Police will ask the court to approve arrest warrants for some “influential” Thais in connection with attempts by suspected Chinese scammers to access 176 million baht in a local bank account.
Warrants will be sought for two additional suspects, deputy national police chief Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn said on Wednesday.
Four suspects, including a physician with an MR title who is a child of the former director-general of the Department of Provincial Administration, turned themselves in on Tuesday. They stand accused of theft and fraud after allegedly helping a Cambodian man withdraw money using fake documents.
According to investigators, the suspects pleaded guilty to the accusation and provided information on the source of the money.
The source is believed to have been a deceased Chinese man, allegedly one of the major drug dealers involved with an illegal surrogate gang that Chinese authorities have been after, said Pol Gen Surachate.
Investigators said the suspects had coached the Cambodian man to refer to himself as the Chinese man while withdrawing the money in question on March 24. If there was a problem with the facial recognition scan, he was to tell the bank staff that he had had extensive “face-off” surgery.
Many withdrawal attempts failed due to the unreliable information that the Cambodian had on hand, including false information about his identity as well as financial evidence.
The latest developments came after a raid at a company in the Silom area, where a Chinese victim had been held for ransom by a suspect of the same nationality on Tuesday morning.
The raid led to charges against seven suspects, including Chinese and Cambodian nationals, and another raid at the physician’s clinic in the Rama IX area, where the fake documents were found.
The kidnapping victim said the suspects were involved with an illegal ID card and passport provider, who also served another role as a provider of Thai surrogate mothers, investigative sources said.
