sinsin2 Posted August 12, 2001 Report Share Posted August 12, 2001 March 2000 Pattaya. Three friends from home visiting for 12 days. Two newbies and one regular all fond of a drink. One of the newbies inclined to be macho (4ft, 11ins). They enjoy fishing,so a lot of talk went into organising fishing trips. I was with them but not all day,We'd meet meet a few times every day And for a drink in the evening.But as they usually got very pissed drinking from 8pm Until 4/5am ,I would usually slip away. On the fifth day I dropped into the bar at 6 o clock and a session was in full swing. Too early for me,so I off I went. Next day I heard it had been a serious party.9 bottles of whiskey opened and 7,000/10,000 Spent each.(a bar bill of 25,000b),I was happy I missed it. Later that day I was sitting with the regular,and I felt he was not himself …..a little subdued. I was lecturing him on being ripped off in the bar and how he should know better. He started being very evasive and I asked what the fuck was wrong with him and he told me this story. They had been on Pattaya Beach looking for a boat to go deep sea fishing and arranged to be brought out 15 miles,on the way back they stopped a one of the islands,where they were stuck up by Thai soldiers carrying Automatic weapons.I didn’t believe him and tried to question him strongly about the details,why did’nt He go to the police etc. He kept saying forget about it,that he didn’t want any trouble and it was too heavy.Also I was sworn to secrecy and not to mention it to the other two.OK I thought shit happens TIT.The next morning I was driving to Koh Chaing,the newbies came for two nights, they wanted a break from Pattaya.I skirted around it on the journey,but got no information and I wasn’t that interested Anyway.I knew their was military controlled islands in the area and although they had lost their watches and some money nobody was hurt.And I couldn’t blame them for not going to the Police. Yesterday I was speaking to a friend in Europe and mentioned how the three guys had never come back to Thailand and how they had been robbed.No he said that wasn’t what happened and gave me this version. “The guys were asked by the boatman did they want to go to a firing range,He brought them to an island where they fired off the weapons.One newbie in particular fired off a lot.Then they were presented with a bill for 90,000b,the newbie with the big mouth started acting up,and got a few blows from a gun and shots were fired into the ground beside him ,to shut him up.Then they were escorted back to Pattaya, by two boats with up to 20 men while they had to change traveller’s checks.” Now I know there are a lot why didn’t they do this or that questions but All I want to know is, has any ever heard of the military in Pattaya doing this. (running an unofficial shooting range) It sounds very plausible to me. [ August 12, 2001: Message edited by: sinsin ] [ August 12, 2001: Message edited by: sinsin ] [ August 13, 2001: Message edited by: sinsin ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted August 12, 2001 Report Share Posted August 12, 2001 Hi, Been to one myself. Not sure if it was run by the military or not, but my friend got scammed as well. While he was shooting I was buying fruit at the market, and I didn't hear what had happened until after we got back. Before he started shooting he got quoted a price of so much Baht per clip. After shooting a few clips, he was presented the bill. However, now all of a sudden he 'must have misunderstood' and it was so much Baht per bullet! His bill was not nearly as much as your friends' though, but still 3-4,000 Baht. Luckily for him he had it on him. Sanuk! PS This was about 3.5 years ago, so I don't know if this is still going on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sinsin2 Posted August 12, 2001 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2001 Khun Sanuk CondomKing Thanks guys,I just wanted to confirm the story. I had never heard of a shooting range on the islands Despite spending a lot of time in Pattaya. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neon Ninja Posted August 13, 2001 Report Share Posted August 13, 2001 Good thing I read this thread! When I was in Pattaya last September, I had recieved several offers from "Boat Touts" to take me to this island where the shooting range is. Some of the touts even had cardboard displays showing pictures of the range and weapons contained within. I'm an avid gun guy, so the offer was VERY VERY tempting esp. when they were telling me that they had M-16's. I hadn't fired one in over ten years (in the US Army), and thought it would bring back some good memories. Unfortunately, it was near the end of my trip and while money wasn't exactly tight, I did have other plans for it. (Namely bar girls and another round of binge software buying at Panthip plaza.) I had put it in my plans for my next trip however. But after reading this thread it looks like it's not going to be. 90,000bt is like over 2 grand US; a bit too pricey for a day at the range... Thanks for all the info! -=/NN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CondomKing Posted August 13, 2001 Report Share Posted August 13, 2001 Same. About four years ago I was in Pattaya with my cousin and two Soi 7 girls, when some one mentioned something about going to a shooting range. We were on the beach and, of course, everyone with a boat was trying to hustle us to take a boat ride to some island to go for a swim. We really didn't want to go for the boat ride until the boat guy came over and told us under his breath that he could take us to an illegal shooting range after he dropped the other people off at the remote swim location. It sounded pretty cool, my cousin was definitely into it and, since I was footing the bill for all of us, I asked the guy how much. I forget what he told me. Probably something like,"Not sure, I just take you there and take you back." Someting like that. It didn't seem dangerous and I told him that we'd pay for the boat ride when he got us back to Pattaya. Anyway, we all get in the boat, the swimmers get dropped off, we wind up on the shooting range island. We thought the place was pretty cool. They had AK-47, uzzi's, 357 magnums, lots and lots of weapons and lots of ammuntion. There were a couple of guys there wearing camo and tee shirts and they had targets to shoot at. We took some great pictures all decked out with the machine guns, the hand guns and the Thai babes. After a while the guy in charge said we had to shoot the guns, so I asked him how much the ammo was. It seemed really expensive to me, but what the hell, we shot off $100 worth, which at that time was 2500B. And we didn't get shoot for very long, either, but on the other hand, where can you go to shoot guns like that, so the expense seemed worth it. A couple of bursts from the AK-47 and everybody shot a round or two from the magnum. That was about it. Pretty memorable, but definitely all the makings of a rip off situation. I could see how some rowdy guys who had too much to drink and like to shoot guns might get in a jam at that shooting range. Of course, they are using live ammo, as well, that's the whole point. Sorry to hear that your friends didn't make absolutely sure that they knew what they were getting into. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thalenoi Posted August 13, 2001 Report Share Posted August 13, 2001 Excellent scam for gun-crazy guys. I hope this really scares you all. Guns are no toys, but who am I to condemn guns? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.