cards. The only place he has in Thailand is a jail cell. He fled the country on bail after being convicted of corruption charges.
His immediate family took a similar route last week.
Tourists have been advised by the British Embassy to avoid Bangkok but the warning could not help British travellers stuck in a hotel in the midst of the rioting.
A Scots family trapped in their hotel in Bangkok told last night how they felt in fear for their lives as the Thai army clashes with red-shirted protesters in the Thai capital.
Tommy Adams, 46, his wife Melanie, daughter Rebekah, (correct) 14, and Tommy’s mother-in-law Jessie Reid were trapped on the 18th floor of the city’s Century Park Hotel, smack in the no-man’s land between the two factions, when ‘all hell let loose’.
The Adams family Said Tommy, a commercial fitter from Paisley: “I was awoken at 2 am by the sound of gunfire right outside. I looked out of the window and it was pandemonium. The soldiers were advancing in an orderly way and firing into the air. The red-shirts were fleeing.
“I was scared that they would try and flee into the hotel.
“ There was a break for a while, I did not want to wake up my wife and scare her, but then again early in the morning it started up all over again. We were high up in the hotel and we could see the protesters try to drive a bus straight off a fly-over bridge.
“Down below the red-shirts were singing and being urged on by their leaders standing on the back of a truck. Then suddenly they made a move to ram the army with a bus they had commandeered.
“The army fought back with a volley of shots. The mob rammed their bus into an army bus and set it alight. Again there were shots. I saw people go down. But I was later told they were only injured not dead. It was total chaos. But at the same time the army seemed to be in control.
“They did not be shooting into the crowd, or if so they were selective as to whom they shot.
“The hotel staff here are very nervous. They have asked us not to leave the hotel. I have been to Thailand before, the last time we went to Hong, Kong, Singapore and Cha-am in Thailand, but this time we decided to stay in Bangkok.
“Essentially we are trapped and we hope the situation clears so we can have some sort of holiday before we return home at the weekend. All we know is the Thais cannot agree on who should be there Prime Minister. It’s been really scary. I have been out to the hotel gates but the family have stuck to their room or the rooftop swimming pool. We are barricaded in.”
Added Melanie Adams: “We just hope the red-shirted protesters do not try to get in to the hotel. We understand most of Bangkok is peaceful and other people are enjoying the holiday and partying in other parts of town. But here there are just soldiers with guns and armoured vehicles.”

Grandmother describes dramatic escape from pirates as she stood in her husbands blood

Published

on March 25, 2009

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. 2 Comments

By same author

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Link to Guardian story (though lifted from Evening Standard)

Grandmother tells of her dramatic escape from pirates as she stood in the blood of her husband

From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok

Pictures: Andrew Chant/Linda Robertson

A 57-yr-old British grandmother told today of her dramatic escape from pirates, who boarded her yacht, murdered her husband and then bound her naked like a ‘trussed chicken’.

Linda Robertson sobbed as she spoke of how she realised her husband had been bludgeoned to death with a hammer and thrown into the sea off the coast of Thailand. “I knew because I was walking in his blood.”

And she told how she upped anchor and put the boat on full throttle as three Burmese migrant fisherman attempted to retake control of their 44 ft yacht Mr. Bean, when they realised the dinghy they were making an escape in had a duff engine.

After a nine ordeal bound with her hands and feet tied behind her, the fishermen had finally agreed to leave in the boats dinghy with a paltry collection of computers, mobile phones, and electronic equipment.

“But they had only got thirty yards when the engine began to splutter as I knew it would,” said Linda.

“They turned back to the boat. So I rushed to pull up the anchor, which was quite easy, because they had only let out thirty yards. Then I put the boat into full throttle and headed out to see leaving them behind.

malcom-robertson-killed-by-pirates1 “Then I saw them head to shore and I knew my ordeal was over and I was safe. I cannot believe I survived.”

The drama began for the two semi-retired grandparents Linda and Malcolm Robertson early on Tuesday morning.

Police believe that 64-yr-old Malcolm Robertson, who runs a chain of coffee shops in St. Leonard’s, Sussex, may have also had his throat cut due to the quantity of blood found on the boat.

12. 35 a.m.

“We were on a mooring bay off the Buntang Islands, the last Thai islands before Malaysia, when I heard the sound of people clambering aboard.

“I was in the stern cabin and my husband Malcolm was in the forepeak cabin. I was naked. It was a very hot night. Three young men came in. They were holding hammers and they pushed me back and tied and gagged me.

“Then they went towards the forward cabin and I heard my husband shouting ‘Get off my boat!’.

“I heard a scuffle and did not hear any more. They came back to me and made signs to me to start the engine, which I did.”

“There was no sign of my husband,” she said and sobbed: “I think this was the first time I realised he might be dead. I waited and listened and heard nothing.

“The night was pitch black and the boat headed north. They put me back in my cabin all trussed up and would come and get me if they had a problem.

lindarobertsonmalcolmboat1

02.30 am Tuesday:

“First they wanted to know how the fuel system worked, and I showed them. They did not know where the switches were.

“But as I walked through the boat I realised I was walking through the blood of my husband.

“From that moment on I knew I was just fending for my life and might have to fight for it or take my chance in the ocean. I made gestures as if to ask ‘Are you going to kill me?’.

“They made signs to say ‘No’ they were going to leave when they had finished and pointed to the clock in my cabin.

“One, the youngest was trying to be kind, even though he was guarding me with a machete. He brought me food and drink.

“He kept saying ‘I am sorry’. Possibly one of the few English phrases he knew and he brought me some food and drink from the galley.”

6 am:

“By 6 am it was already quite light. We had been motoring for over five hours and the dawn gave me hope. My hands and feet were swelling because I was trussed up naked like a chicken. It was all very degrading. I could not cover anything up.

“But if you think you are going to die all such matters become secondary.

“The boat stopped. It was then my thoughts turned to escape. One of the men came down and asked me how to put down the anchor. It was then that they started to ransack the boat.

“I could still neither see nor hear any sound of my husband. But earlier there had been a sound and movement as if something was being moved to another boat. I realised later it was my husband being put into the sea.

“I thought this is the time to escape. I tried to dive off the boat, but left it too late and was caught off balance. I started to run away from them. I was on top forward next to the hatch above my husband’s bunk, and I was standing in his blood.

“They caught me and tied me even more severely. Then we headed north for another three hours or so and the boat started to slow again.

9.30 am:

“They dropped anchor again. By this time I estimated we must have travelled seventy or eighty miles north. I could see fishing boats. The men put me back in the cabin and shut the hatch and I heard them start the 2 horsepower Yahama engine of the rubber dinghy.

Malcolm and Linda Robertson

Linda Roberton in Mr. Bean’s dinghy

10.30 am:

“I managed to free myself and get out onto the deck. I knew the dinghy would play up and had to act quickly. Only Malcolm knew how to deal with it. I switched on the EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon). Then I looked to see to my horror that the pirates were attempting to paddle back to the boat.

“If they knew I had switched on the distress system, I thought, they would kill me for sure.

“I ran and pulled up the anchor. Luckily they had played out only 30 feet of chain, so it was quite easy. I started the engine and headed out towards the fishing boats. I looked around and saw the pirates heading towards the shore.

“I could not believe the pirates had left me. I headed towards the fishing fleet putting out Mayday signals.

“Then I started waving my blue and white sarong and shouted ‘Mayday’. But as I approached them the fishing boats began to turn away from me.

11 am:

“I do not think the fishermen knew what a Mayday situation was. I had to almost ram them to get their attention.

