In a series of coordinated crackdowns across Bangkok and Loei, authorities seized three individuals on Saturday for their alleged association with online gambling platforms. Pol Gen Roy Ingkapairote, the deputy national police chief, revealed the details in a press briefing, stating that the Police Cyber Taskforce (PCT) led the operation against the suspected operators of multiple betting portals that included betfixroyal.com.
The individuals under custody were identified by their first names only – Suchanan, Oranee, and Natthawat. The policing agency managed to confiscate a raft of items during the operation, which included 100 bank passbooks, 55 ATM cards, a fleet of 30 mobile phones, and a significant cash total of 920,000 baht. Other seized assets include electronic devices like laptops and iPads, and a luxurious white Toyota vehicle assessed to be worth a million baht, narrated Pol Gen Roy.
Highlighting the scale of the illegal gambling operation, Pol Gen Roy revealed that the implicated websites boasted a robust user base of over 50,000 individuals, with monetary transactions surpassing a whopping hundred million baht. All three detainees were slapped with charges of gambling promotion and money laundering conspiracy.
Interestingly, the accused trio was additionally linked to an array of online gambling fraud cases in northern Thailand, leading the authorities to impose further charges under the auspices of the Royal Decree on Cyber Crime Prevention and Suppression. The Anti-Money Laundering Office will be notified to seize the accused persons’ assets for deeper probing as the investigation expands its scope, hinted Pol Gen Roy.
The arrests were made in the wake of the apprehension of Pongsiri Thanratchawongsuek, widely known as “Boss Than”, who chairs the Lamphun Warriors Football Club and allegedly operates the illegal online gambling site TS911.com. His arrest was carried out in Phayao on June 20.
In a disturbing disclosure, Pol Gen Roy narrated how Pongsiri’s online gambling platform was cleverly designed to allow users to gamble by merely scanning a QR code provided on the Line mobile app. The latter’s digital betting site had an estimated following of 40,704 users and an impressive 7,017 followers on Line. In a major success for the authorities, assets tied to Pongsiri that include prime real estate and a fleet of posh vehicles worth an estimated one billion baht were seized following his apprehension.
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