Police have arrested four people with suspected links to an illegal online gambling network with more than 1 billion baht circulating in its bank accounts.
Officers from the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau, armed with search warrants, raided five locations in Bangkok and Prachin Buri and arrested four individuals linked to the Juad888H.com betting website.
Police also confiscated assets worth about 5 million baht, including cash, bank passbooks, deposit slips, ATM cards, a car, a laptop computer and mobile phones, said Pol Lt Gen Trairong Phiewpan, the CCIB commissioner.
An investigation found that two mule accounts had been opened to collect and transfer funds linked to the gambling site, said Pol Col Monchai Boonlert, commander of CCIB Division 2. One account was registered as belonging to a legal entity while the other was held in the name of a foreigner, he said.
The four suspects, one man and three women, were charged with illegal online gambling and money laundering, Pol Col Monchai said, adding that police are tracking down three more suspects.
CCIB police also arrested two men who own mule accounts linked to another gambling website that has over 20 million baht in circulation.
Meanwhile, in Tak, highway police officers on Tuesday arrested nine Chinese nationals who are suspected of being involved in a call-scam centre in Wang Chao district of the border province opposite Myanmar.
A suspicious-looking pickup truck tried to speed past a checkpoint on Highway 1 near tambon Pradang, prompting police to give chase, they said. Officers later found seven pickups parked near a forest where about 20 Chinese nationals had gathered.
Most escaped in three of the trucks when police arrived, but nine people were still arrested. A Thai man who drove one of the vehicles was also apprehended. About 110 mobile phones and 200 SIM cards were seized as evidence, police said.