“I pulled Mr. Bean alongside one of the boats. It was a futile situation. They ignored me to I jumped off my boat onto the fishing boat.

“I would not go back to my boat. I did not want to feel Malcolm’s blood on my feet. They could see I was distressed though, but they did not understand what I was saying, so they called the police.

“Soon along came a boat with Rangers from the Turatao National Park. They had uniforms and badges, I would not let them go. I was scared to stay alone with the fisherman. I thought perhaps they might know the pirates or even be working with them.

“Then along came a police launch with four policemen in camouflage combat gear and machine guns.

“I don’t know how I managed to explain it to them. But eventually they got the message, I pointed to the headland, which the dinghy had gone behind, and the police sped off in the right direction.

“Shortly afterwards they brought all them men back and told me they were Burmese migrant workers who were working with the local fishing fleet. They were very proud they had caught them so soon.

“I recognised them immediately. Some of them were even wearing Malcolm’s clothes, because they had swum to our boat in the middle of the night wearing only shorts.

“Malcolm and I know this area well. It is really beautiful. We were planning to berth our boat in Langkawi and then return home. We have been here for the last three seasons.

“The Thai people have been very kind. They are lovely people. We do not blame them for all this.

“Nurses have given me pills to help me sleep. But they do not stop me having nightmares.

“I hope they find Malcolm’s body, but I have no idea of the lats and longs (latitudes and longitudes), of where he was thrown overboard.”

Linda Robertson Mrs. Robertson broke down several times as she spoke to me from her hospital bed in Satun, South Thailand, but she cheered up at the thought of being re-united with three of her and Malcolm’s four grown up children who arrive in Thailand later this evening.

“Thank god I managed to get a message back home. I would hate to have them get the news of Malcolm’s death from the television.”

After we spoke Linda was taken back by the police, accompanied by a friend, to collect some personal belongings.

She did not witness a special ‘reconstruction of the crime’ as police also lead the Burmese ’suspects’ back to re-enact what they did for cameras.

Thai police said they would ask the prosecutor to call for the death penalty for the pirates but they admitted that the Burmese pirates claimed they had run away themselves from a Thai fishing boat where the captain had treated them as slaved.

“They told us they saw the yacht and dived for their freedom. They boarded the yacht intending to take the dinghy but Mr. Robertson was killed when he resisted them. They tried to get as far away as possible from the fishing fleet they were with. They decided to rob the boat because they had not been paid.”

In January 2006 two Thai fishermen swum ashore to Lamai Beach on the island of Koh Samui in the middle of the night to rape and murder Briton Katherine Horton, 21, from Cardiff. They were later sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

There have been no recent attacks on yachts in Southern Thailand, but Tarutao National Park off Satun, where Linda finally made her escape was an area notorious for pirates during the Second World War, when both guards and prisoners, from two prisons on the island of Turatao went into the piracy business.

The pirates were finally quelled by British troops sent up from what was then known as Malaya.

A well known Thai novel ‘The Pirates of Turatao’ is based on this period.

Falsely arrested Brit who was ‘beaten and jailed’ says he will apologise

Published

on March 23, 2009

Link to Nation newspaper. This news copy oddly appared on Letters Page

. 0 Comments

From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok

A British tourist who was falsely arrested in Thailand on a fake passport charge, beaten, then jailed for three weeks, said today that he would be happy to apologise to the Thai authorities, for ‘airport rage’.
Simon Burrowes (right), 44, from Wembley, London, admitted that he swore at Immigration authorities, in an airport rage incident at Phuket airport last January, after his flight - for which he had a non-refundable ticket -left without him.
He said he may have made derogatory references about immigration officials and Thailand, but he hoped immigration police would understand why he was angry and ‘not detain me indefinitely’.
He said he was not the only person in the wrong.
He had already had to give up his flat in London because he cannot pay the rent.
Burrows, a martial arts expert had just been on a working holiday to Phuket accompanying former British kick-Boxing champion Matthew Nagle (below)as his trainer. Both were studying Muay Thai in Phuket.
However on the day of departure when the two men went through the Immigration channel, Simon, a black person, whose father was born in Guyana, was detained and accused of having a false passport.
Burrowes complained that as the minutes passed by officials just stared at his passport with a magnifying glass. He was annoyed, he said, because he knew there was nothing wrong with his passport, he had a completely clean record, and his flight was about to leave without him.
“The officials kept telling me. Don’t worry your flight will not leave without our permission, but it did. I did lose my temper, but a lot of people would have done under similar circumstances,” he said adding that he was also humiliated.
He admitted grabbing his passport, storming back into the airport foyer and demanding to see the head of immigration. After being interrogated for another two hours, he said he was charged with travelling under a false passport and taken to the nearest police station.
He case was not helped by an official from the British Embassy who spoke to Phuket Police the same Friday morning saying they could find no record of his passport being issued.
“I begged Embassy officials to double check. I knew my passport was legal. I had been using it for ten years. But the Embassy closed at lunchtime on the Friday and all they could do was ‘prioritise’ the matter the following week. They knew I would have to go to jail.”
It took ‘three working days’ for the British Embassy to confirm Burrowes’ passport was in fact genuine. But when they finally told him in Phuket prison 11 days after his arrested, they informed him that Thai Immigration Police were going ahead with charges of insulting a uniformed official.
Burrowes said he was beaten with a leather strap by a policeman as he was led to court, and unable to raise bail because he had spent all his holiday money. As a result he was imprisoned in Phuket for three weeks, sharing a space 126 x 52 cms with over 100 other prisoners, until money could be sent to him.
His first trial date is set for April 27. In Thailand’s antiquated legal system the case could last a year.
“Some wonderful kind hearted local people are looking after me and people who have read about my case have been very kind too,” added Burrowes. “That’s a blessing.”
A British Embassy spokesman said: “The validity of Mr. Burrowes’ passport was resolved within three working days. We proceeded to check the validity of the passport immediately upon being informed by the police of his arrest on the Friday.”
Links
Below is the link to the ‘Help Simon’ website
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=53934288860&ref=mf

Police raid Brit organised ’swingers’ party’ Bangkok

Published

on February 6, 2009

Link to what The SUN depiction of orgy

. 2 Comments

The bald reality from the Thai Rath
From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok
Thai police raided a hotel room in Bangkok early today and arrested 13 men and ten women they said were taking part in a British organised ‘swingers party’.
The raid took place at Bangkok’s Elizabeth Hotel and a British man, Chris Richards, 54, and his Thai wife, the organisers of what police described as ‘a swinging sex tour,’ were charged with conducting an illegal commercial sex operation. They had charged participants each the equivalent of £62.
All the men were foreign; seven out of the ten women were Thai. The party included nationals from Britain, Australian, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Korea.
They also took away lubricant, pornographic materials and 30 Viagra pills.
The raid inspired an immediate furore on local internet forums from local expatriates angered at police intrusion of privacy in Bangkok which had set itself up as a ‘sex tour city’ .
Posters known as a ‘Brit_Thaicpl’ frequently advertise swinging parties on the internet through a Yahoo group known as ‘ThailandCentralSwingers’.
A promotion statement for the event states: “The evening starts normally like a cocktail party with people casually dressed to attract the opposite sex (no jeans or wellington boots) .
“People eat from the great buffet and help themselves to drinks from the wide selection with no limits and play slowly unfolds at each person’s own pace.

“It’s a great night and well worth coming to, you will see all styles of play.”
Legal note: Technically all entertainment establishments offering sexual services in Thailand are illegal. But they pay cash to police not to enforce the law.

