News Forum - Thai immigration authorities arrested over alleged bribes in illegal fishing case

[Thaiger]

A group of Thai immigration authorities has been arrested in an alleged bribery case involving illegal fishing that happened last year. The 11 individuals include six immigration police, and five other immigration officials working at marine border and disease control checkpoints. The Deputy Commissioner of the Royal Thai Police, Surachate “Big Joke” Hakparn, announced their arrests yesterday. The group has been accused of accepting bribes to help release five foreign fishing trawlers that were caught illegally fishing in Thai waters in December 2021. After legal procedures, the trawlers had been kept at the Songkhla customs office, and were later put […]

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[gazmo16]

Police telling Immigration  officers not to take bribes ...... pot-kettle possibly 

[Vigo]

52 minutes ago, gazmo16 said:

Police telling Immigration  officers not to take bribes ...... pot-kettle possibly 

The Thais can't win can they? No matter what they do, it will be bad. Yes, we all know there is a corruption problem endemic to Thailand. However, this was not the typical corruption event, but 5 trawlers plundering and destroying Thai fish stock and in the process doing direct harm to Thailand, robbing the population of  jobs and resources.

The accused Thais showed remarkable contempt and disdain for the rule of law when they ignored the court order and released the vessels. It was a toxic anarchy, the kind that we last saw on the borders when the drug cartels nearly gained control of Thailand's north. This was heavy duty corruption that destroys a nation and can't be dismissed as just another somchai taking 100 baht for a speeding offence waiver.  Surachate “Big Joke” Hakparn is something and deserves praise for taking on these corrupt officials. Now it is up to The Thai powers that be to crush these corrupt officials and not transfer them elsewhere.

[TeddY]

Thai officials taking bribes...what a shock, who would have imagined that ?

Once during a check on the street, they said they saw me buying drugs....I don't even smoke. I told them in thai that i will complain to their boss about their lies...they let me go immediatlely.

[Fanta]

14 hours ago, Thaiger said:

The recent incident involving the illegal fishing is just the latest in Thailand’s insidious problem with bribery

Brother-in-law is a cop and he didn’t join to help the people. Family is proud of him and because he has a sponsor (senior cop) he will be powerful and able to properly support his growing family so all is good. (?!) Officials in Thailand are paid peanuts and that is used as justification for accepting “gifts”. Until the govt addresses the issue of too many govt employees on too small salaries this problem will never go away. Locking them up for corruption won’t solve the base issues of over employment and underpaid. 

[Janneman]

17 minutes ago, Fanta said:

Officials in Thailand are paid peanuts

Yea if you pay peanuts you get monkeys