PHUKET – On February 17, 2024, officers at Cherng Talay Police Station in Phuket received a report that a Grab driver was threatened by a group of men, believed to be local cab drivers, in front of foreign tourists at Maya Hotel in Cherng Talay at around 2:30 a.m.
When police arrived, they found Mr. Jakkree Thummee, a 42-year-old Grab driver, in a state of shock. Inside the car they found two foreign female tourists who were also in shock. They did not know what had happened. The perpetrators had already fled the scene.
Mr. Jakkree later told reporters that he had just dropped off another client in the Cherng Talay area before the incident. He then received a call via Grab from two foreign female tourists he was supposed to pick up at Maya Beach Club.
He was scared because he had already heard of similar incidents. So he spoke to the customers and asked them if they could meet him further from the club. However, the customers had not read his message yet, so he went to the meeting point to pick them up.
When he arrived, a fat man knocked on his window and asked if he was there to pick up customers. When he said yes, the man smashed his car and called 4-5 other men to surround his car. One of them parked a tuk-tuk in front of his car to block it. Mr. Jakkree was horrified and called 191 and the customers were also terrified and sat frozen. When the police arrived, the men had already fled.
“I would like to ask the police to take care of this situation because this is a major tourist destination. Most foreigners come here and this is a popular place for them. When something like this happens, it’s not only the drivers who are scared, but also the tourists. I would like to know how this problem is going to be solved,” said Mr. Jakkree.
A similar incident occurred in the same location on November 3, 2023, when an out-of-town cab driver picked up a customer and was severely beaten by a group of men. In this case, the Cherng Talay police arrested two of the perpetrators and charged them with assault.
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