BIB shake-down in Cha-am

[squire]

I saw the following on another website and was wondering whether any HHAD forum members have experienced this recently:

"Another complaint about the police checkpoint at Cha-am on Phet Kasem Highway 4 when passing through Phetchaburi province. Police have been stopping south bound traffic and conducting dubious urine tests for drugs. They have not allowed the persons being checked to watch the test process and have subsequently claimed that there were positive test results when clearly this was not possible. Payments of 10 or 20 thousand baht were then demanded to stop any charges being filed or arrests being made. Threats of incarceration for 6 month periods and a long court process were made to ensure payment. No phone calls were allowed and No identification was shown, Uniform name plates were covered by the reflective vests worn."

I've never been stopped by the BIB in Cha-am or HH, and I will be visiting next week for the Jazz Festival. So I was wondering how common this type of shake-down happens. Thanks.

[machersjohn]

Over the last week i have been up and down to Pechaburi . Yes there are Police checks as you state but i have never been pulled over. There were pickups and lorries being pulled over but i did not see any Farangs

I came from Bangkok last night in a privately hired mine bus full of farang and we were waved through.

I do believe the police are acting on intelligence and know who to stop.

[The Dude]

Three months ago I was on the road that goes to Black Mountain Golf Course when my thai friend and I got stopped at a police check point. They searched the motorbike for drugs, No drugs. Then they asked my thai friend to take a piss test. They said the test was positive for marijuana. Then they told me to take a piss test and the same outcome was said about mine. After we were talking to the police for about 20 minutes out in the middle of no where we were finally told that we could pay 15000 baht. This was after threats of the police station and deportation. So of course we didn't have 15000 on us so the police put my friend and I in the truck, 3 police men and us. Then they had another policeman drive the motorbike behind the truck. They asked what bank they should take us to get their money. When they dropped us off at the bank they switched to a civilian truck and changed shirts. When I came out of the bank the policeman was standing outside waiting for his big payout. I gave him the money and he gave us the motorbike key and we were on our way like nothing happened. They never asked for our names or id's. Is this piss test thing legal? Can you really go to jail for having drugs in your system. Case one, Marijuana stays in your system for up to a month. So a Dutch guy that smokes in Amsterdam flies to Bangkok. Drives to Hua Hin and gets a random piss test on the highway. Then probably has to pay money, jail time, or deportation for not committing any crime in Thailand.

[dtaai-maai]

I do believe the police are acting on intelligence and know who to stop.

Well, I suppose there's a first time for everything...

[Arcadian]

Dude, we were stopped on the same stretch of road last month by a police checkpoint. They looked in at us and our regular taxi driver then told him to drive on. It turned out that one of the police was the father of our drivers friend, Bit of luck eh.