A British couple who were falsely accused of stealing at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkokhave announced plans to sue the airport for wrongful arrest.
The Phuket Gazette reported that Stephen Ingram, 49, and Xi Lin, 45, were accused of stealing a Givenchy wallet worth around 7,000 from a King Power duty-free shop on April 25 as they went to board Qantas flight QF1 to London. The pair were handed over to the police and forced to pay bribes of around 450,000 baht for their release, even though there was no evidence against them.
Apparently, the couple were detained for five days, during which time they were threatened and held hostage in a cheap hotel until they agreed to pay the bribe. Stephen Ingram and Xi Lin were so outraged by their experience that as soon as they managed to get out of their situation they decided to sue for unlawful treatment.
“Our main motivation [in suing] is to protect other innocent British tourists from being caught up in this nightmare,” Stephen Ingram said in an interview last week. “We intend to take every legal means to recover our money and obtain justice.”
Investigations are underway to ascertain whether or not this is an ongoing scam. However, there seem to be no other reports of tourists being treated in this way and it appears to be an isolated incident.
-TN
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