Chiang Rai News
Chinese Casino Kingpin Behind New Mekong Port for Golden Triangle
The Golden Kings Romans casino kingpin Zhao Wei the U.S. has designated a transnational crime boss is building a new port on the Mekong River in Laos. The port will be near the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone in Chiang Rai, Thailand.
Featured prominently in state media reported there was a ground-breaking ceremony on Oct 3rd for Ban Mom Port in northwestern Laos’ Bokeo province. Golden Kings Romans Group Chairman Zhao Wei, the new port’s main investor.
Zhao, who was joined at the ceremony last week by Laos’ Deputy Prime Minister Bounthong Chitmany, is a Chinese national who was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2018 as the head of a transnational criminal organization.
Zhao’s network engages in “drug trafficking, human trafficking, money laundering, bribery, and wildlife trafficking, much of which is facilitated through the Kings Romans Casino,” the Treasury said.
Zhao in February 2018 dismissed the U.S. designation as “a unilateral, extraterritorial, unreasonable and hegemonic act of ulterior motives and malicious rumor-mongering.” He said his investments were all “legal, ordinary business operations supervised by the legal authorities of the relevant countries that have not harmed the interests of any country or individual.”
Zhao, a former timber trader from Heilongjiang who had run casinos in Macau and Myanmar, is widely considered to be in de-facto control of the Golden Triangle SEZ.
Kings Romans Casino in the Golden Triangle
The zone where Laos, Thailand and Myanmar meet is described by critics as virtually a Chinese colony, with the casino, hotels and restaurants catering mainly to tourists from China and operating largely outside the reach of Lao law.
An official of the Bokeo province Panning and Investment Department told RFA Lao Service that Zhao owns Osiano Trading Sole Co., the new port’s main investor.
“Osiano is an affiliate of the Dok Ngiew Kham Group owned by Zhao Wei, who owns the Kings Romans Casino in the Golden Triangle SEZ,” the official said.
“Before, there were Vietnamese, Lao and Thai firms who formed a joint venture to develop Ban Mom Port, but when that venture failed, it sold shares to Dok Ngiew Kham Group,” the official, who requested anonymity added.
Osiano is investing U.S. $50 million to develop the port and construction will take nine years to complete. In addition to the international port, which will handle cargo mostly from China into the SEZ, the project will include a variety of amenities including a hotel and an office park.
“The new port will mostly be used by Laos and China. Thailand and Myanmar will sometimes use it also. Laos will import food, especially fruits from China through this port,” a provincial official from the Natural Resources and Environment Department told RFA.
A Thai trade expert in that country’s Chang Rai province, adjacent to Bokeo, told RFA that the port would serve to facilitate trade between Laos and China.
“Vietnam will use the port too. Vietnam will also ship durian to China through this port,” he said, referring to a popular tropical fruit.
Illegal wildlife market
As is often the case with development projects in Laos, the inhabitants of Mom village who face resettlement for the project are rejecting compensation offers as too low.
Representatives of Mom village last week submitted a letter to Bokeo’s Tonpheung district saying that the villagers refused to accept compensation from Osiano in the amount of 500,000 Thai baht ($16,000) for their 16 hectares (40 acres) of land.
“This land is part of a protected forest which is an integral part of Mom Village,” a resident of the village, who requested anonymity to speak freely, told RFA.
“We were offered 500,000 baht and that’s too low. We want more, maybe three times more at like 1.5 million baht ($48,000). Furthermore we have submitted our demands to the district governor, and we’ll use the money to build a village temple and a market,” the villager said.
However, an official from Tonpheung’s Planning and Investment Office told RFA that “the half-million-baht offer has been set by the governor of the province. It is up to the province and the company to decide whether to honor the villagers’ demands.”
In addition to their homes, there is a high school within Osiano’s land grant that must also be relocated.
“The company will look for new land and build a new school somewhere else for the village,” the Bokeo province official said.
Thailand invested in a large river port facility in Chiang Rai
Brian Eyler, a senior fellow and director of the Washington-based Stimson Center’s Southeast Asia program and an expert on Lower Mekong Basin development projects, told RFA that the new port would compete with a facility on the Thai side of the river just 15 kilometers (9.3 miles]) downstream.
“Thailand has invested in a large river port facility to receive goods coming from China and also send goods from Thailand into China. A new highway connects Chiang Rai city to the Thai port at Chiang Saen,” he said. “A competing port makes little sense if facilitation of regional trade is a goal,” said Eyler.
“However, the new Mom port project is connected to the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone in Chiang Rai and the Kings Roman Casino complex, which is owned by Chinese entities. My guess is the new port will mostly facilitate commerce, legal and illicit, of goods from China that will benefit Chinese commercial interests, legal and illicit, in Laos,” he said.
In the 2015 report Sin City: Illegal Wildlife Trade in Laos’ Special Economic Zone, the U.K.-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) called the Golden Triangle SEZ in Chiang Rai an “illegal wildlife market for Chinese tourists.”
“Visitors can openly buy endangered species products including tigers, leopards, elephants, rhinos, pangolins, helmeted hornbills, snakes and bears – smuggled in from Asia and Africa,” said the EIA.
Laos, with ambitions to become the “Battery of Southeast Asia” has drawn Chinese investment in hydropower dams and other big-ticket projects under Beijing’s $1.3 trillion Belt and Road Initiative to build infrastructure to support trade. China is Laos’ largest foreign investor and aid provider, and its second-largest trade partner, after Thailand.
Source: Radio News Asia
Police in Wiang Kaen District of Chiang Rai Province have arrested a 50 year old man after the threatened to rape a 20 year-old woman and the proceeded to murder her 2 and half month old baby.
