Well, this is certainly an outrageous incident! Guess how much a Bangladeshi man who took a taxi ride from Jalan San Peng to Sunway Putra Mall had to pay for a mere 7km ride? The unscrupulous taxi driver had the audacity to ask him to pay RM6,000! Yes, for such a short trip!
Source: MMO
Harian Metro reported that on November 28, the 41-year-old victim had hailed a taxi to take him to the mall at around 2pm. A Proton Persona taxi driven by a man in his 40s accepted the ride and they went on their way to the mall.
However, during the journey, the victim who is also a businessman noticed something amiss as the taxi’s meter was steadily climbing higher into the thousands and asked the driver how much it would cost. This question made the driver angry and he scolded the man.
Source: The Star
The driver told him that the fare would cost about RM6,000, which shocked the victim and demanded that he pull over immediately. The driver pointed the knife at the man and threatened him with it saying that he would have to pay at least RM4,500 or the driver would hurt him. That amount can pay for a flight ticket to Europe and more!
Fearing for his safety, the victim had no choice but to cough up some money and subsequently paid the driver RM3,900 before he could escape from the car. The man went to the Dang Wangi police station after that and lodged a police report.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
The police said that the victim had lived in Malaysia for a few years and this was the first time that he had the misfortune to encounter such blatant extortion. The Bangladeshi man said that because of this incident, he was traumatised and afraid to use taxis anymore. Who can blame him for feeling that way!
Dang Wangi OCPD Asst Comm Shaharuddin Abdullah said that the police are investigating the case and are still trying to locate the suspect.
Sadly, this isn’t the first time that such an incident has happened with dishonest taxi drivers which tarnished the name of other good taxi drivers. Too bad it doesn’t look like it could be the last.
Also read: Netizen Complains How Taxi Drivers Are Losing Livelihood to Grab/Uber, Gets Backlash
