A couple from Belgium have claimed they were robbed by “police” while staying in Bangkok.
Maxime Kempeneer and Noël Borgs, both 28, from Hove, have told local media how their dream trip to Thailand quickly turned into a nightmare following the robbery which is believed to have taken place last Thursday, 10 August.
Maxime said the couple had been backpacking around Thailand and were in Bangkok the day before they were due to fly home.
Details of the whole incident seem somewhat sketchy and it isn’t even clear where the robbery took place.
Apparently the robbery happened after her and Noel were surrounded by a group of men at a crossroads.
The men then started pulling at the couple and led them away to an unidentified location.
It was here where Maxime says they were thrown into a dark room and surrounded by seven men.
One of the men pulled at a gold chain that Maxime was wearing around her neck, which broke into two.
The men then said that the couple would be thrown in jail unless they paid them 40,000 baht.
The couple explained that they did not have that kind of money and were held in the room for about an hour, only being released after handing over around 100 Euros.
Maxime also said that the men gave back her necklace when she said told them it was not real gold.
The couple described the incident as “terrible” and said that they were not robbed by criminals but by men claiming to be Bangkok police.
Maxime and Noel have reported the incident to officials from the Belgian Embassy in Thailand.
However, it is not known why the waited until they had returned home to Belgium to file their report.
This sounds extremely suspicious and it is highly unlikely that such a large group of Thai policemen would ever behave in this manner. In fact, I would go as far as to say that it just wouldn’t happen.
It will be interesting to see if more comes from this.
(Source:Thai Visa News)