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.

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.

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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.

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Police believe they have found the remains of a 38-year-old Chinese tourists dumped in a deserted area in the Muang district of Chachoengsao province just east of Bangkok. The Chinese woman was reported to have been kidnapped for ransom in Bangkok nearly two weeks ago, according to police.

A search team from Bangkok’s Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB), inspected the deserted site near a housing estate in tambon Bang Phra of Muang district in Chachoengsao province around noon on Saturday.

They found a torso and human legs, that they believe could belong to Miss Yan Ruimin, 38 from China. Forensic investigators are coordinating with the police lab to carry out DNA tests of the body parts, the Thairath reported.

Bangkok Police began the search after Chinese national Cai Boxuan told police at the Bang Rak station in Bangkok on Friday that his friend Ms Yan had gone missing.

The last time he heard from her was on June 30 when she told him that she would go to Phuket on July 2. He said he feared she might be in danger.

Yan Ruimin, 38, was last heard from on June 30, 2024 – Photo Metropolitan Police Bureau

According to a police source, Miss Yan’s relatives grew concerned after not hearing from her for some time, so they flew to Thailand and asked the Chinese embassy for help.

A suspect subsequently contacted them and demanded a ransom of 1 million yuan (5 million baht) for Miss Yan’s release. The suspect was identified as Chinese National Mr. Ma Qingyan, and a search discovered that he rented a car in Bangkok on June 30.

On July 1, Miss Yan was seen getting into the car at Times Square near Sukhumvit Soi 12, police said, and that a CCTV security camera video showed the car heading to Sukhumvit Soi 16. Later in the evening, CCTV security cameras captured the rented car with the suspect and the woman inside it travelling on Rama IV Road.

The following day, the car left the Sukhumvit 16 address and headed to Chon Buri.

At about 2am on July 3, the car appeared in Chachoengsao before Miss Yan’s telephone signal went dead in an area near a public park close to Wat Sothon Wararam Worawihan in Muang district.

Mr. Ma then reportedly checked out of his Bangkok hotel later that day and flew to Hong Kong, according to Immigration police said.

A security camera shows Miss Yan checking her phone – Photo Metropolitan Police Bureau

Police examined video from closed-circuit CCTV cameras along the route to Chachoengsao province , focusing on locations where the rental car had stopped.

Local media reported that a check of the car’s GPS showed that it travelled to a fish farm in Muang district. Police found an item of burned luggage, believed to belong to the missing woman, in tambon Bang Phra. The search eventually brought them to the site where they found the body parts believe to be Miss Yan’s

Reports of Chinese nationals being kidnapped in Thailand have been rising. Many victims are lured with fake job offers or business deals, only to be held for ransom.

Often, these kidnappings are tied to criminal networks that operate across borders. The victims’ families are then contacted and pressured to pay large sums for their release.

Authorities in Thailand are working on increasing security and cooperation with the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok to tackle this issue. Police say it’s crucial for travelers to stay vigilant and avoid suspicious offers.

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