SHAN STATE (NORTH) – Local residents in Tachileik Town reported that junta thugs, policemen and immigration officers, have been constantly extorting hundreds of thousands of Baht under various reasons from Thai and Chinese citizens in the town.
Starting from mid-November, extorting money become more and more frequent, and conducted random inspections at night to extort money, a person close to a Thai citizen who experienced it.
“Those Thai and Chinese tourists came back from night clubs, bars were targeted to extort money. Policemen and immigration staffs were the main group who blocked and asked the money. I don’t know why army soldiers were not there,” he said.
They extorted money in many reasons such as travelling without relevant documents, not having driving licence, not having vehicle license etc., Some policemen even set up a plot by putting drugs into mentioned people’s belongings and extorted money from them.
Junta soldiers were not involved in the blockades and night inspections since they have been forbidden from going out of military camps. Since November, only the police and immigration staffs are scrutinising the people, a person close to the military group said.
“Nowadays, the police have regained their power. The army soldiers are banned from going out. The army soldiers can’t do like they used to. They are not able to exit from military bases,” he added.
In addition to Tachileik, there have also been similar cases of police extortion and arresting by making drugs cases in Keng Tung.