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A warning to smokers... - 2007/03/26 05:49 A friend of a friend of mine got busted last week throwing a cigarette butt on the ground at Siam Square. The cop, of course, instantly held his hand out like the despicable beggar he was and demanded 2,000 baht, lest the smoker be sent downtown to sweat it out under the interrogation lamp. They then "agreed" on 500 baht in cash. Never mind the fact that there was, I'm sure, piles of trash all over the area. The officer was in the shadows, biding his time until a tourist committed a minor offense. And then it was time to use his authority to cash in.
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Re:A warning to smokers... - 2007/03/28 13:25 Is it so difficult to throw trash into the bin??? Although there is no bin around, just keeping the trash for a while to find the bin will kill people??? What happen to people in this world??????
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Re:A warning to smokers... - 2007/03/30 07:26 Wankawee's got a point. Your tourist friend broke the law by littering. How the police handled the matter shouldn't be the issue. Your friend is in this country as a guest and needs to be respectful of the laws. Who cares whether the police only target tourists. It's their right as Thai police to do so. Although, I think it's ridiculous that they would target tourists just to make a quick buck. Regardless, don't give the police a reason to do this. Throw the cigarettes away in the trash bin and not on the ground.
Now if the policeman would have, say, thrown the butt on the ground and then blamed the tourist and demanded money, that would be another matter…
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Re:A warning to smokers... - 2007/03/30 08:00 Point well taken...
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Re:A warning to smokers... - 2007/04/02 02:51 I agree. Just don't break the law and there should be no problems.
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Re:A warning to smokers... - 2007/05/04 11:49 Extortion is extortion any way one looks at it. People are too forgiving of corruption, especially in developing countries where apparently we don't know any better. You can't blame people for littering when the city's waste disposal system revolves around an army of garbage sweepers. Let's quit the PC act and call a spade a spade.
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