Crime

Canadain Returned to Face Murder Charge in Thailand

Published

13 years ago

September 20, 2011

Bchcomber

Michael Karas, 55, was flown out of Canada on Sept. 7 to the Thai city of Pattaya where media described him as an an escaped killer finally forced to face justice

CHIANGRAI TIMES – Michael Karas, now 55, was taken from a B.C. prison and flown out of Canada on Sept. 7 with no public acknowledgment in this country, the suspect’s arrival in the Thai city of Pattaya on Sept. 9 was a major media event. Newspaper and television reporters thronged the police precinct where the handcuffed Karas was publicly paraded by Thai officers as an escaped killer finally forced to face justice.

It was a moment certain to be welcomed by the long-suffering family of the victim — 27-year-old Suwannee Ratanaprakorn — but likely to trouble Canadian opponents of the death penalty, given Karas’s high-profile arrest and “perp-walk” treatment upon his return to Thailand.

That’s because Karas’s lengthy legal battle in Canada to avoid extradition had focused on the Thai government’s long-standing unwillingness to give Canada a clear, ironclad guarantee that he would not face execution if found guilty of the crime, an assurance that is routinely required by Canada (which abolished capital punishment in 1976) before citizens of this or any other country are sent abroad on charges that could result in the death penalty.

A senior official with the Canadian government told Postmedia News on Monday that Canada has, in fact, received a “diplomatic note” from the Thai government indicating that even if Karas is sentenced to death in the Ratanaprakorn killing, that sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment.

The high-level source added that Canada considers the diplomatic pledge “binding” and equivalent to no-execution guarantees provided in the past by U.S. justice officials before the extradition of murder suspects from Canada to face trials in American death-penalty states.

Karas’s Vancouver lawyer, Peter Edelmann, said Monday he is aware of the no-execution promise made by Thai officials and that he is “hopeful” his client will not receive a death sentence in the South Asian country, which has been rocked by political instability in recent years following a 2006 military coup.

Karas’s former lawyer, Glen Orris, once said that protecting the accused Canadian from the death penalty — even with a no-execution promise from Thai officials — could prove to be a “crap shoot” once he’s returned to Thailand should authorities there decide to “make an example of Mr. Karas for whatever reason.”

That view was echoed Monday by Edelmann, who expressed concern that Thailand’s monarchical system of government could put the Canadian at risk of execution, despite the diplomatic assurances given to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The remains of the victim, 27-yearold Suwannee Ratanaprakorn, were found in a swamp within days of her disappearance in 1996

“One of the main differences is that we’re dealing with a monarchy, and the assurances aren’t coming from the king,” Edelmann told Postmedia News. “So ultimately, that’s the complication. We’re dealing with a monarchy with a very active monarch, which is somewhat different than other jurisdictions that we tend to deal with.”

Edelmann noted, however, that it was Karas’s decision to stop battling the extradition order in Canadian courts.

It’s clear from the extensive news coverage in the Thailand earlier this month that the September 1996 death and “chopping up” of Ratanaprakorn, as the Pattaya Mail put it, has not been forgotten. Key to the case against Karas is witness testimony that he had been arguing loudly with his partner in the hotel where they were staying on the night of her death, and then was seen making several taxi trips from the hotel with a large suitcase alleged to have contained parts of Ratanaprakorn’s body.

Her remains were recovered in a swamp on the outskirts of the Pattaya within days of her death. By then, Karas had returned to Canada.

He was arrested initially in B.C. for parole violations in connection with a previous criminal conviction in Canada.

Karas has been held in custody in this country ever since — despite occasional bids for bail — because of the ongoing extradition procedure and a subsequent conviction in a cold-case bank robbery dating from before 1996.

After Canada received the request from Thailand to send Karas back to Pattaya to face a charge of murdering Ratanaprakorn, the suspect began a court battle to avoid extradition that has stretched well beyond a decade — a delay that has frustrated Thai prosecutors and angered the dead woman’s relatives.

And at the centre of the fight has been the question of whether Karas could expect — as typically required by the Canadian government — to avoid execution in Thailand, even if convicted of murdering his girlfriend.

Karas and his legal team registered some court victories during the extradition saga, principally because of the possibility that he could be put to death in Thailand if found guilty of murder.

Thai prosecutors stated in 2007 that the country’s laws prevented Bangkok from assuring Canada or any other country that the death penalty would be taken off the table in a capital murder case.

“We cannot guarantee against the death penalty,” Piyaphant Udomsilpa, head of Thailand’s international affairs department, told the Vancouver Province newspaper in a 2007 interview. “That is at the discretion of the (Thai) court,” she said at the time. “We can’t interfere . . . we cannot give that assurance as the executive branch.”

The death penalty has proven to be a complex and controversial file for the Canadian government since the Conservatives under Prime Minister Stephen Harper were first elected in January 2006.

On several occasions in recent years, the government has sought and received no-execution assurances from the U.S. government before extraditing suspects detained in this country to face murder charges in American death-penalty states. Similar arrangements have recently been negotiated with China to facilitate the prosecution alleged criminals without the option of execution as a punishment.

But the Harper government sparked an uproar in October 2007 when it announced it would no longer be automatically seeking clemency for Canadians facing execution in foreign countries where democracy and the rule of law prevail. That position, prompted by the case of Ronald Smith — a Canadian death-row inmate in Montana — was instantly panned by foreign policy experts as unworkable for diplomats and was later reversed after Smith won a lawsuit filed against the government.

In a 2009 decision in that suit, the Federal Court of Canada ruled that the government had “unlawfully” quashed a long-standing foreign policy objective aimed at preventing Canadians from suffering a punishment in other countries that they would never face in Canada.

While agreeing to restart the diplomatic effort in Montana to seek clemency for Smith, the government later angered opposition critics and human-rights advocates, such as Amnesty International Canada, by releasing a new policy in July 2009 that reserved the right, in certain cases, for the government to avoid lobbying for the life of a Canadian facing execution in another country.

The new protocol detailed the factors that would influence the government’s decision, including the severity of the crime for which the Canadian citizen is convicted, the age and mental fitness of the person facing execution and the fairness of the foreign country’s justice system.

“The Government of Canada will carefully consider every application by a Canadian citizen for clemency intervention on its own merits,” the new, case-by-case protocol stated.

Crime

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

Published

5 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.

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

Published

5 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.

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

5 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.

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.