Crime

Police Now Believe Woman Murdered13 Through Cyanide Poisoning

Thailand’s Crime Suppression Division police detectives are seeking testimony from two crucial players in the serial cyanide poisoning case of a woman suspected of murdering 13 people. Two victims who allegedly survived the woman’s cyanide poisoning attempts have filed complaints with police.

Ms. Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn, the former-wife of a senior Ratchaburi police officer, is four months pregnant. Following her divorce last year, she began dating a new boyfriend, who died last month in suspicious circumstances, the Bangkok Post reported on yesterday.

CSD Police also stated that investigators had assigned to speak with poisons and chemicals specialists. Police officers are interested in learning more about cyanide poisoning, as well as the amount that would cause injury to the body and death. This information will be included in a police report, along with evidence of cyanide found in the body of one of the victims related to the suspect.

Police investigators are now preparing to file additional charges in addition to premeditated murder with intent to take property, poisoning, and theft are the other allegations. Some offences carry the death penalty according to the criminal code.

Attorney, Mr. Raphee Chamnarnrue, who is assisting the victims’ relatives, stated that additional leads the police are expected to pursue involve the suspect’s claimed involvement in money lending and a pyramid scheme.

Top Police Officers Wife Arrested Over 6 Cyanide Poisoning Cases

Ms. Sararat, 36, was detained by CSD police with an arrest warrant issued by the Criminal Court in Bangkok. She was in possession of a container of cyanide and refused to give police a statement.

Her arrest was the result of a complaint filed by the mother and elder sister of Ms. Siriporn Khanwong, 32 who died on April 14. Cyanide was discovered in her body. Police investigators concluded that Ms. Sararat may have mixed cyanide into Siriporn’s food, resulting in her death. She is also accused of stealing the victim’s possessions.

Thailand’s deputy national police commander, Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn, announced on Thursday afternoon that detectives had discovered another dead victim linked to Ms. Sararat. In 2020, the victim died in a rented flat in Thailand’s Nakhon Pathom province. If confirmed, this discovery would raise the overall number of dead from cyanide poisoning to thirteen.

On Wednesday, the Criminal Court granted a CSD police request to keep Ms. Sararat in custody without bail.

Pol Gen Surachate said investigators are also looking for a man whose wife was given capsules by the suspect, who claimed they were a tonic. His wife later died.

Officers are also investigating whether Ms. Sararat’s elder sister who is a chemist. They are investigating weather she was involved in supplying the cyanide poisoning. An initial investigation revealed that the suspect obtained cyanide from another source.

Cyanide is a prohibited substance that is used in industry and cannot be acquired in a pharmacy. Ms Sararat allegedly acquired cyanide online.

Teenagers Paid to Bury Cyanide Poisoning

Meanwhile, Five teenagers informed police that she sent them five boxes with drug bottles labelled with her name as the receiver and instructed them to bury them. They stated she paid them 500 baht for doing it.

One of them allegedly suspected what was inside the parcels and opened one of them to sniff one of the bottles. He told police that days he experienced symptoms such as dizziness and confusion.

The teenagers, however, never got around to burying the bottles because they were too busy enjoying Songkran. Ms Sararat called them to see whether they had done what she wanted, but it was too late because police had already obtained the bottles from the teenagers.

Investigators are also looking through the records of two logistics businesses for proof of deliveries that could link the suspect to the case.

Woman in Thailand Suspected of Murdering 12 People Through Cyanide Poisoning

Police have also raised concerning Ms. Sararat’s boyfriend’s death, whom she began dating after divorcing her husband last year.

Mr. Sutthisak, 35, died in Udon Thani on March 12 of this year. He passed out at a petrol station in the northeastern province’s Nong Han district after making merit with Ms Sararat at a local temple and eating at a restaurant. He was transported to Nong Han Hospital by rescue workers.

Rescue workers told police the man complained of feeling dizzy and having chest trouble. They transported him to Hospital, where he was treated and eventually released. He died later that day at a hostel in Udon Thani.

Woman Begged to Stay With Husband

Ms. Sararat told authorities that he had high blood pressure and that she had no concerns about his death. Ms Sararat celebrating her birthday on the night her partner died, according to a friend’s Facebook page.

Pol Gen Surachate said a friend of the deceased told detectives that he felt Ms. Sararat murdered Sutthisak for money. However, police investigators are awaiting the results of a lab test on a bottle of drugs that a friend claimed Mr. Sutthisak received from the woman.

On Thursday, the suspect’s ex-husband spoke with investigators and claimed that he still resided with Ms. Sararat until their divorce. He said that Ms. Sararat had begged to live with him again.

Meanwhile, Attorney Raphee Chamnarnrue claims there are five groups of victims in the cyanide poisoning case. They were those who participated in a pyramid scheme with the suspect, those who loaned her money, those who gave her money to provide money lending services, those who mortgaged their cars or assets, and those who authorised her to borrow from savings cooperatives.

He urged relatives of the five groups of deceased victims to contact him or the police officers in charge of the investigation.

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.