BANGKOK – The Tourist police in Bangkok and a German charity have come to the aid of a German Benjamin Holse with excessively swollen legs, found begging near Khao San Road in Bangkok, after his photos were distributed and shared on social media.
Chumphol said the German organisation officials had earlier approached Holse and offered help but he had turned it down. Tourism police, after learning about Holse from social media, stepped in and contacted Chumphol again for help, he added.
He said Holse had arrived in Thailand on September 2 by a Chinese Eastern Airlines flight on a one-way ticket. A tourism policeman, Pol Lieutenant Piyaphong Bukhunthos, said police first contacted Holse on Wednesday and the German had said his passport, wallet and other documents had been stolen.
A Sanook post later quoted Holse as saying that the excessive swelling on his legs was a congenital symptom and his condition was neither elephantiasis nor painful.