Updated at 11.15 p.m.
A RAID on a luxury pool villa in Pattaya today (March 25) led to the arrest of 43 Indian men who were working there as administrators of a network of over 23 international online gambling websites with approximately 5 billion rupees (over 1.6 billion baht) annual turnover, Amarin TV said.
A team of Tourist Police swooped down on the two-storey pool villa spanning over 100 square wah in Nong Prue subdistrict, Bang Lamung district, after investigation revealed an unusually large number of foreigners residing there.
Found within were 43 Indian men with the villa’s ground floor having been converted into an office where there were 33 computers, 50 mobile phones, and 27 SIM cards and their packaging with all items seized.
Initial investigation revealed that these Indian men were working as administrators of over 23 international online gambling websites such as clickbetexch1, unicon360, and purple399 with Indians being their main customer base.
Each website was found to have a daily turnover of approximately 600,000 rupees (around 200,000 baht), bringing the total network’s annual turnover to approximately 5 billion rupees (over 1.6 billion baht).
The villa had been rented for 120,000 baht a month for over a year with a maximum 50 people employed at a time under the supervision of an individual known only as “AK,” whose identity remains unknown. AK was responsible for supplying resources and handling logistics.
Initially, the police team detained all the suspects and handed them over to investigating officers at Nong Prue police station for prosecution according to the law. They are now tracking down the mastermind and investigating related networks.
25 more Indians arrested at another villa
Earlier an Immigration Police Division 3 team likewise raided another luxury villa in the same area of Pattaya and arrested 25 Indians who had illegally converted the residence into a large-scale online gambling operation base.
This villa was found to have tight security, particularly at the garage which had been converted into an office. The 25 Indian suspects were found working here at various tasks including marketing, accounting, and customer service.
A search uncovered crucial evidence in the computers with there being links to three major online gambling websites, all ending with the number “777,” and had an average daily turnover of approximately 5.6 million rupees, or around 1.94 million baht and over 700 million baht annually.
The police team seized over 80 items including computers, laptops, and mobile phones. Passport checks revealed that all suspects entered Thailand on tourist visas.
Initially, they were charged with “being foreign nationals working without a permit or working beyond their permitted scope,” before being taken into custody and transferred to Nong Prue police station for legal proceedings. Further investigations are underway to identify Thai and foreign financiers involved in the network.
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Top, below and Front Page – The Pattaya luxury villa where 43 Indian men were arrested. Photos – Amarin TV
Insert – The second luxury villa raided and 25 Indians rounded up. Photo – Naewna
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