Thailand’s investigation of police collusion with an illegal online gambling ring has led to more officers turning themselves in to the authorities. Shortly before Christmas, Thai authorities charged two senior police officers with assisting and enabling an online betting ring run by a figure known as Abubakar bin Sulaiman. Arrest warrants were also issued for two different officers and a third individual.
On Christmas Day, Bangkok police requested and were granted arrest warrants for nine more police officers, most of them operating with the Crime Suppression Division (CSD). The officers, who include CSD superintendents and inspectors at the Technology Crime Suppression Division, are accused of demanding and accepting bribes to look the other way from the illegal gambling activity.
On Dec. 28, four of the nine accused cops surrendered to their fellow officers. On Jan. 3, The Nation reported that a fifth accused, Lt-Col Songrak Khunsri, the former deputy superintendent of the Central Investigation Bureau’s sixth subdivision, was negotiating with police regarding his own surrender. Songrak’s resumé includes playing a role in the arrest of notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
Metropolitan Police Bureau commissioner Lt-General Sriwara Rangsi-prammanakul told a press conference that police were monitoring 800 bank accounts connected with the nine suspects. Raids were planned on the accused’s homes to determine whether any of their assets were suspiciously lavish or of unjustified origin.
The network of allegedly crooked cops reportedly got involved in the online gambling trade following the 2009 arrest of an Indian property developer running an online football betting operation out of a luxury condo in Bangkok. This online gambling site is believed to have been part of a network of sites run by Abubakar, with whom the cops are alleged to have cooperated by soliciting bribes in exchange for releasing confiscated accounts and assets.
