Gun police raid ‘gambling den’ ...to f ind expats playing bridge
THIS was the scene as 50 armed police and soldiers raided an ‘illicit gambling den’ in Thailand – only to find British pensioners playing bridge.
Vice-squad officers burst into a room above a restaurant in the beach resort of Pattaya where expats – including a former British Honorary Consul – were sipping cups of green tea as they enjoyed their game.
Outside was a further detachment of armed officers positioned to snare anyone bent on escape. But the respectable members of the Jomtien and Pattaya Bridge Club – average age 65 – insisted on completing their tournament.
Apparently fearful of offending a British tradition, the officers did let them finish – but arrested the lot of them straight afterwards.
Some 32 Western expats aged 50 to 84, including a dozen Britons, were taken into custody on Wednesday afternoon on suspicion of gambling without a licence, which is ille- gal in Thailand. They were held for 12 hours before being made to pay 5,000 Baht (£96) each and released at 3am yesterday morning.
Among them was former British Honorary Consul Barry Kenyon MBE, who said: ‘It was an ordeal for our older members, some of whom are over 80 years old.
‘We had done nothing illegal. We do not play bridge for money. It was all quite absurd.’ The Thai government has ordered a crackdown on illegal gambling, and officers in ‘sin city’ Pattaya – more used to tackling prostitution, drugs and gangsters – apparently received a tip-off about a ‘regular gathering of foreign nationals with packs of cards’ above Alto’s Restaurant and Bar.
The Club has been meeting there three afternoons a week since being founded in 1994 by a British expat.
Chairman Jeremy Watson, 77, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, who worked as a chartered accountant in the Far East before retiring to Pattaya a few years ago, said: ‘There were about 50 police, soldiers and internal ministry officials, with guns and handcuffs.
‘We ignored them. Bridge players don’t like to be interrupted halfway through, especially if they are doing well.’
The superintendent of Pattaya police said the group would not be charged with gambling, but might be charged under a law limiting individuals to possession of 120 unregistered playing cards.
A British Embassy spokesman said officials were ‘in contact’ with local authorities and offering consular assistance.
‘It was all quite absurd’