Police arrested three call centre scammers at a luxury hotel in the Chatuchak district of Bangkok yesterday, September 23, and seized 1,000 methamphetamine tablets, commonly known as Yaba.
The Royal Thai Police (RTP) detected suspicious money transfers involving two victims in the Phaya Thai and Bang Pho areas of Bangkok. A total of 4.5 million baht was moved from their bank accounts to a dubious corporate account.
Investigators traced the transactions and discovered the funds were later transferred from the corporate account into an application used for gold trading. The user purchased gold with the entire sum and arranged to collect the valuables from a shop on Yaowarat Road.
Police monitored two women who visited the gold shop to collect the property and arrested them. Their questioning and subsequent investigations led officers to raid a suite on the eighth floor of a luxury hotel on Ratchadaphisek Road at 7pm yesterday.
Three more suspects were arrested at the scene. Officers identified only the ringleader, a 30 year old Thai man named Krittaphat. He claimed he had applied for a job at a loan company but ended up managing mule accounts for a call centre scam network.
Krittaphat and two other suspects were also accused of laundering money by purchasing gold with funds from the mule accounts. Each allegedly earned between 10,000 and 50,000 baht per month, while the gang provided them with food, accommodation, and Yaba.
A search of the hotel room uncovered more than 1,000 Yaba tablets, along with drug paraphernalia. Krittaphat insisted the large quantity was for personal use, claiming he consumed 10 pills a day. Police rejected his explanation, suspecting him of possessing the drugs for sale.
Officers also seized 10 company seals, company certificates, three mobile phones, three bank books, other documents, and three bags prepared for packing gold.
The suspects then led police to five other rooms on lower floors that were allegedly used as accommodation and operational bases for their scams.
Police stated they would widen the investigation to determine the methods used to defraud the two victims and to clarify the roles of each suspect.
Krittaphat has initially been charged with using and possessing Yaba with the intent to sell. Charges against the other suspects will be determined following further investigations into the gang.
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