Police probe tourist’s VVIP treatment

Police probe tourist's VVIP treatment

Police are looking into a Chinese tourist’s allegation that she paid police to obtain VVIP treatment upon arriving at Suvarnabhumi airport, whereby time spent in the immigration queue was cut and a police motorcade was provided for her trip to a hotel in Pattaya.

Royal Thai Police (RTP) spokesman Pol Maj Gen Atchayon Kraithong said yesterday that national police chief Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittiprapas had ordered a police inspector-general to launch a probe into the incident and whether police had breached any law or regulations.

The police’s move came after a Chinese woman under account choudan0302 posted a video clip on Douyin App on Friday reviewing her trip to Thailand.

She said she had contacted an agent for a car to pick her up and took an agent’s offer for the VVIP service. She said people in police uniform picked her up at the airport, carried her luggage, ensured she skipped the immigration queue and opened a car door for her.

It took five minutes to finish the airport procedures. She then took a police car with a motorcycle escort to a hotel in Pattaya in just one hour, with no traffic along the route. She reportedly paid 7,000 baht for a car motorcade and 6,000 for a motorcycle escort.

The woman was seen laughing in the clip. Pol Maj Gen Atchayon said cutting immigration procedures to help a tourist as shown in the clip could not be done legally, and use of a police motorcade must follow traffic laws or cabinet resolutions.