Crime

British Mother tells of Horrific Jellyfish Stings in Thailand

Life-threatening: Ms Webster’s stings were so severe she said she felt as though her leg had been ‘dipped in acid.

Chiangrai Times – A mother has told how she feared she was being eaten by a shark when she was stung by a jellyfish just hours after arriving at a luxury resort in Thailand.

Sam Webster, from Solihull, suffered third degree burns and was left with horrific scarring when she fell from a banana boat and was attacked by the dangerous sea creatures.

Ravaged skin: The spines were cleared out of her leg and the damaged tissue removed in several operations. She will need skin grafts in the future to help the scarring

The 37-year-old said the stings felt like ‘hundreds of razors’ being sliced through her leg, leaving her close to drowning before her partner jumped in to save her.

She spent the rest of her trip in hospital and since returning to the UK has undergone two operations and faces further skin grafts to repair her leg.

Now Ms Webster, who had to take four months off from her job as a council manager, wants to warn other Brits travelling to Thailand.

She said: ‘I am scarred for life but just pleased to be alive and relieved that it wasn’t my daughter that got stung.

‘The pain was so bad I honestly thought I had been attacked by a shark. I’ve been through months of hell since this happened. I never realised a jellyfish sting could be so life changing. I want to warn others.’

Ms Webster had arrived in Thailand and taken her six-year-old daughter Ella on a banana boat ride to cool down after their trip, while partner Dave Stanley, a sales manager, watched from the shore.

After zipping around the ocean, Ms Webster fell off the ride into the water and was waiting for the driver to turn round and get her when she was stung.

She says: ‘One minute I was laughing and splashing about, the next it felt like hundreds of razors were being sliced through my leg.

‘I was screaming and panicking so much I started floundering in the water. I thought if I wasn’t eaten I would drowned anyway, but luckily my partner saw and dived in to pull me back to shore.’

Utter misery: Ms Webster, pictured with daughter Ella and partner David Stanley, spent the rest of her holiday in hospital and was forced to take four months off work

Her calf was covered in huge red blisters and locals crowded round, some pouring cold drinks on her leg.

Ms Webster says: ‘I heard them saying it was a jellyfish sting but I was in shock. It felt like my leg had been dipped in acid.’

A local policeman drove her to a nearby clinic in his pick up truck and she was treated with antibiotics and painkillers and taken back to her hotel to rest.

The next morning, Ms Webster tried to ignore the pain in her leg as the family had booked a rainforest excursion and her daughter was looking forward to feeding elephants.

‘It was the trip of a lifetime, the highlight of our visit and I didn’t want to spoil it. I thought a jellyfish sting couldn’t be that bad,’ she explains.

But during the drive, her leg started to swell and the red blisters turned black.

She says: ‘Dave was looking very worried and insisting I needed to be seen but by now we were deep in the rainforest.’

With the help of their guide, Ms Webster was taken to a tiny hospital in the rainforest where lizards scampered up the walls.

‘Of course I didn’t expect the standard of hospitals we are used to at home but I was shocked to see the wildlife inside. There were no sheets and blood on the floor. I was terrified.’

Mr Stanley spoke with their tour operator who arranged a transfer to a bigger private hospital in Phuket.

He stayed with Ms Webster’s daughter Ella at camp while her mother was taken by ambulance on the six-hour journey.

It was there medics confirmed she had suffered third degree burns caused by a jellyfish sting.

I was admitted for a week and they started clearing the spines out of my leg. It was agony. I insisted Dave and Ella stay at the hotel, I didn’t want to spoil their trip. There was no phone reception so I couldn’t even speak to them.

It was supposed to be the holiday of a lifetime but I had to lie in bed watching English war films.’

Three days into her stay an earthquake rocked the hospital. ‘I was starting to think my time was up when the nurses ran in to evacuate me. It couldn’t have gotten any worse.’

Thankfully nobody was hurt and after seven days as an inpatient, she was reunited with her daughter and partner.

They flew back to England and Ms Webster was admitted to hospital immediately. Surgeons removed the top layer of skin and weeks later she had a second operation to remove the damaged tissue underneath.

She spent the next three months recovering from the surgery on crutches and has only recently been able to return to work as a manager with the local council.

