Crime

Life Behind Bars in Bangkok’s Notorious Klong Prem Prison

A prison guard with a baton in the sleeping quarters of Bangkok’s Klong Prem prison Photo: STEPHEN SHAVER/AFP/Getty Images

BANGKOK – Journalist and Muay Thai enthusiast James Goyder got a glimpse inside a notorious jail when he participated in a boxing match with one of the inmate.

The popularity of behind-bars documentaries like Banged Up Abroad had probably given me unrealistic expectations as I stepped inside the imposing walls of Klong Prem Prison in Bangkok.

I had been ready for riots, drugs, gangs and violence but it soon became clear that life for the 5,246 inmates was much more mundane.

James Goyder is freelance journalist from the UK who has lived in Thailand since 2007

The daily schedule was displayed on the wall:

05:30 Wake Up Whistle, 06:00 Going Out Of Sleeping Quarters, 17:00 Going Up To Sleeping Quarters,19:00 Meditation and Prayer Time, 20:00 Sleeping Time

It was not until we had been shown where the prisoners sleep that the significance of this timetable really sank in. The cells all measured approximately 1.5 metres x 3.5 metres including a small bathroom area at the back which consisted of a tap and a hole in the floor for a lavatory. This was partitioned off from the remainder of the room by nothing more than a waist-height wall.

Each cell held three to four prisoners but there were no chairs or beds. Instead, inmates slept side by side on the floor, and if they were lucky there was a small TV in the corner. They spend 13 hours a day in this claustrophobically confined space.

We were given a guided tour by a well-educated inmate whose story was vaguely reminiscent of that of Walter White in the Breaking Bad TV series which had concluded the previous week. He had learned English by working overseas before being caught producing methamphetamine and handed a 50 year sentence.

According to our guide, regular urine testing ensured that drug use was minimal, at least in the section we were in, while violence is rare and rape absolutely unheard of. The only thing that prisoners have to fear is disease – if someone in a cell contracts something it will inevitably spread to all the other occupants.

Perhaps to compensate for this spirit-sapping night-time regime, prison authorities are more proactive when it comes to keeping the inmates occupied during the day. One block contains footballers who will play together morning and afternoon with Klong Prem famously hosting its own ‘World Cup’ back in 2010.

The block we were shown around was adjacent to a boxing ring where prisoners train together twice a day and occasionally compete in Prison Fight, an event held inside Klong Prem’s walls which gives inmates the opportunity to take on outsiders at either Muay Thai or boxing.

The prisoners I spoke to seemed to be serving sentences of anything from 20 to 80 years, mainly for drug offenses. Many of them were covered head to toe in ornate body art which, according to our guide, prove popular purely because getting tattooed is virtually the only way to alleviate the boredom at night.

We did hear a few light-hearted anecdotes. For instance our guide informed us that if two prisoners had a problem with one another they were sometimes given boxing gloves and told to settle their differences in a supervised setting inside the ring.

We were also told that inmates were allowed to enter into relationships with the ladyboys who make up a small percentage of the prison population, but only on the condition that they informed the authorities first and agreed to an official marriage of sorts.

Once the ‘marriage’ had been approved they would be moved into the same cell and if the relationship eventually came to an end they could seek an official divorce. This emphasis on monogamy is understandable given how prevalent HIV is among Thailand’s transgender community.

In order to get access to Klong Prem in the first place I had agreed to do a boxing match with an inmate. The fight itself won’t linger long in the memory – it was a scrappy affair and I lost a decision – but the sight of the prisoners crammed into those cells for 13 hours at a time is not something I will forget in a hurry.

From what we saw, prison life didn’t seem to be fraught with danger, other than the risk of disease, but the monotony of the daily routine must be absolutely unbearable. It’s difficult to imagine settling into a schedule like that and accepting that it is going to continue for several decades, potentially to the end of your natural life.

James Goyder is freelance journalist from the UK who has lived in Thailand since 2007. Follow him on Twitter @JamesGoyder and find his website at www.jamesgoyder.com

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.