VIDEO: City inspectors sacked for extortion

A fruit vendor puts money into a bag containing fruit before handing it to a city thetsakit beneath Asoke BTS station in Bangkok in October. (Capture from a clip by Wasant Saenbua via Big Krian Indy Facebook page)

Three city inspectors, known as thetsakit, have been fired for extorting money from a fruit vendor on the footpath below the BTS Asoke train station.

Bangkok deputy governor Sakoltee Phattiyakul said on Wednesday that a disciplinary inquiry found the three inspectors guilty of extortion and decided they should be sacked.

They have a month in which to appeal the decision, Mr Sakoltee said.

The three were suspended on Oct 17, three days after a video clip showed them receiving an undisclosed amount of money from a vendor on a footpath where selling is prohibited near the BTS Asoke station.