4 Bangkok cops get 5 years for extorting cash from Taiwanese actress
Four former officers from the Huai Khwang Police Station were sentenced to five years in jail for extorting money from a Taiwanese actress in January.
The Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases on Wednesday sentenced four of the six defendants. The other two, who are also former officers from the same station, were acquitted.
The court also ordered the defendants to return the 27,000 baht they had extorted, saying this was not a legitimate fine.
Taiwanese actress Charlene An (An Yu-qing) posted a TikTok video in January alleging that she and her friends had been stopped at a police checkpoint in the early hours of January 5.
An said police planted a vaping device on her before demanding 27,000 baht to let her go free.
Thailand has banned the import and sale of e-cigarettes and the possession of vaping devices is unlawful.
The court found that of the six officers manning the checkpoint that night, four were found guilty under the Criminal Code in Section 149 (accepting a bribe) and Section 157 (wrongful exercise of duties), as well as Sections 172 and 173 of the organic law on prevention and suppression of corruption.
As for the other two, the court ruled they were not directly involved in the extortion as one of them had only signalled the actress’ taxi to stop at the checkpoint, while the other was checking other vehicles at the time.
All six officers were dismissed from duty after an internal investigation by the Royal Thai Police in February.
