Top cop calls for transparent probe into claim police extorted cash from Taiwanese actress
The national police chief on Saturday called for a thorough investigation of allegations made by a Taiwanese actress that she and her friends were detained, humiliated and extorted for cash by Thai police while vacationing in Bangkok early this month.
“National Police Chief General Damrongsak Kittiprapas has ordered a thorough investigation into the case,” police spokesperson Maj-General Archayon Kraithong said on Saturday.
Damrongsak also instructed Metropolitan Police Bureau chief Lt-General Thiti Saengsawang to send a team from its Investigation, Detection and Management Branch to collect additional evidence from where the incident took place, said Archayon.
The explosive allegations were first made by actress An Yu-Qing, also known as Charlene An, in Taiwanese media on January 7, shortly after returning from a vacation in Bangkok. The explosive allegations were first reported in Thai media earlier this week. They are now the subject of graphic reports in media throughout the region.
She said police stopped a taxi she was sharing with friends at a checkpoint near the Chinese Embassy on Ratchadaphisek Road on the night of January 4.
Police detained them for two hours before eventually releasing them after receiving a payment of 27,000 baht, she told several news outlets in Taiwan. An also posted messages about the incident on her numerous social media pages, which have several hundred thousand followers each.
The police must make sure that the investigation is transparent and based on solid and thorough evidence, Archayon said. “If any officers involved are found to be guilty, they will face absolute disciplinary and legal action,” Archayon quoted the police chief as saying.
Metropolitan Police Bureau deputy chief Maj-General Samroeng Suanthong replied to An’s allegations on Thursday, after interviewing six officers who were manning the checkpoint where she and her friends were stopped on January 4.
Samroeng rebutted An’s claim of extortion. He said she was detained because she could not produce a passport and appeared drunk. Police officers eventually decided to release her and her friends because they were not dangerous, he added.
On Friday An wrote on her Instagram page that she would raise the issue with the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol).
"I was threatened," she said, challenging police to release all CCTV footage taken near the checkpoint at the time of the incident. Previously, she said police had humiliated her and her friends.
