At 1,30am on the 29th of August Police colonel Supachai of the Banglamung police received a report of a man in Sukhumvit soi 43 who was wearing handcuffs and claiming to have been robbed. After receiving the report officers of the Banglamung police went to investigate. At the scene they found a Mr Worapon aged 32 a professional photographer from Chiang Rai who was in Pattaya on a photo shoot.
He was handcuffed behind his back and claiming that he had been robbed after he was abducted from a Bar in the Kow Mai Gaew area, by a group of men posing as Police Officers. They handcuffed him put a hood over his head and forced him into a vehicle then they took his gold ring cash and his ATM card. He appeared very tired and in a state of panic as he explained the nights events.
The motorcycle taxi driver Mr.Chalermchai aged 44 who called in the report. said that he had spotted Mr Worapon who was acting strangely and that he had offered him 2,000 Baht to take him back to the bar where he had been drinking with friends in Tambon Khao Mai Kaew Banglamung. He thought it weird that the guy was wearing handcuffs and thought that maybe he was an escaped prisoner so had called in the police.
Mr. Worapon was not surprisingly suspicious himself of the police officers who had turned up to investigate the incident and it took some time to convince him that they were the good guys and indeed real police officers.
Mr. Worapon was later able to check his bank account to find that 50,000 Baht had been withdrawn from his account shortly after his abduction. Banglamung Police are now trying to track-down the group of fake policemen who abducted and robbed Mr. Worapon.
