A woman travelled by taxi from Bangkok to Udon Thani yesterday, August 15, for 6,000 baht but arrived without money to pay the bill. Police were called before a urine test later returned a positive result for methamphetamine.
Police responded at about 6pm after receiving a report of an unpaid taxi fare at the National Sports University, Udon Thani Campus. Officers found a taxi and its driver, 57 year old Narong.
Narong said his female passenger did not have the money to pay the agreed fare. He explained that he had been driving around Bangkok looking for passengers earlier that morning when the woman hailed his taxi near Suvarnabhumi Airport.
According to Narong, the woman hired the taxi for the entire journey to the National Sports University in Udon Thani province for an agreed price of 6,000 baht.
Narong said that after reaching the destination, the passenger was unable to contact her relative. He allowed her about one hour to make contact, but she remained unable to reach the person.
The driver said he would file a police complaint if the passenger could not pay the fare. He had already spent 800 baht on gas and 30 baht on tolls for the journey.
The passenger, identified as 24 year old Aom from Bueng Kan, said she worked in Bangkok and had hired the taxi to travel to Udon Thani to visit her younger brother, who she believed was studying at the National Sports University.
Aom said she had agreed to pay 6,000 baht for the journey and planned to get the money from her younger brother when she arrived. However, university staff could not find his name, and she was unable to contact him after waiting for about an hour.
Police took Aom for further questioning and learned that she had not eaten all day and had no money in her bag. After buying her dinner, officers inspected her phone and found a chat conversation showing that she had sent a friend a photo of what appeared to be a packet of crystal methamphetamine on August 12.
According to police, Aom was unable to answer questions about the suspected crystal methamphetamine. She denied using the drug and denied that the substance shown in the photograph belonged to her.
After getting her phone back, Aom allegedly hurled it away, breaking the device.
Suspecting Aom had consumed the suspected drug, police tested her urine, which returned positive for methamphetamine.
Police charged Aom with using a Category 1 narcotic after she tested positive for methamphetamine. DailyNews reported that investigators would also add a fraud charge over the unpaid 6,000 baht taxi fare.
Elsewhere, a Portuguese woman refused to pay a taxi fare and threatened the female driver with a knife at a hotel in the Rawai neighbourhood of Phuket
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