Police arrest phone scam, online gambling suspects

BANGKOK, July 24 (TNA) -- Thai and Chinese police have arrested 34 people including 26 Chinese who were suspected of being involved in phone scams and online gambling in major tourist provinces. One of their victims committed suicide. Their assets worth 50 million baht were impounded. Pol Maj Gen Surachate Hakparn, deputy commissioner of the Tourist Police Bureau, said the arrest resulted from raids at 14 places in Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Chon Buri’s Pattaya City and Phuket. The 34 arrested suspects consisted of 26 Chinese, four Myanmar, three stateless people and a Vanuatu. They were charged initially with illegal immigration or overstaying their visas. Their seized assets included 56 computers, about 20 million baht in Thai banknotes, about 10 million baht worth of foreign currencies, mobile phones, SIM cards, clocks and land title deeds. Pol Maj Gen Surachate said the Chinese government had asked Thai authorities to suppress the Chinese people who ran phone scams in Thailand and targeted victims in China. A victim was a jobless man in Jilin province. He lost about 2.5 million baht and later hung himself, Pol Maj Gen Surachate said. Some of the suspects used Thailand as their base to manipulate stocks in China and caused great damage. The suspects chose to operate in major tourist provinces due to their high-speed internet and high technologies, he said. The arrested people would be deported and Thai police would seek the extradition of six Thai suspects arrested earlier in China, Pol Maj Gen Surachate said. (TNA)