Crime

Public Anger Erupts after “Red Bull Heir” Allowed to Walk Free

The dropping of charges of Red Bull Heir Public Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya by public prosecutors and the Royal Thai Police has stirred public outrage. Trust and confidence in public prosecutors and police have been shaken after all charges against the Red Bull heir in his fatal hit-and-run case were dropped.

All local and international arrest warrants were also revoked following the decision.

The move has sparked public outrage over the impunity enjoyed by the rich in Thailand. With angry netizens pointing out that prisons are used to incarcerate only the poor. The rich who are implicated in serious crimes never see the inside of a jail cell.

An activist has vowed to petition the anti-graft agency to investigate the prosecutors and police who handled the case. The reasons behind the decision are still unknown to the public.

Furthermore the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has not given any explanation.

The news was broken on Thursday night when Reuters reported the details of the letter sent to Mr Vorayuth‘s Bangkok address by the Royal Thai Police. The letter had been uploaded to The Reporters Facebook page.

According to the letter, “The Attorney-General has ordered the acquittal of Mr Vorayuth Yoovidhya on all charges.” Even more “The national police commissioner did not object to the order. The case has ended”.

Public disgusted with Red Bull Heir decision

How to get away with murder… #redbullheir #กระทิงแดง pic.twitter.com/jDhMzGOksz

— ขอโทษด้วยแล้วกัน (@Dewey20s) July 24, 2020

The news immediately sparked public anger. On Twitter, #RedBullheir was the top trending hashtag in Thailand in over 200,000 tweets as of 8pm on Friday.

No one from the OAG could be reached for comment on Friday.

Isranews, however, reported that the attorney-general, Wongsakul Kittipromwong, denied knowing anything about the decision.

“I don’t know about it yet. The report has not reached me yet. I need to look at the details first,” Mr Wongsakul was quoted as saying.

Pol Col Kissana Phathanacharoen, deputy spokesman of the Royal Thai Police, told a press conference on Friday that the Department of Southern Bangkok Criminal Litigation decided late last month not to press the remaining charge. The charge of reckless driving causing death and police agreed with the prosecutors.

The next steps will be to formally withdraw local warrants for the arrest of Mr Vorayuth through the court. Also to ask Interpol to lift its red notice, Pol Col Kissana said.

“The revocation of warrants is a normal procedure in such cases,” Pol Col Kissana said. He also refused to elaborate on the reasons for the prosecutors’ decision.

“Whether police oppose the prosecutors’ decision or not depends on the witnesses and evidence. Not on social or public demand.

Police officers take the blame

The officers who poorly handled the case in 2012 have already faced disciplinary action,” Pol Col Kissana said.

Even the chief of the Royal Thai Police can not intervene in the work of police interrogators assigned to handle cases, he added.

Pol Col Kissana said that before their decision, prosecutors had demanded additional interrogation from police, and police had met the demand.

“Mr Vorayuth can now return to Thailand without any problem. At this moment, we don’t know where he [Boss] is,” he noted.

Suriyan Hongvilai, spokesman of the Office of the Judiciary, said that police had not yet submitted a request to withdraw the arrest warrants for Mr Vorayuth to the office.

Pol Maj Chavalit Laoha-udom, a list MP of the Move Forward Party (MFP) who was a forensic officer gathering and examining evidence in the case at the time said he was upset by prosecutors’ decision.

He said he was confident that there was solid evidence against Mr Vorayuth.

Jirawat Aranyakanont, a Bangkok MP for the MFP, called on police and prosecutors to provide reasons for dropping the charge.

“This is unlikely to happen to ordinary people. I wonder if prisons are for locking away poor people only,” Mr Jirawat said.

Undermined public trust in the justice system in Thailand

Varaporn Uthairangsi, a lawyer for the Human Rights Lawyers Association, told the Bangkok Post that prosecutors should have sought greater assistance from Interpol. Above all to apprehend and bring Mr Vorayuth back to Thailand.

“This decision undermines public trust in the justice system,” she said, adding that the prosecutors should reveal details of their report to the public and explain why they decided to drop the charge.

Activist Srisuwan Janya said that the decisions by the prosecutors and police in the case might constitute an act of preferential treatment and he will ask the National Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate next week.

Mr Vorayuth, now 35, was accused of driving his black Ferrari when it hit the rear of a policeman’s motorcycle at high speed, dragging his body along Sukhumvit Road before speeding away in the early morning of Sept 3, 2012. The victim was Pol Sgt Maj Wichian Klanprasert, 47, who was based at Thong Lor police station. Mr Vorayuth was then 27 years old.

He postponed hearing charges seven times. It was not until April 27, 2017, that prosecutors finally charged him with reckless driving causing death and failing to help a crash victim.

He fled on a private plane two days before he was due to face the charges.

The speeding charge and reckless driving causing damage to assets were later dropped when the one-year statute of limitations expired. The next charge — failing to stop and help a crash victim — expired on Sept 3, 2017.

The last and most serious charge, reckless driving causing death, would have remained on the books until 2027, but has now been dropped.

Source: The Bangkok Post

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.