Police arrest hill tribe man for murder of British composer

Published

on January 30, 2009

Evening News Edinburgh -Tribe member arrested after killing of Lothian teacher

. 0 Comments

Links to othe versions of this story by same author

Daily Record - Thai tribesman re-enacts murder
From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok
Police in Thailand today arrested a member of the Akha hill tribe for the murder of British composer and music teacher David Crisp, who was found brutally stabbed and beaten at his home in the northern Thai capital of Chiang Mai.
And they said Crisp was murdered last week for the equivalent of £100 and a few personal belongings such as an electronic keyboard - after he upset his hill tribe house guests by complaining about their dirty habits.
At a press conference in Chiang Mai today 22-yr-old Awe Ye Piang, a member of the Akha hill tribe whose villages straddle the Burma, Thai, and Lao borders, was paraded before photographers.
Police said he had confessed to carrying out the murders with two members of the Shan hill tribe, nicknamed Jack and John. All three worked at a gay bar in Chiang Mai’s night market and had frequently been taken from the bar by Mr. Crisp, a popular and well respected member of the expatriate community in Chiang Mai, and former head of music at Lasswade Secondary School, Bonnyrigg.
Police Captain Phanudet Booruang said police, with the help of Border Police officers, had tracked down Awe Ye Piang, who had fled to Burma. He was arrested as he crossed the border back into Thailand, opposite the Thai settlement of Mai Chan.
“Awe Ye Piang, who had a history of involvement with drugs, was arrested on a warrant issued by Chiang Mai court. He quickly confessed to the murder. On the day before David Crisp’s body was found he had made many calls to the composer.
“He said that all three men had stayed together at David Crisp’s house for six days. But Crisp became angry and criticised them for eating but not cleaning their dishes, and making a mess of his house.
“This in turn made them very angry, and they plotted together in a room at the back of the house to kill him. Awe Ye Piang says that they opened the door to his office and saw David Crisp sitting at his computer with his back to them.
“Jack ran towards Mr. Crisp and stabbed him in the neck. John hit him over the head with a teak vase. They took away 13 items of his belongings, which included a television and DVD player, camera and a watch, and his safe and loaded them into is Citroen M20. We found Crisps belongings at Awe Ye Piang’s address. They later abandoned the Citroen which we found.
“When they opened the safe they found only 5000 Thai baht (approx £100) which they split
“Afterwards all three men went drinking at the Lillawadee Restaurant in Chiang Mai.”
David Crisp, a popular and talented Head of Music at Lasswade Secondary School, moved to Thaland after his retirement a year ago.
Captain Boonruang said warrants had been issued for the arrests of ‘Jack and John’ but did not disclose their real names.

Writer’s note:
Police last week said they suspected the culprits were Shan hill tribe because whoever committed the murder smashed the ceiling light in his office. It was a superstition that ,if they did that, the animist sprits would not see their getaway.

However there have been many rejections of this claim that the culprits were Shan or Thai Yai after the police carried over their claim for another week.

Nick, the Shan manager of Cream Bar in the Night Bazaar has messaged in to say that he knows the two missing suspects and that they are definetly Akha not Shan or Tai Yai. He said he knew a little about their history.

British piano teacher murdered - killer carried out hill tribe ritual

Published

on January 22, 2009

Link to Daily Telegraph - Briton murdered in tribal ritual in Thailand

. 1 Comment

Other versions of this story by same author

Link to Daily Mail - British Music Teacher murdered by killer who used hilltribe ritual to escape

Link to The SUN - British music teacher

Link to Guardian - British teacher murdered in Thailand

Link to Evening Standard - Expat murdered in Thailand

Link to Daily Record - Scottish teacher murdered by tribesman in Thailand

Link to The Scotsman -Teacher ‘was victim of Thai tribal killing’

Link to Sky News - Tribal clue to murder of British music teacher

From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok

January 22 2009

A British music teacher and musical director was found brutally murdered in the northern Thai capital of Chiang Mai early today.
And the culprit, said police, performed a hill tribe ritual to hide his deed from animist spirits to aid his escape.
Police suspect the killer of Derby born David Lyall Crisp, 56, was a member of the Shan, a hill tribe which straddles the Burma-Thai border.
Before the killer left the murder scene he smashed the ceiling light in Crisp’s home office on the Lakeland Estate in Chiang Mai, a custom which Shan tribesmen believe would put the police off their trail.
“Shan believe if they destroy the light the spirits will not see them and they will be harder to catch. The superstition has remained since electricity generators was introduced with difficulty into some hill tribe villages,” said Police Colonel Pattipol Serichaichana.
The body of David Lyall was found shortly after 10 am. “He had beaten about the head with a teak mug. His throat had also been cut with a six inch knife and the murderer tried to finish the act off by smothering him in a cloth which covered his piano,” added Colonel Pattipol.
David Crisp was a prominent member of the Chiang Mai expatriate community. He drove a BMW 5 series, and owned a classic Citroen and was a member of the Classic Cars of Lanna (the old northern kingdom of Thailand) Club.
He was also director of a choral society known as the ‘Spirit House Singers’ and earned a living from writing and directing music and teaching the piano.
But David Crisp also dabbled in the gay bars for which the northern capital is famous and according to his housekeeper Prinjai Saedin, 73: “He often brought young men home, so I knew he was gay. But I don’t think he would ever harm anyone”.
Two young men whom, known only as Wan and Am, whom he had brought from a gay bar to live at the back of his house, have since disappeared, possibly fearing they would be blamed.
But on January 20th he had brought home a young man who has not been seen since. Police Colonel Pattipol said enquiries were being carried out around the gay bars in Chiang Mai’s night market. When his body was found Crisp had been dead or at least 24 hours.
“We believe the murderer is of Shan origin because of the ritual of smashing the light. It appears the murderer made away in his second car a Citroen, which we have found, and may have taken a safe with him as there are drag marks outside his front door.”
Other local superstitions collected by Richard Barrow, a Briton teaching in Thailand.
*Do not let your children play with shadows during the evening. The shadow guy will come and take them away.
* Do not walk with your face down. It will make your life shorter.
* Do not stamp around the house. It will scare the spirits of the house.
* Do not walk heavily. You won’t be able to save any money.
* Do not walk across any sharp objects. It will make them blunt.
* Do not cut your nails during the night-time. It will be like breaking the bones of your ancestors.
* Do not take off your clothes or sleep next to the closet. A ghost will come to haunt you.

Author’s note: Since this article was published the Shan Herald News Agency have been in touch to point out that they are unaware of any such superstition connected to the Shan. Indeed I have not heard of such a superstition attributed to the Shan. The source of such superstitions and the ones above gathered by Richard Barrow are rather vague. Such a superstition would much more probably be grounded in animism, which some people living in Tai Yai areas and in the Shan States of Burma can follow, no matter what their religious beliefs. I am treating this as just another statement issued by Thai police, who had been told that Crisp knew some young Shan men, until the next development, and trust the Shan or Tai Yai, will not take this as a personal affront. I have worked and filmed with the Shan and those who know me will not have done so.

A reader has pointed out that the Shan are a race NOT a hill tribe. So are the Karen etc. As I Scot I am prepared to go along with that and not be pedantic and not go too far back in history. But its not what the English used to think of the Scots according to the words of their old national anthem!

