Two jet ski operators who extorted 42,000 baht from two Indian medical students have been forced to return most of their ill-gotten gains.
Rajkumar Ramachan Dran, 27, and Prabhakar Tamilmaran, 22, went to police June 6 after a scary confrontation with up to eight Pattaya Beach jet ski operators who forced them to pay 42,000 baht for lights on four jet skis they broke during a collision. The victims told police the men originally demanded 60,000 baht and they feared they would be attacked if they didn’t pay.
Don’t rent a jet ski from the man standing 2nd left, shown here being forced by police to hand back 25,000 baht of the 42,000 baht he extorted from Indian tourists for broken lights on his jet skis.
Acting Superintendent Col. Chatchawan Pisuttiwong summoned Mike Shopping Mall-area jet ski owners Sarayuth Jehmat, 36, Suwat Sukhsawat, 18, Kalaya Thangsroi, 42, and Sunee Mitmana, 57, to Pattaya Police Station where they were told to return 25,000 baht to the Indians, who said they needed the money to pay their hotel bill and escape Pattaya.
Sarayuth told the police chief that the Indians, while returning their watercraft to shore, crashed into two parked jet skis, breaking lights on all four boats. He did not explain how four lights justified 42,000-60,000 baht in damages. Sarayuth also denied accusations that the Indians were physically threatened.
The four small lights still ended up costing the Indian duo 17,000 baht and the pair left the station certainly never to return to Pattaya. City officials, meanwhile, continue to delay any action to ending the series of scams that have soiled Pattaya’s reputation for several years.
