Police have flown from Bangkok to Patong, Phuket to arrest a man who allegedly impersonated a police officer to get free meals in restaurants and extort cash bribes from small businesses who believed he was an influential officer.
If the business owners didn’t pay up, the alleged fake officer supposedly threatened to shut them down.
He’s just the latest in a string of people impersonating police officers to confiscate goods, prey on people or just because the cop uniform looks cool.
“I flew down to lead the arrest team as soon as I received the complaint about this,” said Pol. Col. Sipaketh Kruewattanaset, Deputy Chief of the Royal Thai Police Crime Suppression Division (CSD) in Bangkok.
CSD officers worked with Phuket Tourist Police to arrest Chatrin Tongteerakul, 24, at a home on 50 Pi Road on Wednesday.
When police raided the Patong home, they found Chatrin in possession of a .40 calibre Glock handgun with 76 bullets and a Remington 12-gauge shotgun with four cartridges.
Officers also found a Crime Suppression Police uniform and a fake police identification card that identified Chatrin as a Phuket Provincial Police corporal and the head of the Provincial Police Investigation Division in Phuket.
According to Col. Sipaketh, Chatrin has a history of impersonating police officers. He has been charged with the same crime in Khon Kaen.
Chatrin denied the charges of taking free meals and extorting cash and told the press that he really wants to be a police officer. He claimed that he had an accident three years ago that kept him from being accepted as a police cadet.
Story: The Phuket News
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