Crime

Thai Govt Blames Australia for Arrest of Refugee Bahrain Footballer Hakeem Al-Araibi

BANGKOK – Thailand’s Foreign Ministry went on the offensive yesterday after saying Thai officials only detained Australian refugee footballer Hakeem Al-Araibi, because Australian authorities sent an Interpol “red notice” after he boarded a plane to Bangkok.

Thailand’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday that Thailand only became involved “by chance” after a police bureau that handles Interpol matters in Australia notified Thai authorities that Mr Araibi had boarded a flight to Bangkok and was the subject of a “red notice” initiated by Bahrain.

“It took several days after the arrival of Mr Hakeem before the Australian authorities informed us that the red notice had been cancelled,” the statement said.

“By that time, legal proceedings in Thailand regarding Mr Hakeem had already started and could not be reversed,” it said.

Mr Araibi could stay in jail until August, as the court hearing his case will take two to three months to deliver its ruling after the next hearing, set for late April, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office said.

“So between now and then, Hakeem will have to be in custody for at least until August,” Trumph Jalichandra told a news conference, adding that he could only be released sooner if Bahrain withdrew its request.

The attorney general’s office also told reporters Wednesday that with extradition requests bail would be opposed.

“If you look at the number of foreign defendants, they pay their bail and jump bail and then don’t show up in court,” Chatchom Akapin, the office’s director general for international affairs, said, adding that the policy applied “not only to Hakeem”.

A deputy spokesman for the office said the case was not political.

Australia’s Home Affairs office confirmed in December that federal police had advised Thai authorities a person with a red notice was on the way to Thailand but did not say if the bureau was aware Mr Araibi had refugee status.

On Tuesday, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison repeated a call for Mr Araibi to be freed, saying he was “disturbed” to see photos of the footballer in shackles at a court hearing this week.

Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne urged Thai authorities to use their discretion.

“Given … that he is a permanent resident of our country, on the pathway to citizenship, we have encouraged the Bahraini government not to proceed with the extradition application, and we have encouraged the Thai government to exercise the discretion that they have available to them,” she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from Samoa.

Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said she had visited Bangkok personally to call on Thai authorities to use their discretion in Mr al-Araibi’s case.

In response to the news Mr Al-Araibi may be held until August, Ms Payne said Australia the government is trying to resolve the issue.

“Australia recognizes the importance of working cooperatively with Thailand and Bahrain to try to resolve this issue,” she said.

“To this end Australia has already made multiple representations to Bahrain, including at ministerial level. Bahrain has not, to date, changed its position.

“Australia therefore continues to respectfully call on the Thai Government to exercise its discretion, in accordance with Thai law, to intervene in this case and return Mr Alaraibi to Australia as soon as possible, consistent with international human rights laws and norms.

“Given Mr al-Araibi’s status as a refugee, given his protection visa position in Australia, given he’s a permanent resident of our country on the path to citizenship, we have encouraged the Bahraini Government not to proceed with the extradition application, and I certainly encourage the Thai Government to exercise the discretion it has available to it under its extradition act.”

Thailand’s Attorney-General is expected to hold a news briefing on the case.

Football commentator and former Soccer player Craig Foster is spearheading the #SaveHakeem movement, advocating for his release.

He said the footballer was still training in prison, preparing for a time when he could hopefully play again for his Melbourne club.

Mr al-Araibi was convicted of vandalizing a police station during 2011 anti-government protests in Bahrain and was sentenced to 10 years in prison in absentia after he fled.

He denies the charges, saying he was playing in a televised soccer match at the time of the police station attack.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said Mr al-Araibi was tortured by Bahraini authorities because of his brother’s political activities during the Arab Spring uprising in 2011.

Bahraini authorities deny allegations of torture.

Source; Bangkok Post, ABC

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.