fine of 200'000 bath demanded by local police from a bar boy

[brlumpet-old]

Hello everybody
I receive yesterday a line message from a Laotian bar boy from Pattaya I know, telling me that his sister, who works also in bars, has been arrested by the police and that they ask 200'000 bath of fine. I understand that they arrested her because she is not Thai.
They told the boy that the law is now stronger and the fine very high because of the new coronavirus. It seems a nonsense to me.
I guess that Police know very well that the siblings cannot have this amount. Do they hope that the boy get it from a foreign friend ? I guess that seeing that they cannot pay they will try to lower the fine. Anyway in my opinion it is corruption.
Anyway, in the meantime the boy is scared and he do not know where to go for help.

Did anyone heard this kind of practice from the local police of Pattaya ?
what could do the boy ? I do not know if tourist police could help a foreigner working in bars ? any other place he could go to get help ?

Thanks for those who have an answer.
I am no more in Pattaya now, I came back to Europe last week.

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[Manforallseasons]

Normally they will try to shake down the bar owner.......The owner is the only one they might get any money from however not likely....200,000 no way....The police know that the girl has no money so this story makes little sense.

[Nirish guy]

I received a message from a Laotian bar boy from Pattaya.......... It seems a nonsense to me.

I think you've just answered your own question. Personally I would ignore and move on.

[goji]

Sounds like total nonsense.

Bars that facilitate prostitution are allowed to exist because they are a lucrative source of bribes.
I would imagine 50~80% of the staff at the gay bars are foreign and that a high proportion at the girly bars would also be foreign. This just gives an additional reason to collect bribes. However it doesn't mean the bar revenue is any higher, so there is not a bigger pot of money for the police to extort.
I doubt the police employ many people with a good grasp of basic economics.

[gerefan2]

Another dreamer briumpet. Just ignore him.

[pong]

Dont you all, admire these guys and their smartness? Now that the old story of the dead buffalo is known by everyone (though Laos must have many more of them being so old-fashioned vs tractors) they keep on inventing new heart-sobbing tales. Even those famous Nigerians with their marriage scams could not invent that!

[Ivory]

A couple of days ago, a boy I know for a long time wrote me the same story that he allegedly had to help out a friend who was taken to the police and now they are asking for money. However, the amount was more modest - 60,000 THB. He was very intrusive, telling me about this problem, so finally I had to block him. It looks like this is a new trend for withdrawing money from farangs.

[Zebedee]

In the light of the recent Police bar raids,is there a possibility that some of these reports might actually be true? Im not completely naive, but I would be reluctant to simply dismiss these stories out of hand.

[gerefan2]

In the light of the recent Police bar raids,is there a possibility that some of these reports might actually be true? Im not completely naive, but I would be reluctant to simply dismiss these stories out of hand.

It would be the bar owners who would be approached for money or "fined" as happened, allegedly, in BT recently.

[PapaBear]

I personally know 3 Khmer boys who told me they were nabbed in Pattaya and shook down by the police. Mostly they pay whatever they have left in their pockets, including their mobile phones. One boy paid 3000 baht, one 7000 and one 8000 baht. Plus they lost their phones. They had to borrow money from friends to return to Cambodia. They have no plans to return to Thailand ever.

Dozens of Khmer boys have returned to Phnom Penh in the past few weeks because of the clampdown by immigration police. Also, because they say there are too few punters left in Pattaya.