Survivors of British Force 136 found in Burmese jungle

Published

on January 18, 2009

www.freeburmarangers.org/

. 5 Comments

From Andrew Drummond,

Bangkok, January 17 2009
A relief group operating clandestinely in Burma have discovered the whereabouts of what are believed to be the last two survivors of the British led Force 136 which fought behind Japanese lines in the Second World War.
A patrol of the Free Burma Rangers found one of the men within a mile of where his commander, Major Hugh Seagrim, G.C., heroically surrendered himself for execution to the Japanese, to save the inhabitants of a village being massacred.
The 80-yr-old survivor from the Karen hill tribe is still hoping wistfully that the British come to his ravaged country’s aid. FBR medics did not have time to interview the second survivor.

Saw Nya They Mu, 80, was, at 16, just a boy soldier of the Karen ethnic minority who refused to surrender to the Japanese and chose to fight alongside the British.
Force 136, part of the Special Operations Executive, caused havoc behind Japanese lines during the Second World War with volunteers predominantly from the Karen and Kachin minorities.
After the war ended the Karen National Union and its army the Karen National Liberation Army took up arms against the brutal Burmese military regime when it failed to give the Karen any autonomy.
At independence talks in Panglong with the British attended by Burmese leader Aung San, several ethnic states in Burma were promised autonomy. These did not include the Karen.

Aung San stated: “ If we are divided, the Karens, the Shans, the Kachins, the Chins, the Burmese, the Mons and the Arakanese, each pulling in a different direction, the Union will be torn, and we will all come to grief. Let us unite and work together.’
But the father of Aung San Suu Gyi, was subsequently assassinated along with most of his cabinet and then the successive military junta’s stepped in.
But in any case nobody got any autonomy after the military regime took over and started brutalising the country’s ethnic minorities and the Karen have been fighting the military regime ever since.
Survivor Saw Nya They Mu told the Free Burma Rangers in Muthraw District of North Karen State, Burma: “In World War Two, the Japanese invaded here and they killed and tortured us a lot. If they wanted to kill one of us Karen, they just did it.
“We worked with the British to help them fight the Japanese. They asked us to help them and we did. 160 of us joined the British. 80 of us as local militia or home guard, and 80 as a mobile unit to fight alongside the British on their operations.
“I knew Major Seagrim- Grandfather Longlegs- He was with us all the time up to his capture. He was captured by the Japanese at Kaw Mu Pwa Der village near here.
“Only myself and Saw Tha Maw Ye, who older then me are still alive here. He is up the valley a little way where he had to run after the Burma Army attacked.
“The Burmese have not stopped oppressing us.
“As for the British we did our best for them. We tried our best to help them now we are in difficulty; we wonder if they will help us.”
Hugh Seagrim GC DSO MBE, from Eastbourne, Sussex, was known to the Karen as ‘Grandfather Long Legs’ – he was 6ft 4 inches. He was awarded the George Cross posthumously for ‘the most conspicuous gallantry in carrying out hazardous work in a very brave manner.”
He surrendered after a Japanese commander said he would put the inhabitants of an entire Karen village to death if he did not do so. Seagrim negotiated a guarantee that his Karen NCOs’ would not be put to death, but the Japanese broke their word and Seagrim and his Karen soldiers were executed in Rangoon.

Seagrim’s elder brother Lt. Colonel Derek Anthony Seagrim was awarded the Victoria Cross, also posthumously after leading the Green Howards in an attack against German positions on the Mareth Line in North Africa in March 1943.
To this day they Seagrim’s are the only family to have one brother with the Victoria Cross and another with the George Cross.
The Free Burma Rangers are an independent charity trained in jungle craft and medical care which penetrate deep inside Burma to provide assistance and medical aid to thousands of people displaced by government purges.

Author’s note: This if of interest to me because some 20 years ago after meeting Major Aaron Po Yin at Manerplaw I went back to London to apply and collect for him the Distinguished Service Medal he earned while saving his British Force 136 officers in a Japanese Ambush. Sadly he died a few years later but was a truly wonderful chap. See the link below

Burma’s Forgotten War

and also below for the splendid

Nightclub inferno - club owners had licence to sell noodles

Published

on January 2, 2009

Bangkok blaze club was illegal - SKY News

. 0 Comments

From Andrew Drummond,
Bangkok, January 2nd

Club blaze Briton tells of death trap - Evening Standard

Death trap Bangkok club only licensed to sell noodles - Daily Mail

The owners of an upmarket nightclub in Bangkok where scores of people died in a horrific New Year party blaze did not have the correct permits to operate but were allowed to open for business anyway by Thai police, it was claimed today.
Deputy Police Commissioner General Jongrak Juthanon of the Royal Thai Police claimed the police had refused to allow the Santika club to open in 2004, but it opened anyway while appealing to the Bangkok Administrative court.
The case has been in the courts for four years.
“We found it did not confirm to standards,” he said.
The Bangkok Post newspaper, claiming a source in the Bangkok metropolitan police, said the Santika was registered only as a night-time food shop and the licence required it to close at midnight.
It was actually in an area which in 2003 was declared a ‘non entertainment zone’ under Bangkok city zoning laws.
The contradictions accent Thailand’s laissez-faire attitude to public safety.
The owners of the Santika bar, named as Suwit and Wisook Sejsawat, have not been seen since the fire which is now known to have killed 59 people and injured over 200, including four Britons, two of whom are in a hospital’s ICU.
Police say at the moment all they can charge the owners with is allowing an under-aged person into the club. One of the fatalities was a 17-yr-old Thai youth.
No entertainment establishments can operate in Bangkok without permission of police and almost all have to pay monthly under-the-counter stipends to police, for a hassle free existence.
The particular police station in control of Ekamai Road the location of the Santika Night club is Thong Lor police station. The same station also controls Soi Cowboy a street of a-go-go and sex bars, where early today there was another fire in a bar called ‘Rawhide’ – like its neighbour ‘Long Gun’ known for the sound of whips cracked by bar-girls dressed in black PVC. Fortunately there were no casualties.Neither the Rawhide nor any bar in Soi Cowboy has a back way out, although two have two front doors. Despite Bangkok’s risqué international reputation, prostitution and soliciting for prostitutes is against the law.

Legally the sex bars do not exist or the shows with whips, lighted candles etc.
Londoner Alex Wargacki, 29, from Finchley, said in the ICU unit at Bangkok’s Samitivej Hospital: “The Santika was a death trap. But so are many, if not most night time venues in Bangkok.
“They keep the exits to a minimum because they owners do not want anyone to run away without paying a bill.
“Foreigners living here come to accept that. But the club still has to accept responsibility for the deaths and injuries. I am going to insist the club pays my hospital bill, which after one day is already over £1500.”
Earlier he had told how he was saved from the fire by a man with ‘the hand of an angel’.
“I woke up and heard this voice saying. ‘Come on. Come on this way’ . Then I felt myself being dragged towards an exit. A crowd of people parted in front of me and then I was out in the open air.
“Had it not been for this voice with the hand of an angel I would not be alive today. The voice sounded as if he was Thai. Maybe he was one of the people at the New Year’s party.
“Maybe he was a fireman. But when I get out of hospital I want to thank him for sure.”
Mr. Wargacki, a Forex trader, had been partying with seven friends to rap and hip hop music in the club.
“Suddenly to the right of the stage I saw a firework being let off amongst a crowd of partygoers. I shot right across the room. I don’t know exactly how long, but it seemed no time at all when the whole place, walls and ceilings were ablaze.
“Then everyone started running for the door. But the door seemed tiny and people were jammed up against it. If there was another way out, none of us knew about it, and all the windows were barred.
“There were flames from the floor to the ceiling. I could hear windows cracking and breaking in the heat.
“I felt myself going unconscious. I knew something was happening to my lungs. I could not breathe. I blacked out and fell to the floor. That’s when I heard the voice.”

