Organized Crime in Thailand's Tourism Industry

According to ETN Global Travel Industry News, Thai Tourism and Sports Minister Somsak Pureesrisak has taken a stance against rampant organized crime present in the state’s tourism industry, and particularly across the island of Phuket. On Friday it was reported that Minister Somsak called for an end to the “age-old” Phuket practice of holding foreigners’ passports as a condition for renting motorbikes, cars, and jet-skis.

He suggested that temporary drivers’ licenses are issued to visitors in order to prevent what he called the seizing of foreign governments’ property. As explained, these temporary licenses would require the renter to prove that he or she already has a valid license in their own country. Tarit Pengdith, chief of the Department of Special Investigations (DSI), accompanied Minister Somsak on Friday and offered an alternative suggestion of vehicle-rental operators accepting a signed copy of the customer’s passport. While overall this issue may seem pretty low on the transnational crime totem pole, ETN explained that Minister Somsak did not fully elaborate the extent to which crime in the industry is taking place.

As the tourism industry outlet reported, Thai law-enforcement agencies routinely confiscate passports of tourists while conducting investigations, and furthermore, the Department of State reports that Tuk-Tuk and taxi drivers in Phuket are often described in media reports as being a mafia in regard to their exploitation of tourists.  DSI Chief Tarit blankly stated that “regardless of whatever measures are taken to facilitate Phuket’s tourism industry being cleaned up, after we have established our Organized Crime Center for Tourism, we will crack down on all illegal businesses… Concerning organized crime in Phuket, this is my last warning – you have 15 days to legalize your activities…if we learn that local government officials have been involved, they will not be exempt from the full force of the law”.

The language employed by the Phuket Gazeette was less subtle, as a headline from July 25 read: “DSI gives Phuket mafia 15 days to pack up shop”. As stated in the article, Tarit arrived in Phuket with Minister Somsak and a team of 10 DSI officials to launch the crackdown targeting illegal taxi drivers and foreigners using Thai nominees in order to illegally maintain control over companies. The Phuket Gazette also explained that Minister Somsak specifically identified Russians as a target group who hired Thais as nominees to run restaurants, souvenir shops and beach-bed rental services that exploited tourists (story here). The Organized Crime Center for Tourism is set to open at Phuket International Airport in 15 days. It remains to be seen if the mafia will cease to operate on the island under the  timetable laid out by Tarit and Somsak, if at all.