Andreas Hall 30 and Ruben Ludwigsson 33, two Swedish tourists, were on Monday 24 August at around 11pm arrested in Khao Lak and put in the detention in Phang Nga, north of Phuket. The website Phuketwan.com quoted the police for explaining that the two were having sex on a local beach with two Thai women – also named in the report – and of having 13 grams of hashish on them. The two men were caught by officers making a regular check along Khao Lak beach, the police said.
The Swedish internet Forum http://www.maipenrai.se/ first reflected the news as reported by Phuketwan.com. In the comments, an anonymous person called the whole incident a police scam. He claims to have been there when it happened and that all the facts so far are wrong.
According to him they were 8 people, they were in a bungalow far from the beach and nobody was having sex.
“Where they got the sex story from I have no idea,” he writes.
Furthermore he claims that the police, who didn’t wear any uniforms, were “stone high” when they arrested them and that the police were after money and drugs for own use.
He also writes that the police attacked their Thai friend when they did not find anything after which they poured boiling water over him and kicked him till he confessed to what they wanted him to say. They were all taken to the police station but released again when the police didn’t find anything on them. Their Thai friend was released after paying 50.000 baht, he claims.
Scandasia has been able to get in contact with Andreas Hall through Banana Bungalows in Khao Lak, where the group stayed when the incident happened. Andreas Hall makes it clear early on in the phone conversation that he doesn’t want to leave any comments but that they in fact were eight people all together.
To the question whether they were victims of a police scam he replies:
“I have no comment, we have all been cleared and released and I just want to leave it all behind me now.”
Andreas, who is calling from a Thai phone number, has not left Thailand yet. He is presumably still near the area of Khao Lak where it all happened just a week ago.
