Antal indlæg: 303 Tilmeldt: 23.10.09 Status: Offline
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
PHUKET: A Danish teenager holidaying on Phuket tried to commit an insurance fraud but failed dismally, police said today.
Officers, aware of the damaging effect on tourism associated with attacks on tourists, checked out the young man's claims with extra thoroughness.
The teenager will turn 18 later this month but Thai law specifies that minors accused of crimes cannot be named.
''Morty,'' as we will call him, went to the Kamala Police Station, on Phuket's west coast north of Patong, about 5pm today.
He told police that he had been attacked about 1.45am on New Year's Day in darkness at the northern end of Kamala beach, not far from the Novotel now under construction.
He had been to the countdown on Kamala beach, he said. Five Thais were involved in the attack, he said, with one man holding him from behind while others beat him.
He handed over his Omega watch, valued at 95,500 baht, two gold bracelets valued at 20,600 baht, an iPhone5 worth 29,150 baht and a credit card.
After robbing him, the gang carried him to the water's edge and threw him into the sea, ''Morty'' said.
Police questioned beach vendors, checked beachfront security camera footage and called ''Monty'' back for a second interview this evening.
They were less than happy with discrepancies between the first interview and the second interview.
Police took the matter further by checking security camera footage from the Swissotel Phuket, where ''Morty'' was staying with members of his family.
Footage taken earlier today showed ''Morty'' still wearing the Omega and the gold bracelets more than 24 hours after he claimed they had been stolen.
Confronted with the evidence, ''Morty'' confessed he still had the goods that he said were stolen and intended to make an insurance claim once he returned to Denmark.
Because he committed the crime of lying to police while still a minor, the penalty may not be as great as if he had tried it after his 18th birthday later this month.
Lapidary and Jewelry consltant
Antal indlæg: 303 Tilmeldt: 23.10.09 Status: Offline
I gamle dage! Sagde man altid. What happens in thailand, stays in thailand!
Men den går ik mere!!
Sjovt med danske navne. Morty= Morten:)
Skulle engang betale for en bekendt overnatning på den lokale police station.
Den vagthavende betjent sagde til mig. sørg for Flemling aldrig kommer her tilbage.
Bagefter grinte jeg og Flemming længe.
PHUKET: -- A 19-year-old Dane, Morten Budtz Berthelsen, is due in court today accused of making a false report to Kamala police, in which he said he was attacked and robbed by a Thai gang at Kamala Beach.
Around 5pm yesterday (January 2), the Dane went to Kamala police station and reported that at about 1.45 am on New Year’s Day, after going to the New Year countdown he went for a walk along the sand, and was attacked in the darkness at the north end of the beach.
He said there were five Thai men one of whom grabbed him from behind while the rest hit him.
He said the gang stole his B95,000 Omega watch, a couple of golden bracelets valued at B20,600, an iPhone5 costing B29,150 plus a credit card in his wallet. After robbing him, he said, the gang threw him into the sea then escaped into the darkness.
After Kamala police checked beachfront CCTV footage and questioned beach vendors, the Dane was called for a second interview at Kamala police station.
Pol Lt Col Nanon Pitakkuntorn of Kamala police said that there several points that made Berthelsen’s account suspect.
First, the “victim” is “a big guy” about 180-190 cm tall, and police felt it would be difficult for a Thai to grab him and hold him while others hit him. There were also many people on the beach at the time, making it unlikely that he could have been attacked without anyone noticing.
A much more telling point was that police found that the tide was in at 1 am, and if Berthelsen had been walking at the north end of the beach at that time, he would have been neck-deep in water.
Officers therefore checked CCTV footage at the Swissotel Phuket, Berthelsen was staying with his family.
At the time he was supposedly being robbed, he was filmed talking with staff at the front desk, after which he went to his room with a foreign girl.
They also noted that they could see from the footage that he was wearing his Omega watch.
Presented with these facts and with the CCTV fooage, Berthelsen confessed he had made up the story in order to get a police report to make a false claim on his insurance in Denmark.
“This may not seem like a big story,” said Pol Lt Col Suppawit Suwanpirom. “But if we had not been able to prove that what he said was a lie, it could have badly damaged the island’s tourism image.”
Police in Phuket take a dim view of such reports. In July last year Australian Stevie Bamford served two weeks in jail after police were able to show that her claim she had been raped by three men in a tuk-tuk was false.
It turned out that she made the report in order to avoid the wrath of her boyfriend when she stayed out later than him in Patong.
In November 2011 an Australian couple, Abdul Karim Al-Rajab and Zeidan Nouha, were arrested for making a phony robbery report. Like Berthelsen, they were planning to defraud their insurance company. They were kicked out of Thailand.
Antal indlæg: 3629 Tilmeldt: 20.02.09 Status: Offline
det var hurtigt han fik sin dom
PHUKET: En 19-årig dansker, Morten Budtz Berthelsen, blev i dag idømt seks måneders fængsel, suspenderes i to år, samt en bøde på B500 for at anmelde en falsk rapport til Kamala politiet, hvor han sagde, at han blev overfaldet og bestjålet af en thailandsk bande på Kamala Beach.
Antal indlæg: 857 Tilmeldt: 19.12.11 Status: Offline
yindee skrev: det var hurtigt han fik sin dom
PHUKET: En 19-årig dansker, Morten Budtz Berthelsen, blev i dag idømt seks måneders fængsel, suspenderes i to år, samt en bøde på B500 for at anmelde en falsk rapport til Kamala politiet, hvor han sagde, at han blev overfaldet og bestjålet af en thailandsk bande på Kamala Beach.
der var god hvad koster en overnatning på den lokale police station.
Lignende tråde