Bangkok's new international airport is no stranger to controversy (BBC).
Built between 2002 and 2006, the new international airport has been dogged by allegations of corruption, as well as criticism of the design and poor quality of construction. Then, at the end of last year, the airport was shut down for a week after being occupied by anti-government protesters. Now new allegations have been made that a number of passengers are being detained every month in the duty free area on suspicion of shoplifting -- and then held by the police until they pay large sums of money to buy their freedom.
Built between 2002 and 2006, the new international airport has been dogged by allegations of corruption, as well as criticism of the design and poor quality of construction. Then, at the end of last year, the airport was shut down for a week after being occupied by anti-government protesters. Now new allegations have been made that a number of passengers are being detained every month in the duty free area on suspicion of shoplifting -- and then held by the police until they pay large sums of money to buy their freedom.
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That is what happened to Stephen Ingram and Xi Lin (pictured right), two IT experts from Cambridge, as they were about to board their flight to London on the night of 25 April this year. They had been browsing in the duty free shop at the airport, and were later approached by security guards, who twice asked to search their bags.They were told a wallet had gone missing, and that Ms Lin had been seen on a security camera taking it out of the shop. The company that owns the duty free shop, King Power, has since put the CCTV video on its website, which does appear to show her putting something in her bag. However the security guards found no wallet on either of them. Despite that, they were both taken from the departure gate, back through immigration, and held in an airport police office. That is when their ordeal started to become frightening.
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"We were questioned in separate rooms," Mr. Ingram said. "We felt really intimidated. They went through our bags and demanded that we tell them where the wallet was." The two were then put in what Mr. Ingram describes as a "hot, humid, smelly cell with graffiti and blood on the walls."
Mr. Ingram managed to phone a Foreign Office helpline he found in a travel guide, and was told someone in the Bangkok embassy would try to help them. The next morning the two were given an interpreter, a Sri Lankan national called Tony, who works part-time for the police. They were taken by Tony to meet the local police commander. But says Mr. Ingram, for three hours all they discussed was how much money they would have to pay to get out.
They were told the charge was very serious. If they did not pay, they would be transferred to the infamous Bangkok Hilton prison, and would have to wait two months for their case to be processed. More>>
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