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Thailand’s national police chief Damrongsak Kittipraphat (right) apologised ‘to the victims affected by what happened’. Photo: AFP

Thai police chief apologises for alleged extortion of Taiwanese actress Charlene An

  • An posted on social media that she and some friends were stopped and searched in Bangkok and had to pay US$820 before they were allowed to leave
  • Thailand’s police commissioner apologised for the incident. Seven officers who were at the roadside checkpoint have been placed under investigation
Thailand
Thailand’s police commissioner has apologised after seven officers were placed under investigation for allegedly extorting money from a Taiwanese actress who was visiting Bangkok on a holiday.

Actress Charlene An posted on social media that she was travelling in a taxi with friends after a night out in the Thai capital when they were stopped and searched at a checkpoint in the early hours of January 5.

She said she was threatened with a criminal charge for having an e-cigarette and later paid 27,000 baht (US$820) before they were able to leave.

 

Two captains, two senior sergeant majors and three sergeants who were at the checkpoint were transferred to inactive positions while the investigation is ongoing, police said.

“There are still many good police. We must encourage the good ones and deal with the bad ones,” police General Damrongsak Kittiprapas told reporters on Tuesday at police headquarters.

“I would like to stress that our city has lots of visitors coming. Immigration police, tourist police and local police must take the best care of tourists. And for the incident that has happened, if there is wrongdoing, as the head of the organisation, I apologise to the victims affected by what happened.”

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Anyone found guilty will be punished, he said.

Thai police earlier denied the accusation and suggested that the actress was intoxicated and had not been able to produce travel documents, possibly because of a language barrier. Police were unable to produce videos from body cameras from the night, according to local media.

In a statement on Instagram, An thanked the media and her supporters for their “words of encouragement, support and care to help me walk through this moment of traumatic darkness”.

“Thailand, your culture, people, food will always be special to me,” she wrote. “I look forward to a better experience in my future visits”.

E-cigarettes and vapes have been banned in Thailand since 2014. Offenders can be fined up to 30,000 baht and imprisoned for a maximum of 10 years.

Additional reporting by SCMP reporter

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