Crime

21 Year Old American Woman Recovers in Bangkok Hospital after Being Stabbed by Mugger

Brook Drost, who teaches English in Bangkok recovers from her stab wounds in Bangkok Hospital.

BANGKOK -Â A 21-year-old American woman is recovering in a Bangkok Hospital after she was stabbed by a mugger while walking from a taxi to her apartment in Bangkok.

Brook Drost, who teaches English in Bangkok, was headed home after an evening with friends when a stranger jumped off a motorbike in front of her.

â€œI could tell by the look on his face â€”Â a face so serious and intent on causing harm, that he was almost expressionless â€”Â something terrible was about to happenâ€ she told the Recorder.

After knocking her to the ground, Drost said, the man grabbed for her gold braclet, but she pulled back and kicked at him as he bent over. It was then that the knife came out. Had I known he was armed, I would have given up without a fight she said.

The man stabbed her twice through her arm and the left side of her body, puncturing a lung.

Patrons and the owner of a cafÃ© across the street rushed to her assistance. They brought her into the cafÃ©, where they tended to her wounds and summoned an ambulance.

Brook’s is still recovering in the hospital and expects to be released soon, when her lung is fully expanded back to normal.

Thanks to more than $4,300 in contributions made to a GoFundMe campaign, her mother, Danyelle, will be able to fly to Thailand next week to help care for her. Drost said sheâ€™s expecting her mother to stay for two weeks.

â€œI have witnessed everyoneâ€™s willingness to go above and beyond for my mother and I, and it has truly taken my breath away,â€ she said. â€œPeople I have never met, people I have not spoken with in years, friends, family members; kindness knows no limits. Nothing could possibly express how grateful I am that my mom will be able to travel 9,000 miles across the globe to care for me in my time of healing; nothing is greater than a mother’s love.â€

Drost moved to Thailand with her boyfriend, Myles Mastrototaro, last September to work for a company called Fun Language. The two spend their weekdays teaching English to 3- to 15-year-olds through activities like singing and games, and spend their weekends exploring the city and immersing themselves in the culture.

She said itâ€™s unusual for a foreigner to be attacked in Thailand, so the police have been highly involved in her case.

â€œAll of my Thai friends were speechless when they heard the news, because they had never heard of such a terrible act of violence being carried out on a foreigner, particularly in my neighborhood, which is known for being a quiet and safe business district,â€ she wrote.

After the attack, she spent the rest of the day in the trauma ward, with more than 15 police officers and detectives filtering in and out, taking her statement and description of the suspect.

Drost was moved to a private room later that night, and said although the road to recovery has been rough, sheâ€™s getting there.

A professional sketch artist visited her in the hospital to draw a composite of the suspect, and sheâ€™s hoping it will lead to an arrest.

After the attack, she said an overwhelming number of acts of kindness followed.

â€œMy wonderful boss stayed at the hospital for nine hours, bringing me food and translating with the police; the Thai police force, detectives and tourist police have been investigating the situation tirelessly, obtaining security camera footage, phone records from my stolen phone and the chief of police even sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers,â€ she wrote. â€œ

The thoughts and prayers sent from dozens of family members and friends has helped keep my positivity afloat, their care and concern for my well-being has truly been humbling. And of course, most importantly, the support of my amazing boyfriend, Myles, who has not left my side once; I would be lost without him.â€

So at the end of the ordeal, Drost is still smiling. In retrospect, she said things could have been much worse, but sheâ€™s not going to jump on an airplane home any time soon.

Instead, she plans to stay in Thailand until the end of her contract in early 2017, and then return to Massachusetts. Because of the recovery process, she said she will miss about a month of work without pay.

â€œThis is just a bump in a road that has otherwise been filled with happiness, adventure, friendship and fun; I’m not going to let it deter me away from that lifestyle,â€ she wrote.
By Aviva Luttrell – The Recorder

The GoFundMe campaign for Drost can be found at www.gofundme.com/2a6ndt8b.

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.