Saved by the hand of an angel - Bangkok nightclub fire

Published

on January 2, 2009

British man tells of blaze horror - SKY News

. 1 Comment

Other adapted versions of this story from this author on the links below

Saved by the hand of an angel - Daily Mail (online)

British survivor tells of miracle escape - Daily Mirror

British survivors tell of chaos escaping blaze in death trap club - The Guardian

British man saved by angel who dragged him out - Daily Telegraph

Brits in deadly new year blaze - SKY NEWS

Fireworks blamed for Thai club inferno - The Independent

Brits in fire hell - The SUN

Britons reveal horror of nightclub blaze -Daily Mail (Newspaper)

Saved by the hand of an angel - Daily Express

Hand of an angel saved me from death in Bangkok club blaze, says Briton - Daily Record

From Andrew Drummond,
Bangkok
(Pictures Andrew Chant)
A British survivor of the New Year fire horror in a Bangkok club told tonight how he was saved from death by the hand of an angel.
Alex Wargacki, 29, told how he collapsed and fell unconscious, as fire raged threw the Santika nightclub in Bangkok, taking the lives of 60 people, and injuring over 200 including four Britons.
“I woke up and heard this voice saying. ‘Come on. Come on this way’ . Then I felt myself being dragged towards an exit. A crowd of people parted in front of me and then I was out in the open air.
“Had it not been for this voice with the hand of an angel I would not be alive today. The voice sounded as if he was Thai. Maybe he was one of the people at the New Year’s party.
“Maybe he was a fireman. But when I get out of hospital I want to thank him for sure.”
Mr. Wargacki, a Forex trader, from Finchley, North London, told how he saw the fire being started in the club at about 12.30 am on New Year’s morning.
Together with seven friends he had been revelling to rap and hip hop music in the club.
“Suddenly to the right of the stage I saw a firework being let off amongst a crowd of partygoers. I shot right across the room. I don’t know exactly how long, but it seemed no time at all when the whole place, walls and ceilings were ablaze.
“Then everyone started running for the door. But the door seemed tiny and people were jammed up against it. If there was another way out, none of us knew about it, and all the windows were barred.
“There were flames from the floor to the ceiling. I could hear windows cracking and breaking in the heat.
“I felt myself going unconscious. I knew something was happening to my lungs. I could not breathe. I blacked out and fell to the floor. That’s when I heard the voice
“I had been to the club many times and went to the New Year’s Party because the club was closing and it was their ‘Goodbye Santika’ party.
“I guess I always knew the place was a bit of a death trap. But that’s like so many places here. That’s Thailand. You come to expect it. I have worked here for four years and got used to it. Even some shopping malls are accidents waiting to happen.
Speaking at Samitivej Hospital off Bangkok’s Sukhumvit Road, Mr. Wargacki added “A British Embassy official came to see me today. Maybe they can help. My hospital bill is already £1500. I am hoping the club owners will pay it.”
Alex Wargacki was one of four Britons injured in the blaze. He was brought to the Samitivej Hospital will fellow Briton Oliver Smart, 35, who last night was still unable to speak.
A hospital spokesman said: “One of his lungs totally collapsed. He has been only able to tell us his name, and that he was with his Thai girlfriend. She is being treated at another hospital.”
The other two Britons were named as Steven Hall, from South Wales, and Adam Butler.
Steven Hall who was treated at the city’s Bamrungrad Hospital for third degree burns to his back and hand told CNN: “About 12.30 or 12.45, I saw flames billowing out across the ceiling.
“At first I thought it was part of the show, along with everybody else I think, but I noticed the look of terror on the people’s faces on the actual stage and I instantly realised it wasn’t.”
”I could feel the heat almost straight away, but people weren’t reacting,” he said.
“There was a girl behind the bar who was more concerned with getting the cash register out.”
“It was pitch black, it was burning my back, I put my hand behind me on my head, and on the way to the hospital, the skin was dropping off my hand.”
There was only one way down from the balcony that ringed the top level, and one way up from the toilets in the sub-ground floor, he said. All the windows were barred.
“The flames spread very very fast. It went straight along the ceiling.”
Thailand’s Eton educated Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday visited the scene of the tragedy and victims in the nearby Camillian Hospital.
“Why was someone allowed to let off a firework in the club?” he asked.
Serious questions were also raised about the fire precautions in the club. Thailand has a history of tragic fires. Some 380 workers died in a toy factory on the outskirts of Bangkok unable to get out of fire escapes which were padlocked. A club fire Route 66 club in the resort of Pattaya also took a heavy death toll.
Revelers complained that there was no sprinkler system in the Santika. And that although there were other exits, there were no signs pointing out where they were, so everyone fled to the front door.
Exits can be locked in Thai club for fear of people leaving without paying their bills
The Foreign Office say that they have not been notified about any British fatality though it was reported by one newspaper that a 34-yr-old female British teacher had died. The bodies of some 32 people, who have been burned beyond, have still to be identified.
The club in Bangkok’s Thong Lor district, an area known for up-market night clubs frequented by both Thais and foreigners, operates on three levels, basement, ground floor and second floor.
Many of the dead were trapped in the basement unable to get up the one stairwell. Others were knocked down in the stampede to the clubs one main entrance and exit.
Members of the band which was playing were reported to have been able to get out a rear exit that few people knew about.
Briton Andrew Long, who managed to escape, said: “There were a number of people trapped in the toilets which were in the basement. Some people were able to escape through windows, but some were barred. “

Weary stranded Brits join BA’s first flight home. Ladyboys beg tourists to return - Evening Standard

Published

on December 4, 2008

Link to Stranded tourists face weeks of delay - Irish Independent

. 3 Comments

From Andrew Drummond
Bangkok
December 4 2008

Link to - Gruelling trip for stranded Britons - Evening Standard

Some 200 weary Britons set off from Bangkok today to board the first British Airways rescue flight from Thailand
.
Ahead of them they face a gruelling 33 hours journey back to London after being stranded in Thailand during the siege of the airports by anti-government demonstrators.

And as the the Britons and others left the country’s emptying hotels, Thais, fearful of the blow to their tourist industry, laid on bands and transvestites shows imploring ‘Please come back again’

The Britons, some frustrated, some angry, and others ‘just going with the flow’ having enjoyed some extra days holiday, set off from Bangkok today to board BA1010, a Boeing 777 which has been flown out to the southern island of Phuket.

The passengers checked in for flight at special desks set up at the Bangkok Shangri-La hotel and then boarded buses for the ten hour journey south to Phuket.

From there they will join 72 and depart at 4am Friday, and fly first to Chennai (Madras) and on to London arriving shortly after 2.10 pm.

A retired army colonel, from Stratford-on-Avon,who asked not to be named as he was doing security work for the U.N. in Laos, smiled chuckled to himself before boarding one of the buses said: “A good quartermaster sergeant major could have sorted this out in no time. He would have got the transport by hook or by crook.

“I would have got to Singapore on the roof of a train if they had let me, but its been impossible to get out of Bangkok”

Paul Wicks, 24, travelling with his girlfriend Rebecca Cavaliero,23, both from Guildford, Surrey said: “The waiting has not been bad. We have been in a good hotel and our room and food has been paid for.

“But by the time we had left there were not many people left in the hotel –and it was only Brits. All the Germans and Scandinavians had gone. It was getting like a ghost hotel.”

