Thai call scam suspects arrive from Dubai

BANGKOK, April 2 (TNA) -- Pol Gen Chakthip Chaijinda, commissioner of the Royal Thai Police, received 18 Thai people suspected of being involved in a phone call scam after they were sent back from Dubai where they were arrested. The suspects' flight landed at Suvarnabhumi airport Monday morning. They were among 23 people who were arrested in Dubai on the late night of March 19 while they were sleeping. The suspects consist of 22 Thai and a Taiwanese. Thai police coordinated the arrest with Dubai police. Police seized from them passports, communication radios and computers used to trick Thai victims out of about 100 million baht. In Thailand police from Bangkok's Klong Tan station charged them with public fraud and involvement in transnational crime. They are liable to a jail term of up to 15 years. Pol Gen Chakthip said police were hunting for more accomplices in the gang. Pol Maj Gen Surachet Hakpal, deputy commissioner of tourist police, said Dubai was a big base of the phone call scam gang led by Taiwanese suspects and 70% of victims in Thailand received calls from Dubai. About 300 other suspects remained at large in the scam and most of them were Taiwanese, Pol Maj Gen Surachet said. (TNA)