Crime

Norwegian Mack London Escaped Indictment in Thailand

Norwegian citizen Mack London who left Norway in 2005

PNOMH PENH – 53 years-old Norwegian Mack London escaped from Thailand to Cambodia, because the Norwegian Embassy would not issue him with an emergency passport, Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten has reported.

Norwegian citizen Mack London who left Norway in 2005 has lived in Thailand the past years, where he has worked with real estate and also became the father of two children.

After a while Mack London ended in a brawl with a developer in Thailand, and later on in a conflict with the local police authorities. Eventually London was accused of embezzlement. According to police he was to meet at a hearing in Phetchaburi south of Bangkok on 1 August.

Instead of showing up, London illegally crossed the border to Cambodia, where he has spent the last two months. London stated, that he had to pay 20.000 Norwegian kroner in bribes to cross the border. Via Skype from a hotel room in Pnomh Penh, the capital of Cambodia, London claims his innocence.

“I have not done anything wrong, instead I am being cheated out of millions of kroner,” he Said

The reason why he left Thailand is that he needed medical treatment, and was afraid to end up in jail in Thailand.

After Mack London did not show up for the hearing on 1 August, an order for his arrest was issued by the Thai authorities. Furthermore London was told to show up in the court again on 1 October. Now that he did not show up this week the new message to him is that he will have to show up on 12 December.

According to the Norwegian Embassy in Thailand, London has been banned departure from Thailand the last two years.

Lost passport

London told Aftenposten that he paid the smugglers to get a valid entry permit in Camboda, so he could continue his journey. But he did not get that, instead he claims that the smugglers who were going to help him, lost his passport.

The embassy in Thailand doubts in a letter to London, if he actually lost the passport, because he would end up having problems leaving the country without a valid stamp. The embassy also did not want to give London an emergency passport, because he is wanted by the police in Thailand.

Asked by Aftenposten, if he thinks the smugglers stole his passport, London replies:

“They claim that they have lost it,” he says and declines that he should be the one not telling the truth.

In an account in Norway, Mack London claims to have money enough to pay a flight ticket back home.

“But now I have only 350 dollars left, which is enough to live one week here. In the worst case if I do not get an emergency passport from the embassy or obtain more money, I will end up on the street,” he said to Aftenposten.

According to London himself he is seriously ill and scared what will happen to him if he does not receive proper treatment soon.

Embassy involved

The case has been taken to department level in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, because it is a matter of principle. The main reason why the Norwegian embassy declined the first application for emergency passport was due to a paragraph in the passport law, which prohibits the embassy from issuing a passport to persons who are wanted by the police.

The embassy maintained its decision after London complained. In addition they wrote that there were other “weighty considerations” why London should not get the passport.

The embassy refers to the fact that they depend on a good relationship with the authorities in Thailand and they “cannot put themselves in a situation where they help Norwegians who break the law of the country to run away from their responsibility.”

They also do not want the case to set a precedent.

But the Norwegian Police Directorate, which is the appellate authority in such matters, does not agree with the embassy. In a letter they wrote that the embassy declined London’s passport application on a wrong basis

That is because the embassy’s decision refers to a letter from the department of justice to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where it appears that the warrant, which the embassy is referring to, can not be used to decline an emergency passport, alone because a Norwegian is wanted by foreign authorities.

The police did not reverse the decision, but they say that the embassy must consider the application to London for an emergency passport again.

The embassy has now contacted the Ministry of foreign affairs, because they believe that the police directorate’s conclusion is not in keeping with the embassy’s “Guidelines for passports”. According the embassy the law says that: “In case of prosecution abroad, passports can not be issued without consent of the applicable governments,”

The Police Directorate said to Aftenposten, that they on 8 April this year sent out a letter to police districts and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with guidelines for issuing emergency passports. They also confirm that the police directorate has the authority to overturn a refusal from the embassy, and in that case the embassy is committed to issue emergency passports.

The Norwegian Embassy in Bangkok will “look at the issue again in the near future” according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry to Aftenposten.

Aftenposten gained access to the relevant documents in the case, and in addition London has given the Norwegian Newspaper an authorization to have access to the information which the Norwegian authorities have in the case.

Meanwhile, Mack London is still sitting in Cambodia without the possibility to go to Norway or Thailand for that matter. London told Aftenposten that he heard from the hearing on 1 August, that a judge should have stated that London probably would not be jailed.

“In hindsight I should probably have stayed there,” London admits.

His lawyer Ron Mulstad, also confirms to Aftenposten, that London would probably have avoided jail, if he had shown up in first case. Now London can meet up on 12 December, and he tells Aftenposten, that he has received signals that he is likely to avoid jail if he pays his way out. Whether London will meet up in the court depends on his health conditions and if he can make his way back to Norway, he tells Aftenposten. – by Sine Neuchs Thomsen

Source translated from Aftenposten : (only in Norwegian)

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.