Crime

Australian Woman Joanna Sherwell Successfully Adopts Dog from Chiang Mai

Published

10 years ago

August 30, 2014

Bchcomber

Joanna Sherwell visits GAWS with her adopted Thailand dog Sunny. Pic: Alison Wynd

GEELONG -A well traveled pooch has seen more of the world than most canines after his Drysdale adopter decided she couldn’t leave Thailand without him.

Joanna Sherwell, a former model, business-owner and life coach, met Sunny at an Elephant Rehabilitation Mission in Chiang Mai where she volunteered before working as manager of the park’s dog project last year.

“I was depressed and grieving from losing a close friend and my two dogs back home, and one day Sunny wandered into the park and kept turning up at my little hut,” she said.

“I tried really hard not to make a bond with him because my bosses and I knew the process of trying to get a dog from Asia into Australia was huge.

Joanna Sherwell sightseeing in America with Thailand adopted dog Sunny.

“But he kept following me everywhere and I realized I was actually happier with Sunny around than I had been in a long time, and thought if he likes me and I like him and I can find a way to make this happen, then why not try.”

The decision sparked months of research, a ‘Bring Sunny Home’ Facebook page and Possible fundraising campaign with a target of $6000 to adopt the now three-year-old Korean Jindo to Australia.

“I told myself I’d do the fundraising page and if it made money I’d continue it, and if it didn’t go anywhere I’d cancel it and put a stop to the whole thing,” she said.

After making $800 in the first couple of days Ms Sherwell, 34, was on track to reach her target, but two days before deadline the campaign was $700 short.

“If you don’t make the full amount Pozible cancels the whole thing and you don’t get any money that’s been pledged which I think is a tough but fair policy, because if you only raise half you’re obviously not going through with that project but you’re still getting people’s cash,” she said.

“I put something on my Facebook page and all of a sudden someone had donated the full $700.

“Turns out it was my very first client as a life coach, who later told me I had changed his life and he wanted to do the same for me.”

After a rabies vaccination in Thailand Sunny was fit to fly to America, where the quarantine process simply requires the dog to stay in the US for six months before leaving, and drops Australia’s six-moth quarantine down to 10 days.

Joanna Sherwell on her travels with adopted dog Sunny.

“When bringing a dog from an Asian country to America, their canine diseases are very similar so there’s really nothing to quarantine as long as they’ve had their vaccinations and tests, but to then get to Australia there is a 180 day process of blood tests, vaccinations and paperwork,” she said.

“I had to follow that to the date.”

The American stint saw the pair stay in six different places in six months, including an olive farm in southern California, a city apartment in San Francisco, a suburban home north of San Diego and The Exorcist’s Linda Blair’s Los Angeles mountain ranch where Ms Sherwell cared for the animals.

The pair was separated for the first time in nearly 12 months when Sunny was taken directly from the airport to a quarantine facility in Spotswood, but were reunited nearly a week ago and the placid pup is settling in fine.

The journey has equipped the former owner of Model Success with the experience to pursue a career in animal therapy working with disadvantaged youth.

“The process is doable but it’s extremely expensive and it’s a long, drawn out ordeal,” she said.

“There were some bad things and some very stressful things that have happened along the way, but still I’ve been safe, Sunny I have always had a house, we always had money and food to get through it, and I always felt like we were meant to get home.”

Since her return Ms Sherwell and Sunny have spent some time at Geelong Animal Welfare Society where she adopted her previous dog from, and will be at the Moolap facility’s Open Day on October 4 to help unveil the two new dog obedience training paddocks.

By Bethany Tyler

Sunny explores the American shore on his travels from Thailand to Australia.

Crime

Police Officer Being Ordained at Temple Arrested for Running Scam Call Center

Published

7 months ago

July 20, 2024

Thomas3940

Police Officer Being Ordained at Temple Arrested

Police in Northern Thailand have arrested a fellow officer as he was being ordained at a temple in Ngao district of neighbouring Lampang province.

Contents

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.

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

Published

7 months ago

July 20, 2024

Thomas3940

Thai Immigration Police Arrest Colombian Tourist

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.

Contents

Police called to home invasion Other Bangkok News:Police in Bangkok Discover Six Vietnamese Tourists Dead in 5 Star Hotel

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

Published

7 months ago

July 17, 2024

Thomas3940

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.

Contents

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.