Police officers were called on May 20 to deescalate the altercation at SiwanatNakorn 700 Rai Market, The Thaiger reported.
Three Chinese tourists expressed discontent with the quality of the durian they had bought on May 13 and demanded a refund. They accused the vendor of selling them fake durian for 1,200 baht ($35).
One of the tourists grabbed the vendor’s weighing scales and hit him over the head with it, the police were told.
In self-defense, the vendor drew his durian peeling knife from its sheath to drive them away from his stall. They were taken to a local police station for questioning.
The vendor claimed he had just started selling durian at the market for the first time that day and it was impossible they had bought durians from him the previous week.
If they believe that the durian was fake, they should return to the vendor as soon as possible, not turn up empty-handed demanding a refund a week later, the vendor said. He expects the tourists wanted to scam merchants out of money.
Last week, a Vietnamese durian vendor in Thailand was arrested and is facing a potential seven years in jail for using doctored weighing scales to trick customers.