4 replies to this topic

[Sexpat]

"Widely distributed video recordings of foreign tourists reputedly being ripped off over damage to jet skis on Phuket and other incidents have been made to damage Thailand's tourism reputation, authorities say. The producers of the video clips - shown on British cable television and YouTube - and the victims of the alleged scams have denied the accusation.

Pol Lt Gen Santhan Chayanont, chief of Provincial Police Region 8 which covers the upper South, yesterday said efforts to tarnish Thailand's image might be coordinated.

The video clips show a female British tourist being arrested for marijuana possession at a full moon party on Koh Phangan and a British marine and a US marine being threatened to pay exorbitant compensation for damage to rented jet skis on Phuket in separate incidents.
The footage, in which Thai police appear, were broadcast as part of the series Big Trouble in Tourist Thailand on Britain's Bravo cable TV station and then spread to the internet.

Pol Lt Gen Santhan said the arrest of the British woman was real. She was found with marijuana in her possession. In her testimony through a translator, she confessed.In the video clip she claimed she had to pay 80,000 baht to local police to be released on bail.

The other clips feature a Phuket jet ski operator, Vinai Naiman, also known as "JJ", demanding compensation from British and American clients, both marines on rest and recreation leave. In the clip of the British marine, Mr Vinai was seen to go to a storeroom and return with a gun which he dangled by his side.

Pol Lt Gen Santhan said the way clips had been made suggested a set up.They had been edited to tarnish the image of both Thai tourism and the police force and presented only the negative side of the story through narrators, he said. Pol Lt Gen Santhan ordered police investigators to find out if any Thai individuals were involved in the making of the footage.They could face criminal charges."

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/2390...d-video-nasties

[TheCount]

I just saw episode two and I think this 8 episode documentary is very very bad for the tourist industry in Thailand.

The Inconvenient Truth ?

http://www.sawatdee-gay-thailand.com/forum...ble-t18387.html

[Khor tose]

I can't blame the BIB for being angry. You would be angry too if you were in danger of losing your tea money because you couldn't scam any more tourist. Poor BIB I am so sad for them----not.

[DOLLY]

According to this morning's BP, the Thai people involved in the filming of those videos involving incidents with tourists are being prosecuted by the Thai police.

"A Thai video production company involved in the filming of alleged extortion of foreigners by a Phuket jet ski operator is to be prosecuted for sending the recordings abroad for broadcasting without permission.Wanasiri Morakul, director of the Thailand Film Office which comes under the Tourism and Sports Ministry, yesterday said police had traced the tapes to a company called Black Sheep Productions. She said the managers of the company, which had produced the Big Trouble In Thailand series for Bravo All News station in England, admitted to holding the copyright for the recordings.

Ms Wanasiri said normal videos made by Thais do not require prior approval from the ministry's Office of Tourism Development.But the people responsible for the Big Trouble In Thailand series, which has been a big hit on YouTube, had violated Article 34 of the motion picture law by not having the contents examined by a Tourism and Sports Ministry film committee before they were broadcast abroad.

The company's managers could face 12 months in jail and/or a fine of up to a million baht."

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/2404...ces-prosecution

[Taxi driver]

A Thai video production company involved in the filming of alleged extortion of foreigners by a Phuket jet ski operator is to be prosecuted for sending the recordings abroad for broadcasting without permission

Every day in every way this country looks more and more like Burma.