Three men in Southern Thailand, claiming to be police officers, tried to extort a man for 5 million baht so he could avoid arrest.
However, hundreds of villagers in Surat Thani got involved and surrounded the policeman’s Toyota Fortuner, according to Thai media.
A video from Thai PBS (scroll down) shows villagers rocking the vehicle back and forth, and the rear window smashed.
The ‘officers’ had confronted the man when he was buying 500,000 baht worth of shellfish from local fishermen.
The man explained that he was allowed to catch and sell the shellfish, but the officer, who Thai media report as part of the Surat Thani Police Division, still demanded 5 million baht.
It’s unclear if the other 2 men were actually police officers.
When villagers heard about the outrageously high bribe, they formed a riot around the police vehicle.
An officer from the Kanchanadit District Police Station then intervened but allowed the car drive off.