She said: ‘It was meant to be the trip of a lifetime but it turned into a real nightmare.

‘I’ll never be able to wear shorts again and will need skin grafts in the future to help the scarring but knowing what I know now about jellyfish stings I was lucky. I could have died.

‘I won’t ever be able to wear shorts or a bikini again. My leg is a mess.

‘I want to warn others travelling in Thailand so it doesn’t happen to them. I honestly wish we had gone to Cornwall or Weymouth instead.’

Crime

Police Officer Being Ordained at Temple Arrested for Running Scam Call Center

Police in Northern Thailand have arrested a fellow officer as he was being ordained at a temple in Ngao district of neighbouring Lampang province.

Pol Lt Col Bandit Khonkan chief inspector from the Hang Dong police station was disrobed and taken to the Chang Puak station in Chiang Mai. He was arrested on charges of running a call centre scam gang in Chiang Mai Province.

According to Thai Media Chiang Mai Provincial Police Region 5 obtained an arrest warrant for Pol Lt Col Bandit on Friday from the Chiang Mai Provincial Court for procuring illegal telecom equipment, setting up a station and using public airwaves to run a telecommunications business without permission.

Pol Lt Col Bandit reportedly told investigators that he was not the ringleader and was only a member of the gang with Chinese partners.

His arrest followed the apprehension of his 26-year-old daughter, Miss Wanuchapond, 26, and three others during raids at three housing projects in Chiang Mai on Friday, Pol Maj Gen Weerachon Boontawee, deputy chief of Provincial Police Region 5 told Thai media.

During the raids police police discovered around 12 GSM gateways, or SIM boxes, which are devices used for converting cellular networks into mobile phone numbers used domestically.

The chief inspectors daughter Miss Wanuchapond told the arresting officers that she was paid 8,000 baht a month at each of the three locations for renting thr rooms and monitoring devices.

She claimed she had no idea what the devices were and accepted the job because the pay was attractive.

Police investigators working with telecom regulators used a special tracking device to monitor the gang’s communications and learned that its base was in Myanmar opposite Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai.

The call center gang used the GSM gateways to make calls over the internet to scam people in Thailand out of million of baht.

The GSM gateways transmitting signals via SIM boxes to convert them into domestic phone numbers, duping victims into thinking they were being called from Thai government agencies.

Pol Maj Gen Weerachon said that each SIM box held 32 SIM cards, with a capacity of up to 300,000 calls a month. The seized devices had made fraudulent calls over 3.6 million times.

He said the their investigation is ongoing and they are working to track down the remaining conspirators, including Chinese and other Thai suspects.

Authorities are still deciding whether Pol Lt Col Bandit will be dismissed from the force, he said, adding that so far, no other officers are known to have been involved.

Police in Chiang Rai Launch Crackdown on Cyber Criminals in Golden Triangle

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Settha Thavisin has authorized the establishment of an emergency cyber center operated by the Royal Thai Police to combat transnational crimes committed by call center gangs along the Thai border in Chiang Rai province.

On July 19, Prime Minister Settha Thavisin directed the Center to combat information technology crimes. The Royal Thai Police (Royal Thai Police) will crack down on call center gangs in Myanmar, Laos, and along the border.

His directive comes as call center gangs ratchet up their scams to defraud people of their money, causing concern among Thais and jeopardizing the country’s economic and social stability.

Related Police News:

Machete Wielding Man Shot an Killed by Police in Chiang Rai

https://www.chiangraitimes.com/chiangrai-news/machete-wielding-man-shot-an-killed-by-police-in-chiang-rai/

Crime

Thai Immigration Police Arrest Colombian Tourists Over Home Invasions

Immigration police officers have arrested four Colombian nationals in connection with a series of home burglaries at luxury housing complexes in the Bangkok metropolitan area and Chiang Buri Province.

Pol Maj Gen Panthana Nuchanart, deputy commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, told a press briefing that three of the suspects were apprehended in Nonthaburi Province and the fourth in South Pattaya, Chon Buri Province.

According to the Bangkok Post, the Colombians were charged with stealing conspiracy and seized around 3 million baht (US$82,500.00).

According to Pol Maj Gen Panthana, the criminals rode motorcycles through housing estates, scoping out the properties and waiting for the owners to depart before committing their crimes.