Barry Parkinson, 55, from Barnard Castle, Durham, agreed. “Our hotel was getting quieter by the hour too. We are retired and not so much in a hurry, we have just been going with the flow, but Brits certainly seem to be the last out of this mess.

“We could not understand the explanations BA gave as to why they could not fly here when others could.”

Geoffrey Hyde, 54, from Eastbourne, a carpenter , was worried about the dog he had left his kennels and his job.

“I have taken unpaid lead and was due back at work this week. There has been a lot of confusion. The BA office was shut at the weekend. I hit the roof and my wife was crying earlier when the airline later told us we could not go home until December 10th. Luckily the situation changed”.

Adam Brooks, 18, and Jessica Bilton, also 18, both from Nottingham, were not so lucky. Although they joined the busses to Phuket they were told they would have to fly to Singapore and wait another day for a flight from there.

“We did not know about the offers to provide hotel and food accommodation. We had to borrow money to get by, even to call home. We called the Embassy and they said they would see what they could do. But we never heard from them again.”

Both British Airways and the Foreign Office have been criticised for not coming to the aid of the Britons. Both have vehemently denied the allegations.

Other airlines including Holland’s KLM, Italy’s Alitalia, France’s Air France, four airlines from China, and military aircraft from Spain had got their country nationals out of Thailand. But British Airways refused to fly in. The Chinese are reported to have evacuated all their stranded citizens by December 1st.

British Airways QUANTAS Kevin McQuillan Thailand Country Manager apologised to the passengers saying: “We appreciate how frustrating it has been for all.”

He said afterwards: “ We have got 900 of our passengers out of Thailand already. We have charted Jet Star airways to fly to Singapore and also charted Malaysian Airlines for a relief aircraft to join our flights in Singapore. Our foremost consideration was for the safety and security of our passengers.

“Our office was open during the weekend, but unfortunately the answer phone message said we were closed.

“If callers had hung on they would have heard an addition to the message especially for stranded passengers.” He said British Airways hoped to be flying to Bangkok again within days.

Meanwhile stranded tourists flying out from U-Tapao airport in eastern Thailand, a former US airbase for B52s during the Indo-China war, were being entertained by live bands and a transvestite show, as the Thais, fearful for their tourism industry encourages them to come back again.

They are also being given free food, drink and orchids.
All parties in Thailand have agreed to end demonstrations until after the birthday of King Adulyadej on December 5th

Thai rescue for stranded tourists - except for furious Brits

Published

on December 1, 2008

Link to Daily Express article

. 0 Comments

Thai crisis leaves thousands of tourists trapped at Bangkok airport

Link to Daily Telegraph article

Britons face long wait to get home

Link to Sky News story

Britons miss out on flights

Link to Daily Mail story

Thai protesters agree to lift blockade of airports after court sacks government

Link to The Standard

Britains may face more Thai chaos

Link to Daily Mirror story

Bomb blast kills one at airport

Evening Standard - Court sacks Thai government

thai-government-sacked-pm-to-step-down-after-being-found-guilty-of-corruptionj

Daily Mail - first flights out of Suvarnabhumi

From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok, December 1st 2008

The airlift of passengers trapped in the Far East took off in earnest last night as airlines came to the rescue of most nationalities - except for thousands of desperate Britons.

SAS had three flights for Scandinavians from Phuket, KLM came to the rescue of the Dutch. Air France provided a flight for the French. Jet Airways flew to the aid of the Indians. The Spanish provided military aircraft for their own nationals, Philippines Airlines went to the aid of Filipinas and the Italian government asked Alitalia to help their nationals.

Even Communist China has already got its citizens home on four rescue flights with just one more flight by China Southern Airlines to compete the job.

To add to that Thai Airways operated additional flights to Germany, China, Australia, Russia, Korea, Malaysia and Hong Kong ….but none to Britain.

But Britain had nothing on offer. Some of the luckier Britons were bussed 12 hours to Phuket to get a flight by Eva Air, the Taiwanese airline, who were offering one direct flight to the U.K.

So last night hapless Britons, many of whom had been trapped in Thailand since last Tuesday when anti-government forces took over Bangkok’s two airports, joined the long queues at U-Tapao airbase, 130 miles east of Bangkok, in the hope of getting home via another country.

The only other alternative was to get down to the island of Phuket and hitch a ride on one of three Quantas airbuses to Singapore where the Britons, were told they could wait for a flight to London. Quantas runs code share flights with British Airways.

Last night at U-Tapau airport Briton Neil Lindsay, 53, queuing miserably to get a flight to Frankfurt said: “ I now know that to be British it to be a world second class citizen. “I’m in the check in queue with a Welshman. I have been here forty minutes and have not got inside the terminal yet. “There are hundreds of Indian and other nationalities and all queues seem to funnel into one small door.”

Mr. Lindsay, from Wade Bridge in Cornwall, who has been stuck in the Ambassador Conference hotel in the Thai resort of Pattaya since last Wednesday added: “We are stuck here without a hope, but all the Germans sent to our hotel have gone home already. The last went on Saturday. We Brits just keep getting bumped.”

Lindsay is among 121 Britons of 1,200 Thai airlines passengers who were bussed by airline to Pattaya, 90 miles east of Bangkok from the besieged Suvarnabhumi international airport last Wednesday. At least 7000 Britons are now thought to be stranded in Thailand out of a total of 240,000 tourists.

“It’s quite clear that Brits are well down the pecking order when it comes to getting home. I have not seen any British Consular officials, but the Aussies have been here in force and I know they have flown to Phuket too, and have been using their influence to get their citizens home,” said Mr. Lindsay .

“I’ve seen them so often I know the Australian Consular people by name. “The British group keep putting their names on the list and they keep getting bumped off. Thai Airways have told us we can take their flights to Frankfurt, and then we are on our own. But we still get bumped.

“To my knowledge no Briton has managed to get on any of the flights to Frankfurt which have left over the last few days from U-Tapao. “I have seen people going out everyday and coming back dejected in the evening.

“I have rung up the Embassy twice, but they just say sit tight. I’m not surprised the Foreign Office will not supply charter flights to get us out, there are too many of us!

“I had been holidaying in Thailand in Northern Thailand and was due to fly back last Wednesday morning. My flight was one of the first to be cancelled.

“But that does not account for anything when it comes to getting a seat out of here. There has been queue jumping for any number of reasons.”

The Foreign Office has refused to charter aircraft on the grounds that that the skies over the provincial airport were too busy.

“The key issue is the fact the two airports in Bangkok are closed and therefore you’ve effectively got planes stacking up and not being able to get slots. The situation is tense and we are monitoring events hour by hour,” said Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell.

But the fact that many other airlines are flying seems to contradict that view.

There is hope today the People’s Alliance for Democracy who want the government to step down, will decide to end their occupation of Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports in Bangkok.

The Constitution Court in Bangkok is expected to rule that the government People’s Power Party, run by Premier Somchai Wongswawt, should be disbanded for vote buying.

Most of the hate of the protesters is directed at Somchai Wongsawat, who has retreated with his cabinet to the northern Thai capital of Chiang Mai, and his protégé, Thaksin Shinawatra, his brother-in-law, who was ousted from Thailand in a military coup, convicted of corruption and recently banned from Bntain.

Thaksin Shinawatra, a brief owner of Manchester City Football Club, is believed to be directing the government from abroad and says he wants to come back and save his country.

