SONGKHLA: A tourist has paid up almost 100,000 baht to four Thais whose vehicles he damaged while performing a stunt with his car at a parking lot in Hat Yai district on Friday.
Pol Lt Col Anuwat Rithichai, Hat Yai tourist police chief, said the tourist was identified as a Malaysian, Abdul Raii bin Azmi, 32.
On Friday, Mr Abdul drifted his BMW M2 in the parking lot of a privately-owned tourist spot in Hat Yai, during which his tyres sent fragments of rock into the air, shattering the windows and damaging the body and paintwork of a car and three tuk-tuks nearby.
Drifting is a manoeuvre in which the driver intentionally puts the car in a state of oversteer to “skid” through a corner, without losing control of the vehicle’s direction. A clip of the stunt appeared on social media.
The owners of the four vehicles filed a complaint with Kho Hong police. On Saturday, tourist police went looking for the BMW and spotted it at Sadao immigration checkpoint on the Thai-Malaysian border, where Mr Abdul and his wife were about to cross the border back into Malaysia.
Mr Abdul and his wife were taken to Hat Yai tourist police station to meet the owners of the four vehicles. The four demanded 107,000 baht in total.
After some discussion, a settlement was reached in which Mr Abdul agreed to pay them 99,000 baht.
The amount was to be shared among the four, based on the damage to their vehicles.
Mr Abdul said he was urged to do the stunt by parking lot staff.