He stated that all four of the accused denied any involvement in the home break-ins, but the arresting squad discovered evidence that implicated them.

Police called to home invasion

Meanwhile, police were dispatched to a luxury housing development in Tambon Nong Prue, Chonburi Province, after a Chinese man was attacked during a house invasion.

When they arrived, they discovered the house owner, Mr. Qian Peng Yi, visibly scared and with marks from being tied up with a cable. He informed police that three Chinese males broke into his home at 9 p.m., one of whom brandished a gun at him and directed him to his bedroom.

They bound his hands and feet, gagged him with fabric, taped his head, and forced him into the bed. The intruders then attempted to compel him into transferring 10 million baht in cryptocurrencies to them, endangering the life of his 33-year-old cousin who was in a second-floor bedroom.

While they scoured the house in search of riches, Mr. Peng Yi managed to flee and hide; he subsequently observed them leave with his cousin. Officials investigated the property and analyzed security camera footage from the incident and surrounding areas.

Around 9 p.m., a 30-year-old van driver came at the Bang Lamung police station after being contacted by an agency to carry Chinese customers from Pattaya to Suvarnabhumi Airport.

The driver informed authorities that he was supposed to pick them up at a motel about a kilometer from the Chinese businessman’s home. He then drove them to Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport, arriving at 1 a.m. and receiving 1,800 baht.

The driver took a snapshot of the group smoking at the airport gate and identified one of them as the victim’s cousin. Police suspected coordination between her and the three suspects in her cousin’s heist, who all departed Thailand on the same aircraft.

Other Bangkok News:

Police in Bangkok Discover Six Vietnamese Tourists Dead in 5 Star Hotel

Police in Bangkok Discover Six Vietnamese Tourists Dead in 5 Star Hotel

Crime

Son of Thailand’s Leading Legal Scholar on Corruption Arrested for Running Online Gambling Network

The son of a former senator and leading economist and expert on corruption and gambling in Thailand has been arrested for on charges of running an online gambling network and its payment system.

Police from Thailand’s Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) have confiscated assets worth more than (US$ 11.1 million) 400 million baht.

Narote Piriyarangsan, 33, was arrested following crackdowns in three sites around the city, according to Pol Maj Gen Athip Pongsiwapai, commander of the police Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD).

Mr Narote’s father, Sangsit Piriyarangsan, is an economist who has written articles and books about corruption and gambling. He was one of the appointed senators that were investigating the government’s intention to legalize casino gaming before their terms expired.

Police also detained 39-year-old Narayut Narakaew, the owner of the gambling website 69pgslot.com. The Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for the couple for operating an internet gambling service and money laundering.

According to the Bangkok Post, police seized two desktop computers, one laptop computer, 14 mobile phones, 21 bank passbooks, 53 ATM cards, and four high-end cars — a Ferrari 926 GTS, an Aston Martin, a Lexus, and a Subaru — totaling more than 400 million baht.

Police launched the inquiry after discovering the online gambling site, which accepted funds via an automatic deposit-withdrawal system through bank accounts and deposits in the AskMePay system. Players scanned the VPay QR code as well as the QR codes for Heng Online 888 or Heng Pay Company.

Police also discovered that payments received via QR code scans were transferred to the account of Heng Pay Co and then to the gambling website’s mule accounts using AskMePay, which did not use banks’ face recognition scanning. An inquiry indicated a monthly turnover of approximately 5 billion baht.

According to investigators, the website has been up and running for around four years, with the payment mechanism in use for roughly eight months.

According to Pol Maj Gen Athip, Mr Narote owns the gaming website’s payment systems and is the director of Heng Pay Co. After gathering evidence, authorities requested arrest warrants for 14 people.

Thailand does not allow almost any kind of gaming. Even though the law doesn’t say anything specific about online gaming, it is still considered gambling. The country has pretty strict rules about gambling. Thai punters can bet on the national lottery and horse races, but they can’t bet on any other types of games.

But it’s not a secret that there is a huge illegal gaming business in Thailand, even though it’s illegal.

The illegal casinos, online betting shops, underground lotteries, and pop-up bookies that take bets on everything from cockfights to Muay Thai make a shadow economy that is worth billions of dollars every year.