Brits miss out on Thai flights - Sky News

Thai Premier will not resign - Scene set for Bangkok showdown

Published

on November 27, 2008

Link Thai protesters block second airport Daily Telegraph

. 0 Comments

Coverage by this author on the Bangkok airport protests

Protester is shot dead as chaos engulfs Thailand - Evening Standard

1500 British tourists stranded in Bangkok - Daily Mail

Britons tell of being trapped by Thailand’s politicial crisis - Daily Telegraph

Crisis leaves thousands trapped in Thailand - Daily Express

Thugs crack down on Thai protesters - Daily Express

Police brace for raids on Bangkok airports - Daily Telegraph

Thai PM declares airport emergency - The SUN

Thai airport to remain shut - SKY NEWS

Britain will not charter planes to rescue tourists - Daily Telegraph

5000 Britons stranded in Thailand as Foreign Office refuses to charter planes - Daily Telegraph

Empty planes leave Bangkok as Britons remain stranded - Daily Telegraph

Thai Premier will not resign. Scene set for confrontation in Bangkok
From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok
November 26
Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat tonight refused to step down saying ‘I have done nothing wrong’ and left it to police to deal with the yellow shirted protesters who have seized the country’s international airport.
Shortly after his return to Thailand from Peru to be greeted by red-shirted pro-government supporters in the northern capital of Chiang Mai, he immediately declined an invitation to resign made earlier in the day by Thai army chief General Anupong Paochinda.
His dry-mouthed 20 minute speech, which included a list of good things his government had done for the country, did little to allay fears that the long running dispute, involving thousands of tourists, would deteriorate rapidly.
And it immediately spelt bad news for thousands of tourists, soon to become tens of thousands, trapped in the country, on the closure of the world’s 18th busiest airport and at the beginning of the country’s tourism peak.
Among those trapped are hundreds of Britons, who are now being housed in hotels in Bangkok and on Thailand’s eastern seaboard. This number could rocket by a 1000 a day.
And last night there were real fears that a violent clash was imminent.
Earlier in the day General Anuporn Paochinda announced at a press conference that that best course of action to solve the dispute would be for the government to dissolve parliament and call new elections. Demonstrators of the PAD (People’s Alliance for Democracy) should also relinquish their control of Bangkok International Airport , he said.
“I do not want to put pressure on the government,” he added.
Last night at Suvarnabhumi airport yellow shirted anti-government protesters jeered the speech by, the brother-in-law of ousted Prime Thaksin Shinawatra, and looked to all purposes as if they had dug in for a fight to the end.
A police operation to move thousands of them from the country’s new showcase international airport could cost millions of dollars and cause massive collateral damage.
After a night and day in which four bombs were set off , then tourists witnessed running fights at the airport, while outside anti-government shot at supporters of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand’s army chief General Anupong presented a possible solution which had been decided by an army monitoring panel, the General said.
Just hours before the General’s pronouncement, some 3,000 tourists trapped inside Suvarnabhumi airport were evacuated and taken on buses to hotels in Bangkok and the surrounding area, but some as far away as the resort of Pattaya 100 miles away. They were not told in advance where they were being taken, but assured that they would be found rooms.
Then the Airports Authority of Thailand began evacuating their own staff. Currently thousands of supporters of the People’s Alliance for Democracy are staying put and several tons of water and foodstuffs has been brought in.
Early yesterday several flights managed to land and take off from Suvarnabhumi before the airport was completely closed at 4.am. One of those was the British Airways Sydney-London flight, which had been diverted to Singapore.
On that flight was Geraldine an Investment Consultant from London who said: “I was amazed. People played down the troubles so much that all I expected was a couple of old men waving a stick. It was a shock to arrive to see thousands upon thousands of demonstrators.”
No sooner had the British Airways flight departed than bombs went off in several places, one outside Suvarnabhumi airport, one outside the former international airport at Don Muang, where the Thai Cabinet has been meeting since being ousted from Government House, and two in Bangkok city.
Some 18 people were injured but this fortunately there were no fatalities.
Overnight some 3,000 people slept over inside the airport’s departure and arrival halls: many making beds out of luggage trays.
Peter Pomfret, from Ealing, said: “All in all it was a good natured evening but not something I would like to repeat. I guess they know what they are protesting about.”
And in the morning an almost carnival atmosphere dominated the departure halls. Scores of PAD protesters wearing yellow shirts and ‘We Love the King’ baseball caps, weaved among the tourists distributing food,( rice, omelettes, soya bean milk) and water.
They also distributed leaflets apologising for the inconvenience to foreigners. ‘We’re sorry. We just need to bring down this corrupt government,” read one.
Tourists were told that the protesters planned only to be at the airport for one day
Said Don Lancaster, 63, from Clitheroe, Lancashire: “Its all been very pleasant, well for a protest that is. They have given me food, explained what they are complaining about, and even given me a plastic handclapper. They told me to clap it if I ever had any problems. Can’t get nicer than that.
“But this is no place for families. I have seen some families here with young children and they are getting pretty desperate. The worst thing of all is that nobody, no authorities, no airlines, has been telling us what is going on.”
John Taylor, 44, from Southampton, stuck with his wife and daughter said: “They have asked us to be patient. But how patient can you be with a two year old girl in tow. These people are causing real hurt. I don’t care what they are protesting about. Why take it out on us.”
PAD demonstrators who want an end to the current government led by Somchai Wongsawat, brother-in-law of disgraced former P.M. Thaksin Shinawatra, still a very popular figure among the rural poor, looked last night like they were prepared for a long siege, even though they claimed they just wanted to ‘greet’, or rather protest when Somchai returned from an Asia Pacific summit in Peru.
If they do not withdraw however, said General Anupong, they could be subject to ‘social action’ – and for that many people are reading military force.
Anupong has repeatedly said he will not initiate a coup against the current Thai government which was elected democratically and mainly on the vote of the rural poor.
But he is believed to be widely critical of a government which seems to be unable to come to any decision and has to meet in secret and now in Chiang Mai for fear of a PAD blockade.

Thai police shooting case abandoned. Policeman freed

Published

globe-and-mail-police-killer-released

on November 22, 2008

in General News and The Times

. 10 Comments

From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok

November 22 2008

Shock as Thai policeman who gunned down Canadians in Thailand is released and case halted.

The Thai policeman who gunned down two Canadian tourists in the Northern Thai village of Pai in January this year has been released without charge by a court in Bangkok.

And the case against the police sergeant who killed Leo Del Pinto, 24, from Calgary, and Carly Reisig, 23, from Chilliwack B.C., has been brought to an abrupt halt because of ‘procedural errors.”

The case against police sergeant Uthai Dechawiwat had earlier been taken out of the hands of local police and placed in the hands of the Department of Special Investigations, Thailand’s FBI, by former Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej.

The Canadian Ambassador in Bangkok, David Sproule, who has expressed the Canadian government’s ‘serious concern’ was told by SDI officials , that they had been told by the Public Prosecutor that the procedural errors were made in the early stages of the investigation.

But those errors, the DSI claimed, were not by made by them but by colleagues of the policeman, Sergeant Uthai Dechawiwat in Pai Police, whose chief has already been reported to the National Counter Corruption Commission by Commissioner Dr. Surasee Kosolnavin of the Thai National Human Rights Commission.

A DSI official said: “ The clock has stopped, but we can start it again and bring the case to court in Bangkok.”

The case has again raised concerns about the difficulty in Thailand getting police to accept culpability for their own actions.

Leo’s father Ernie Del Pinto said in Calgary: “We all know there was a cover up in Pai. That is why I believe the DSI was ordered to take over the case. They should be above all this. This is very worrying. How long does it take to get any sort of justice in Thailand.”

