PATTAYA, Thailand – Pattaya police apprehended a 40-year-old man named Kiattisak on 8 September for impersonating an officer as part of a group that raided a massage shop on 3 August, detaining three masseuses in Jomtien, extorting 7,500 baht from them and forcing them to arrange meetings with foreigners for further criminal activity. Kiattisak confessed to providing victim information to accomplices who conducted the alleged abductions and extortion, according to police.

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The women told investigators that a group of men claiming to be police officers raided the massage shop where they worked on 3 August. The three masseuses said the group took them to a rented room in the Jomtien area, claiming they would conduct drug tests there. Instead, the group extorted the workers, forcing them to pay 7,500 baht, and also compelled the masseuses to contact foreigners who possessed drugs and arrange meetings with them so the group could allegedly carry out further extortion.

Police investigated the case and arrested one group member in August, confirming that none of the people involved were actual police officers. Further investigation led police to Kiattisak, who reportedly confessed to finding potential victims and gathering their personal information, which was then passed to other members of the group who would carry out the alleged abductions and extortion. Kiattisak had previously been arrested and imprisoned for drug-related offences and was released from prison about one year ago before allegedly committing the latest offences. Police said another suspect remains at large, and officers will continue investigating the case and searching for the remaining suspect.

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Police warned members of the public to ask anyone claiming to be a police officer to show their official police identification card if they demand an inspection or money, urging people who encounter suspicious behaviour to report it to authorities. A similar case was reported in October last year when a massage shop owner in Prachuap Khiri Khan accused police officers of raping her Laotian employee and extorting money from her, forcing the owner to close the massage shop and turn it into a restaurant. In another case in Songkhla this year, a Thai man posed as a police officer and conducted a fake quality-standard inspection at a massage shop to get free services.

-Thailand News (TN)