BANGKOK (The Nation/Asia News Network): The Taiwanese actress who accused Thai police of extortion posted a comment on social media thanking the BBC and Taiwan media for listening to her and sharing “the truth”.
In an Instagram post on Tuesday (Jan 31) morning, Charlene An (An Yu-qing) said: “Thank you BBC and all participating media from Taiwan for taking your precious time to listen & to share the truth.
“Thank you to all for your words of encouragement, support & care to help me walk through this moment of traumatic ‘darkness’.”
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When An dropped a bombshell on the Thai police force, saying a team of officers at a checkpoint in Bangkok demanded a bribe of 27,000 baht RM3,500) from her, several Thai TV stations began pointing to discrepancies in her claims.
Thai media questioned the length of time she claimed to have been detained at the checkpoint and her claim that police had planted a vaping device on her. Local TV stations showed CCTV footage showing that she and her friends were at the checkpoint for 47 minutes, not two hours as she claimed.
They also shared footage showing she owned and used a vaping device before and after being stopped at the checkpoint outside the Chinese embassy.
While her accusations were being questioned by Thai media, whistleblowing former politician and massage parlour tycoon Chuwit Kamolvisit jumped to her rescue on Monday, saying he had a clip showing one of An’s friends handing money to a plainclothes policeman.
An then responded to Chuwit’s Facebook page thanking him for finally uncovering the truth.
In her Instagram post, An said she was “grateful for the many Thai friendships made.
“You have taught me that bravery has no language barriers,” she said in the post.
“Thailand, your culture, people, food will always be special to me. I look forward to a better experience in my future visits.”
She ended the post by saying: “May truth find its way. May this be the End.”
As of Tuesday, there were still conflicting reports about whether or not seven Huay Kwang policemen had confessed to demanding the bribe.
Earlier, police sources said the officers in question had confessed to extorting 27,000 baht and shared it among themselves, but later reports denied the so-called confessions.
On Tuesday, National Police chief Pol General Damrongsak Kittiprapas said a disciplinary committee was still investigating the case.
