AN INDIAN businessman charged with being the big boss running an ice cream business as a cover for loansharking to residents in Bang Phi district, Samut Prakan province, is being questioned after seven Indian motorcycle-riding vendors were rounded up for threatening and intimidating their clients, TV Channel 7 said today (Aug. 28).
Bang Phli police, along with Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) officers, arrested this group of seven Indian men who were operating an ice cream business on charges of taking away jobs from Thais, and also running an illegal loansharking operation.
The Indian men rented a house in a community in Bang Chalong subdistrict, Bang Phli district. They did not have passports, but each possessed a ticket with a date stamp, resembling a monthly payment record. They admitted to paying 2,500 baht per month to the Indian boss as means of conducting this business.
Tae Achiwa, head of the “Thai Mai Thon” (Thai People Won’t Tolerate) group, conducted a sting operation against the Indian ice cream vendors after receiving complaints from residents that they were threatening and intimidating them when they could not pay their loan interest.
Police summoned the unidentified Indian businessman named as the ringleader of the operation for questioning but he denied any involvement in the group’s business and illegal money lending. However, he admitted to knowing all of them.
The seven Indian men are being held in custody for further investigation and legal proceedings. Police are also investigating other individuals involved and are tracing the financial transactions of the group’s leader.
The penalties for illegally working in Thailand are a fine of 5,000-to-50,000-baht, deportation, and blacklisting which prohibits them from applying for a work permit for two years.
TV Channel 7’s news team spoke with one of the debtors of “Abang loanshark” racket who stated that he borrowed from one of them because he had no other options. His business was struggling, and he lacked working capital. However, he found he could not repay the loan, and the interest compounded overwhelmed him. He was then threatened and intimidated by the loanshark gang, thus pleading for help because he did not want his family to suffer as well.
Meanwhile, yesterday, the Royal Gazette published regulations stated in the Deportation Act of 2026, signed and promulgated by Prime Minister-cum-Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul on Aug. 26, 2026, aimed at expediting and improving the enforcement of deportation laws. It is effective from today (Aug. 28) onwards.
This legislation empowers the Interior Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, or the designated representative, to report to the Interior Minister for consideration and issuance of orders deporting foreigners whose behaviour is contrary to public order.
Offences covered under this regulation include:
– Illegal entry or residence in the country;
– Illegal employment;
– Illegal business activities;
– Forgery or use of forged official documents;
– Committing offences punishable by imprisonment of five years or more;
– Being an accomplice, instigator, or supporter in carrying out above offences.
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Top and Front Page – A representative image of money lending by Alexander Mils on Unsplash
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