Police with doctors from Wiang Kaen Hospital and the Chao Luang Wiang Kaen Welfare Association were summoned to the scene of the incident to a 2-story cement house, Village No. 2, Tha Kham Subdistrict, Wiang Kaen District of Chiang Rai
On arrival they found Ms. Chanikarn, age 20, in a state of distress crying uncontrollably beside her 2 and a half month baby girl (Linlada) that was dead on the floor.
After calming Ms. Chanikarn, the child’s mother, said that at approximately 2:30 p.m she was out to collect diapers that had been dried in front of the house, while her 2 and a half month old daughter was sleep on the ground floor of the house.
She said she was suddenly approached by a Mr. Lee, about 40 years old, who lived on the opposite side of the road. He came towards her and grabbed her arm and threatened her saying if she didn’t sleeping with him he will go and kill his daughter.
Miss Chanikan refused and ran away, then Mr. Lee then walked into the house and grabbed Ms. Linlada’s leg, smashing the child’s head against the cement floor of the house. The infant died immediately.
Mr. Lee then just walked away and returned to his own home, leaving Miss Chanikan and her dead baby.
When police went to Mr. Lee’s home he immediately confessed killing the infant and was taken to Wiang Kaen Police Station for further questioning. Under caution he told police that he was sexually attracted to Miss Chanikan‘s and when her husband leave for work he took the opportunity to approach her.
He said when he saw her husband leave he crossed that road and found Miss Chanikan in the yard alone, he then threatened her to sleep with him, saying he would kill her child if she didn’t have sex with him. However when she refused he flew into a fit of rage walked into her home and murdered he baby. He said he was out of control with rage.
After killing the infant he walk across the street to his home and waited for the police to arrive. The police have charged him with premeditated murder and attempted rape. He is being held without bail at the local remand center.
Meanwhile, Miss Chanikan and her family were preparing a religious burial ceremony for the child.
Other Chiang Rai 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/
CHIANG RAI: 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.
Pol. Gen. Kittirat Panphet, Deputy Commander and Director of the Police Crime Suppression Division, Assigned Pol. Lt. Gen. Thatchai Pitanilabut, Assistant Commander-in-Chief of the Police/Deputy Director of the Police Crime Suppression Division, has launched the operation ‘Bombing the Thieves’ Bridge’ in collaboration with the CAT Office, G., mobile phone network operators AIS DTAC TRUE NT, and local security agencies to cut the mobile phone signal and WiFi internet that criminals illegally use to deceive Thai citizens.
Pol. Lt. Gen. Thatchai stated that they will begin pressing the first action of the ‘Explosion of Thieves’ Bridge’ in Chiang Rai Province toward the thieves’ base of operations in the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone.
The territory surrounding King Roman in Laos. King Roman is now a full-service entertainment destination with an airport that welcomes travelers from Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar, he explained.
According to Pol. Lt. Gen. Thatchai, this operation will have no influence on honest people along the Thai border, and it will only target cyber criminals.
They will also increase the arrest and prosecution of unlawful service towers, such as SIM booths, which allow gangs register SIM cards to swindle the people. Dealing with criminal organizations of foreigners and Thais who band together to deceive and damage Thais.
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) suspended more than three million SIM cards on July 16 because the holders had not verified their identities with their mobile phone operators by the deadline, in accordance with the NBTC’s measures to combat alleged fraudsters’ mule accounts.
The names of the holders of 80 million mobile phone numbers used for mobile banking transactions did not match the names associated with the mobile banking accounts.
The NBTC would require mobile phone companies to authenticate SIM card holders and the names of their mobile banking accounts. The verification procedure is expected to be completed by the end of September this year.
In addition, the NBTC and Royal Thai Police have collaborated to combat illegal telecom towers throughout the country’s borders, disconnecting signals at 465 places, altering antenna direction at 470 towers, and dismantling antennas at 179 locations.
They are certain that the move will disrupt contact center gangs and other types of technology-based crime.
Other Chiang Rai 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/
Police in Mae Chan, Chiang Rai, shot and killed a 28-year-old man who allegedly attacked a police officer with a machete. The officer was slashed in the right leg with the machete.
According to police, the culprit, known only as Mr. Toon, had been harassing local villagers in Mae Chan district, Chiang Rai, threatening them with a knife and using violet insults.
The village headman arrived on the scene to try to calm Mr. Toon, but he was shouting hysterically and taking swipes at him with the machete, so he contacted the police.
When the responding officer arrived at the site about 9 p.m., he attempted to calm the man, but he instead assaulted the officer, slashing his right leg with the machete. In self-defense, the cop had to fire his gun at Mr. Toon, striking him in the chest.
Mr. Toon and the policeman were taken to Mae Chan Hospital, where Mr. Toon died of a gunshot wound. Pol Sgt. Sutthikiat Phanomphraisakul was released from the hospital after receiving numerous stitches for his injuries.
Local police received a tip around 9.30 p.m. yesterday that a guy was causing mayhem in the village. When authorities arrived, they discovered 28-year-old Toon strolling along a public road, holding a large knife and threatening people. Mae Chan district officials attempted to contain the incident.
During a search of Mr. Toon’s home, authorities discovered methamphetamine consumption equipment. Locals told authorities that the man was addicted to Yaba (Methamphetamine) and an alcoholic.
The authorities are conducting an inquiry to determine Toon’s motivations and whether any underlying issues contributed to his violent outburst.
Other related news:
Chiang Mai Police Offer Cash Reward After Officer Killed
https://www.chiangraitimes.com/crime/chiang-mai-police-offer-reward/
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