Local woman home from Thai jail after being targeted by scam
A NATIVE Kilkenny woman returned home safely at the weekend after a harrowing ordeal in Thailand, which should serve as a warning to people travelling there.
In fact, due to reports of other similar incidents, both the Department of Foreign Affairs and its British counterpart are reviewing their travel advice for their countries' citizens in Thailand.
Dr Angela 'Ashie' Norris, originally from Greenshill, Kilkenny, had travelled to the Southeast Asian country to address a conference, and it was at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok on her way home when she encountered the trouble.
The 41-year-old scientist told Irish media that while at the airport she made several purchases in the Duty Free area, including a couple of items of make-up. Upon leaving the shop, she was surrounded by security guards.
"They were shouting at me: 'You! You! You go jail six months," Ms Norris told the Irish Mail on Sunday. "They took the eyeliner off me and started waving it in my face. I said I had paid for it, but when I looked at the receipt it was only a receipt for 576 Thai baht (f12) for the lipstick." She insists she had no intention of stealing the Bobbi Brown cosmetic.
She was taken to the airport police station and then to Rajatewa police station near the airport, where she was detained overnight in filthy conditions. After she was released on bail, however, her passport was still in the possession of the Thai authorities - and when she went to immigration police to retrieve her passport, she was arrested again.
Outrageous
At the time, Dr Norris was aware that a price would have to be paid for her safe return to Ireland.
"What is happening here is outrageous and needs to be exposed. It's a national scandal," said her husband, Ronan Loftus, who flew over to Thailand to help his wife escape the ordeal.
Forced
The family did not disclose the amount of money that had to be paid, but a pair of British tourists revealed recently that they were forced to pay f9,400 for their own release after being held by an airport gang in Bangkok. That couple, Stephen Ingram and Xi Lin, were also falsely accused of shoplifting in the airport. They were held for five days after being accused of stealing a Givenchy wallet worth f140 from a Duty Free shop.
The British Embassy has subsequently issued a warning to people travelling to Bangkok: "You should be careful to observe demarcation lines between shops and stalls, particularly in market areas and at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Taking items from one shop's area to another is likely to be treated by shop staff as suspected theft. You may be arrested by the police and asked to pay a substantial fine and/or face imprisonment."
Meanwhile, the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs has said it is giving full consular support to Dr Norris.
The department said it was reviewing its travel advisory, although it said that it had no record of any similar arrests of Irish citizens at the Bangkok airport.
The department said it was reviewing its travel advisory, although it said that it had no record of any similar arrests of Irish citizens at the Bangkok airport.
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Monday 21 May 2012
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