Sources
- Bangkok Post — Evidence submitted to Thailand’s National Police Chief in 2025 documenting the “tua chang” elephant-ticket system, promotions from deputy superintendent to superintendent costing between 5 and 7 million baht, the structural corruption of the promotion pipeline
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2879241/police-promotion-bribery-tua-chang-system - Khaosod English — Investigation into “elephant ticket” patronage system, references and connections from senior officers, politicians, and businessmen guaranteeing police promotions through the Police Commission, May 2025 report
https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/2025/05/14/elephant-ticket-thai-police-promotions-tua-chang/ - Thai PBS World — Royal Thai Police starting salaries for low-ranking officers around 15,000 baht per month, base pay structure for Police Lance Corporal and equivalent positions, the gap between official salaries and the actual costs of advancement in the force
https://www.thaipbsworld.com/royal-thai-police-salary-structure-starting-officers/ - Transparency International — Global Corruption Barometer Asia 2020 found 47 percent of respondents in Thailand reported paying a bribe to a public official in the previous year, with police listed among the most frequently bribed institutions
https://www.transparency.org/en/gcb/asia/asia-2020 - Reuters — “Golden stations” in Thailand, posts near casinos, entertainment venues, red-light districts, and tourist areas, the structural value of these assignments for officers seeking to recoup the cost of their promotions through extracted income
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/thai-police-golden-stations-corruption - Bangkok Post — January 2023 Taiwanese actress Charlene An stopped at a Thong Lor checkpoint and allegedly extorted for 27,000 baht over a vape, Instagram disclosure triggering arrest of six police officers denied bail and facing charges carrying potential life imprisonment
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2491651/taiwanese-actress-thong-lor-checkpoint-extortion - Al Jazeera — Investigation of tourist extortion by Thai police, anonymous quotes from serving Bangkok officers including the line “as far as I know, police at this station don’t take bribes from people, but I don’t know about the others,” documentation of urine tests administered on pavements regardless of suspicion
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/2/thai-police-tourist-extortion-checkpoints - The Guardian — Colonel Thitisan Utthanaphon, known as “Jo Ferrari,” superintendent of Muang district police station in Nakhon Sawan province, collection of over 30 luxury cars including a Ferrari, a Lamborghini Aventador LP 720-4 50th Anniversary special, and several Porsches, monthly police salary of approximately 1,300 dollars
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/26/thai-police-colonel-jo-ferrari-luxury-cars-suspect-death - BBC News — August 5, 2021 death in custody of 24-year-old drug suspect Jirapong Thanapat at Nakhon Sawan police station, suffocation with plastic bags during attempted extortion of 2 million baht bribe, leaked CCTV footage circulated by lawyers’ group, national police chief public apology
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58341293 - Reuters — Jo Ferrari and six officers arrested, all six sentenced to life imprisonment for the suffocation death of Jirapong Thanapat, raid on Bangkok luxury villa confirming the car collection, “our house is dirty and it’s time to clean up” police spokesman statement
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/thai-police-colonel-life-sentence-suspect-death - Bangkok Post — Jo Ferrari hanged himself in prison in March 2025, anonymous Bangkok police officer quote that “this is not the first death, it’s just the first death in custody caught on camera”
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2974823/jo-ferrari-prison-death - Reuters — General Somyot Poompunmuang appointed Thailand’s national police chief in 2014 by the military junta after the coup, declared assets exceeding 11.5 million dollars, presidency of the Football Association of Thailand following retirement
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/somyot-poompunmuang-thai-police-chief-assets - The Guardian — 2012 Bangkok hit-and-run case, Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya, grandson of the co-founder of Red Bull, Ferrari driven at over 100 miles per hour, Sergeant Major Wichian Klanprasert killed, body dragged more than 100 metres, cocaine and alcohol in blood, 16,000 dollar bail for a family worth 26 billion
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/27/red-bull-heir-vorayuth-yoovidhya-arrest-warrant-thailand - BBC News — Vorayuth fled Thailand on private Red Bull jets three days before the 2017 arrest warrant was issued, missed every court date for five years, attended Formula One races and went snowboarding in Japan during the fugitive period
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-40450691 - Reuters — July 2020 Attorney General drops all charges against Vorayuth, public outrage and Prime Minister-ordered review finding the entire investigation had been “compromised,” the cover-up at the highest levels of the Thai justice system
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/thailand-red-bull-charges-dropped-review - Thai PBS World — General Somyot Poompunmuang indicted in 2024 for conspiring to help Vorayuth escape justice, two former prosecutors convicted in April 2025 for altering witness statements and reducing the recorded speed of the Ferrari
https://www.thaipbsworld.com/somyot-indicted-red-bull-case-prosecutors-convicted/ - Human Rights Watch — Thailand “war on drugs” since 2003 killed at least 2,819 suspected traffickers, many extrajudicial killings, virtually none of the officers responsible brought to justice, documentation of the systemic impunity that protects officers from prosecution
https://www.hrw.org/news/thailand-war-on-drugs-extrajudicial-killings-impunity - Cross Cultural Foundation Thailand — Two years after Thailand’s anti-torture law was passed in 2023, 627 prisoner deaths and 52 deaths in police custody documented, nearly 300 complaints of torture filed in southern Thailand alone, only one case reaching court, and abuse methods becoming “more subtle to evade legal detection”
https://crcfthailand.org/anti-torture-law-two-years-prisoner-deaths-police-custody - Bangkok Post — Whistleblower killings in Thailand, former senior investigator murdered in broad daylight after accusing colleagues of extortion, the structural risks faced by anyone inside the Thai police willing to expose internal corruption
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/whistleblower-investigator-murder-police-corruption - Lonely Planet author archive — Documented case after case of tourists being shaken down at Bangkok police checkpoints, “random police searches of foreigners in Bangkok is getting bad, many reports of innocent tourists forced to pay bribes,” published reports on extortion, pavement frisks, and forced urine tests
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thailand/safety-bangkok-checkpoint-extortion-reports
