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Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
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Now, duty-free shopping scam at Thai airport
Source: Agencies |
August 8, 2009, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
TRAVELERS to Thailand have braved a variety of hazards in recent years but foreign governments are now warning about a new and different one: duty-free shopping at the airport.
Several European tourists say they were falsely accused of shoplifting at the Thai capital's main airport and some recount being taken to seedy motels where they were shaken down for thousands of dollars by a shady middleman.
A British couple paid the equivalent of US$11,000 to secure their release five days after being accused of stealing a Givenchy wallet that was never found, said police, who along with airport authorities denied any wrongdoing.
The Thai government has vowed a crackdown at Bangkok's scandal-plagued Suvarnabhumi Airport, which has barely recovered from last year's public relations disaster when protesters shut it for a week and stranded 300,000 visitors.
The airport opened in 2006 and has been dogged by corruption allegations, taxi touts with "broken meters" and baggage thefts.
But the allegations of extortion take things to another level.
"We are quite concerned about this," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Vimon Kidchob said on Thursday. "The government of Thailand is doing everything we can to ensure the safety of tourists."
The scandal has spawned lengthy chatter on travel blogs about other scams to watch for in Thailand and a string of overseas travel advisories on the perils of duty-free shopping in Bangkok. Ireland is warning its nationals to "be extremely careful" when browsing at Suvarnabhumi.
Britain and Denmark have updated their online travel advice to warn that Suvarnabhumi's sprawling duty-free zone has hard-to-detect demarcation lines between shops and patrons should not carry unpaid merchandise between them.
Several European tourists say they were falsely accused of shoplifting at the Thai capital's main airport and some recount being taken to seedy motels where they were shaken down for thousands of dollars by a shady middleman.
A British couple paid the equivalent of US$11,000 to secure their release five days after being accused of stealing a Givenchy wallet that was never found, said police, who along with airport authorities denied any wrongdoing.
The Thai government has vowed a crackdown at Bangkok's scandal-plagued Suvarnabhumi Airport, which has barely recovered from last year's public relations disaster when protesters shut it for a week and stranded 300,000 visitors.
The airport opened in 2006 and has been dogged by corruption allegations, taxi touts with "broken meters" and baggage thefts.
But the allegations of extortion take things to another level.
"We are quite concerned about this," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Vimon Kidchob said on Thursday. "The government of Thailand is doing everything we can to ensure the safety of tourists."
The scandal has spawned lengthy chatter on travel blogs about other scams to watch for in Thailand and a string of overseas travel advisories on the perils of duty-free shopping in Bangkok. Ireland is warning its nationals to "be extremely careful" when browsing at Suvarnabhumi.
Britain and Denmark have updated their online travel advice to warn that Suvarnabhumi's sprawling duty-free zone has hard-to-detect demarcation lines between shops and patrons should not carry unpaid merchandise between them.
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