A police captain from the Tourist Police Bureau and two traffic police sergeants were involved in providing a controversial VVIP service to a female Chinese visitor, rushing her through immigration and escorting her from Suvarnabhumi airport to Pattaya, according to senior police.
Police inspector-general Pol Gen Visanu Prasattongosoth said on Sunday a probe ordered by national police chief Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittiprapas initially identified the three policemen in a video clip shot by a female Chinese visitor to support her claim that she had paid thousands of baht for special treatment from authorities.
She was whisked rapidly through immigration procedures at Suvarnabhumi airport and then given a motorcyle escort, complete with siren and flashing lights, to her destination hotel in Pattaya late on Thursday night.
The three policemen were under investigation, with the two traffic policemen transferred to inactive posts.
Apart from the three policemen, their supervisors would also be investigated, including superintendents, deputies and inspectors concerned, the source said.
A white Yamaha MT-09 motorcycle registered in Bangkok was parked at the Traffic Police Division in Bangkok on Sunday. It was believed to be the motorcycle used to escort the Chinese visitor. The motorcycle was registered as a private vehicle, not a police vehicle, but was equipped with a siren and emergency lights.
Pol Maj Gen Apichart Suriboonya, deputy commissioner of the Tourist Police Bureau, said a private vehicle was used in the police escort incident, so the policemen concerned did not commit a criminal offence but were considered to have behaved improperly.
"Tourist police must serve all tourists as a whole and do not give any special treatment to a particular person," he said.
No organisations requested special treatment for any tourist that day, and the service was believed to have been provided to the visitor as a sideline, Pol Maj Gen Apichart said.
