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A Chinese national wanted in his home country in connection with an illegal online gambling and money-laundering operation with nearly 1 billion baht in circulation has been arrested near Pattaya.
Crime Suppression Division (CSD) officers apprehended the 31-year-old Chinese man, identified only as Yu, outside a housing estate in tambon Huai Yai in Bang Lamung district of Chon Buri, on Friday, said Pol Maj Gen Patanasak Bupphasawan, the CSD commander.
Authorities had been tracking Mr Yu, who was wanted under a Chinese arrest warrant and was believed to have fled to Thailand. The investigation involved officers from the CSD as well as the police Anti-Cyber Scam Centre and the Centre for Combating Transnational Crime and Illegal Immigration.
Investigators found that Mr Yu had established the Paofeng network in 2018, allegedly operating as an intermediary for transferring and laundering money for overseas online gambling websites, said Pol Maj Gen Patanasak.
The network had about 60 lower-level members and established numerous currency-trading teams to control more than 6,000 Alipay and WeChat accounts. The accounts were used to receive gambling payments from players before transferring the money to gambling websites.
The network also used cryptocurrencies to move funds, evade scrutiny and make it more difficult for authorities to trace financial transactions. Investigators estimated that the operation had turnover of around 1 billion baht.
Following intelligence gathering and surveillance, investigators identified Mr Yu’s whereabouts and discovered he had been living in a residential estate in Bang Lamung district. The officers subsequently moved in and arrested him outside the property.
During questioning, Mr Yu admitted that he was the person named in the Chinese arrest warrant and confirmed that he had fled to Thailand to evade arrest.
He was handed over to the Immigration Bureau for legal processing and deportation procedures before being returned to China to face charges.
