In response to Chuwit’s allegations, some 30 members of the Kathu District Police led a series of surprise raids on companies run by the Tiger Group, which operates entertainment and nightlife venues in Patong. After a thorough search of the premises, they found… a snooker table. The embarrassed police later held a press conference to report their inability to locate these phantom casinos and to reject Chuwit’s claim of police collusion with the phantom Russian mobsters. Deputy Region 8 Police Chief Major General Pisan Juldilok theorized Chuwit was “trying to discredit police.”
Tiger Group legal counsel Thamrongsak Boonrak went further, calling Chuwit’s allegations “rubbish” and said the company was considering legal action against the MP. Thamrongsak reminded the media that before Chuwit became a politician, he ran massage parlors in which Chuwit himself admitted prostitution took place. “He thinks people will do the identical forms of bad things that he used to do … Is this the type of person people should believe?” Phuket-based media figure Evgeny Parfenov certainly doesn’t think so. “Sorry, but this is BS. Mr. Chuwit is just trying to get publicity.” Again.