A trio of city cabbies is being held on suspicion of extorting funds from migrant workers that they persuaded into their cars before bullying and blackmailing them.
Cops say the cabbie gang, named as Surasak Pholpaka, Kachornsak Boonsongngoen, and Thawatchai Wongsanga, waited for their migrant prey at the Major Rangsit department store, where migrants are often let off of interprovincial buses. They’d approach the workers and tell them they would use the meter and take them where they needed to go.
The drivers would then lock the doors and ask to see the workers’ documents showing that they can legally work in Thailand. If the workers couldn’t produce the documents, they would be charged THB1,000-THB1,500 each or the cabbie would call their boss and blackmail them for the money, reported Bangkok Post.
The arrested drivers said they had to charge this money because they risked being arrested for giving the illegal workers a ride.
However, police said they’d had several reports of the same extortion happening in the same area. The last case was four workers that needed to go to Rangsit Khlong 4 area and were changed a total of THB20,000 to get there—the cost should have been THB300 at the most.
To catch the crooked cabbies, three cops went undercover as workers. They got off the bus and the drivers came after them. They later requested THB1,500 from each “migrant” if they couldn’t show their work papers.
The drivers were taken into custody and face charges of extortion and not using a meter for public transport.
