Airport tout war going badly

By Wassayos Ngarmkham

Police who promised to end the operations of the operations of cheating unlicensed black-plate taxis and illegal tour guides at Suvarnabhumi airport by mid-June have admitted a first-round defeat - but will try again.

Last month, Pol Maj-Gen Wut Liptapanlop, deputy chief of Police Region 1, vowed a major crackdown that would take the touts and illegal guides out of the airport within 15 days.

On Sunday, Pol Maj-Gen Wut urged Airports of Thailand (AoT) to apply tax laws to curb the illegal operators, and vowed it would take just 15 days.

But police have essentially given up. The new plan to halt the activities of illegal guides-cum-taxi drivers who prey on visitors requires action by the Airports of Thailand.

AoT chairman Saprang Kalayanamitr gave the request to use tax laws to attack the so-called black-taxi rogues weak support, agreeing to discuss the matter with the Revenue Department this week.

Pol Maj-Gen Wut said 36 gangs of illegal taxi drivers are active at Suvarnabhumi airport. They work for companies that between them operate about 3,000 illegal taxis.

Their operations damage the national image because some of their customers are assaulted and robbed.

Authorities have no record of the vehicles' registration numbers or the drivers so it is difficult to keep track of them, Pol Maj-Gen Wut said.

Last May 28, Pol Maj-Gen Wut was confident he could wipe out the problem within 15 days.

To clean up the mess, Police Region 1 would seek the cooperation of other police units to crack down on unlicensed taxi drivers, he said, adding both criminal and civil laws would be strictly enforced against them.

If caught, drivers would face a maximum fine of 2,000 baht each and have their driving licences seized while the cab operators would face back-taxes. Police already know who are the operators. He said a crackdown would also be launched against illegal tour guides operating at the airport.

Pol Maj-Gen Chayut Thanataweerat, Samut Prakan police chief, said a court order would be sought to prohibit black-plate taxi drivers and illegal tour guides from operating at designated areas in the province.

The Immigration Police Office yesterday held a meeting with Suvarnabhumi airport representatives, airlines and relevant agencies to discuss security measures at the airport. The meeting, held at Novotel Suvarnabhumi Airport hotel, also discussed measures to cope with serious crimes, including human trafficking, drug trafficking and terrorism.

That was last month. The June 13 deadline came, went and the tout-gangs continued.

Pol Maj-Gen Wut claimed to have made 320 arrests, including 35 people arrested more than once.

However, police could only apply laws governing tour guides and vehicles against the people. Offenders were fined only 2,000 baht and then released. They went straight back to the airport.

"Police have now decided on a new approach to the problem," Pol Maj-Gen Wut said. "We no longer view this as an ordinary crime but consider it an economic crime. So offenders can be attacked through tax measures."

He estimated illegal taxis make about 350 trips a day. As they charge 3,000 baht a trip on average, they rake in about a million baht a day.

Since the airport opened last September, the illegal taxis have denied the state about 275 million baht in revenue, he said.

Tax laws provide for imprisonment of up to seven years and a fine of up to two million baht for people who deliberately evade paying income taxes.

Police believe that applying tax laws against employers of the illegal taxi drivers-cum-guides would wipe out their operations within 15 days, Pol Maj-Gen Wut said.

"These operations must be eradicated as the International Civil Aviation Organisation clearly states that an airport must be a safe place," he said.

The gangs previously operated out of Don Muang airport but moved their operations to Suvarnabhumi when it took over as the main international airport last September.

The support of influential people had always been a major obstacle to past attempts to stop them, the deputy commissioner said.