The latest development is all the more surprising because a another Public Prosecutor was in the National Commission for Human Rights team which investigated the case in the vanguard of DSI officials.

Dr. Surasee Kosolnavin said that he would rather not comment, as it was now a DSI matter, other than that he was disappointed with the development.

After the shootings Pai in January Police claimed that Uthai was shooting upwards in self defence as he fell to the ground. An investigation by Thai forensic expert Pornthip Rojanansund, found the policeman had shot down into Del Pinto’s head.

The local police chief’s claim that Sergeant Uthai (pictured) was attacked by the couple was also disputed by witnesses who are under DSI protection.

Canadian officials were told that it was a prosecutor in the Office of Thailand’s Attorney General, who claimed the investigation had not followed proper procedures. Dechachiwat had to be released under a ruling which required that he go to trial within 84 days or be discharged. If they did not release him ,said the DSI, they would have difficulty recharging him. This could be done after the procedural errors were corrected.

Meanwhile Ernie Del Pinto, whose campaign in Canada includes posters on Calgary city buses reading ‘Canadian Murdered in Thailand. When will justice be served?’, says he is planning to fly to Thailand to push for justice.

In a previous case, that of Police Sergeant Somchai Wisetsingh , who gunned down British backpackers Vanessa Arscott and Adam Lloyd in Kanchanaburi in 2004 , no witnesses would give evidence at his trial to say they saw the shooting, although they would admit as such to newspaper reporters. Wisetsingh was convicted on forensic evidence after the parents of both victims, accompanied by British Embassy officials, who had voiced Britain’s concern, met with officials of the Office of Attorney General, Tourist Authority of Thailand, and the Provincial Court.

Thaksin Shinawatra branded a criminal. Thais seek extradition

Published

on October 22, 2008

. 2 Comments

From Andrew Drummond,
Bangkok Supreme Court, October 21 08
Former Thai Premier and owner of Manchester City Football Club was branded a criminal today and jailed for two years while ‘in absentia’ in England.
After finding him guilty of corruption in a land deal the Supreme Court submitted the verdict to Thailand’s Attorney General to pass to Britain for extradition proceedings.

PAD protesters at Government House - Picture Andrew Chant
Thousands of Thais, members of the opposition People’s Alliance for Democracy were last night on the streets of Bangkok also calling on Britain to return Mr.Shinawatra which they said would to put an end to the Bangkok stand-off - which started when they seized control of Government House here three months ago.
Sporting banners reading ‘Send Thaksin back now’ and ‘UK Government Stop Harbouring Criminals’ members of the PAD cheered and sent thousands of plastic hand-clappers off as the sentence against Thaksin Shinawatra, known as ‘Frank’ to Man City fans was announced.
But as a sign of how split the country is the judges only voted 5 against 4 for the conviction and they acquitted Thaksin’s wife of corruption as she was ‘not a member of government’.
Behind the calls for the return of Thaksin is the belief, held widely on both sides, that Thaksin Shinawatra, has been affectively controlling the leaders of two proxy governments since the military junta ousted him in a coup. The PAD say only if Thaksin is in jail will he stop attempting to meddle in Thailand’s affairs.
Kanchana Malaithong ,45, from Lampang sporting a ‘Stop Harbouring Criminals’ placard outside PAD headquarters at Government House said: “The only safe thing for Thailand is if Thaksin is actually put in jail.
“He claims he is not involved in politics, but that is a lie, even his puppet Prime Ministers admit to consulting him. The people are sick of corrupt and greedy politicians.”
The Thai National Human Rights Commission has blamed both the current Thai government, run by Thaksin’s brother-in-law Somchai Wongsawat, and police, for violence two weeks ago when 400 protesters were injured and two were killed, after police attacked with Chinese made tear gas bombs, which contained explosives and blew off limbs.
Shinawatra was found guilty of corruption by signing off on a deal which allowed his wife Pojoman, 51, to buy a massive city centre area of Bangkok from a government department at one third of its market price while her husband was Prime Minister.
Pojaman is currently appealing a three year jail sentence imposed in July for tax fraud involving the same 13 acre piece of land. But she and her husband fled Thailand to Britain, via the Beijing Olympics, after her last conviction.
Pojaman, born into one of Thailand’s richest Chinese Thai families, had bought a sixteen acre site of prime real estate in Ratchadphisek in the centre of Bangkok from a government financial department.
Today’s result was not unexpected even by Thaksin himself who said: “I had long anticipated that it would turn out this way”.
In the earlier case in his judgment the principal judge was quoted as saying that the defendants had ‘lied, cheated, and conspired to evade taxes, which is regarded as a serious crime.”
The last Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, who admitted in his campaign that he was Thaksin’s nominee, was forced to resign his Premiership when it clashed with a politically oriented cookery show he hosted on television.
The current Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, Thaksin’s brother-in-law has been found guilty by the National Counter Corruption of dereliction of duty in a remarkably similar case in which he allowed subordinates in his department at the Justice Ministry to sell government land without taking the appropriate fee.
And to cap it all the office of the Attorney General’s Office last week petitioned the Constitutional Court to disband the ruling PPP government and two of its coalition partners for electoral fraud.
So far the Thai Government of his brother-in-law Somchai has not even revoked Shinawatra’s diplomatic passport.
In Britain Thaksin Shinawatra had been told he could not remain owner of Manchester City F.C. once he had a conviction, and last week the passenger window of his Rolls Royce was reported to have been smashed.
On another occasion while dining at a Chinese restaurant in Notting Hill Gate other customers are reported to have banged their glasses on their tables in protest at his presence.
ends

Ex Thai PM linked to corruption with Burma junta Times 15 Sep 08

Published

on September 16, 2008

. 2 Comments

Link to The Times story

From Times OnlineSeptember 16, 2008

Andrew Drummond in Bangkok

Thailand’s Supreme Court has issued another arrest warrant for Thaksin Shinawatra, the ousted premier, this time for cashing in on Burma’s military junta while offering himself as a mediator with the repressive regime.

While Mr Thaksin, until recently owner of Manchester City F.C., offered Thailand as host country for talks with Burma, he was secretly cashing in on his relationship and offering his own government’s money to clinch the deal, it is alleged.

This is the second warrant issued for the arrest of Mr Thaksin for corruption as the exiled Prime Minister continues his political career from his home in Weybridge, Surrey.

He is accused of instructing Thailand’s Import-Export Bank to offer the Burmese junta a soft loan for the equivalent of £65 million to enable the government to buy products from his communications company Shin Satellite, which was then totally owned by his family.
He also allegedly told the junta he could reduce the interest rate without consulting his Cabinet.

Mr Thaksin, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006, fled Thailand with his wife Pojama to evade a charge of corruption over a deal in which she was able to buy a 16 acre site in central Bangkok at a third of its price from a Thai government department.

Thailand is currently in a state of political deadlock. Mr Thaksin’s successor Samak Sundaravej was forced last week to step down for hosting a television cookery programme while in office. He also faces charges of corruption and libel, and the first court date has been set for later this month.

Yesterday the majority Peoples Power Party (PPP) nominated Somchai Wongsawat, Mr Thaksin’s brother-in-law, to lead the country - a move which has further angered protesters from the People’s Alliance for Democracy, who seized Government House in Bangkok three weeks ago and who plan to step up their protest.

A spokesman for the PPP, which is widely seen as Mr Thaksin’s nominated government while he is in exile, confirmed that he had been in touch by phone to make his personal recommendation as to who should be P.M.

Thaksin Shinawatra’s brother-in-law voted in as PM candidate- The Times 15-08-08

Published

on September 15, 2008