Tourist trip to Kerala goes wrong after alleged ‘Taxi Mafia’ ambush

A couple fell victim to the ‘taxi mafia’ in Kerala. The duo, who were visiting Alappuzha (also known as ‘Venice Of The East’), found their idyllic holiday ruined when they were harassed by several unscrupulous taxi drivers. Taking to Reddit, the man revealed how a taxi driver had tried to dupe him.

“I and my wife visited Alleppey (former name Alappuzha) on October 2, planning to stay for just one day before going to Munnar. Initially we were considering our transportation options when a seemingly nice taxi driver approached us. He kindly persuaded us to give him details about our stay and our plans to travel to Munnar. He quoted Rs 5500 but we told him we would think about it. He insisted on getting a missed call from us, which in retrospect was a red flag,” he wrote.

He later claimed that after he rejected the offer, the same taxi driver called him several times to ask why he did not agree. What happened next shocked them to their core.

The man alleged that the driver tried to ambush the couple with his accomplices and threatened to harm them if they did not use local taxis.

“As soon as we reached our hotel, we saw seven to eight taxi drivers waiting outside and interrogating us about our travel plans to Munnar. The ‘leader’ of this group approached us and threatened that online bookings would be banned in Alappuzha and that it would ‘end badly’ if we did not use local taxis. “I told him to back off, but they wouldn’t leave and just hung around,” he said.