The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) said it has raided the Thai Muslim Television station in eastern Bangkok in search of evidence of a pyramid scheme it allegedly hatched behind its investment projects.
The scheme lured a number of Muslim victims and caused 70 million baht in damages.
The TV station, located on Soi Supapong 1 in Prawet district, is accused of duping 200 people in the Central Region and the South via its advertisements touting attractive investments and high returns.
According to the DSI's initial inspection, many of those business projects do not exist or have been terminated. Victims have lodged complaints with the DSI since 2015 after finding the station was used as a channel to make money illegally.
The raid, granted by a court-issued search warrant, was held to find documents the TV station used to invite its Muslim audience to take part in the alleged pyramid scheme, according to Pol Lt Col Phayao Thongsen, chief of the DSI's Bureau of Special Crime 1.
Pyramid schemes are illegal. People are persuaded to invest money or sell a product and persuade others to do the same, with later investors paying money to ones who came earlier.
The TV station's advertised businesses include fishing, frozen chicken, rubber sales, a convenience store, a hospital, a hotel and land development projects, the DSI said.
The station and chicken farmers used to jointly run a chicken farm but the co-investment had since been scrapped, officials said.
The station ran a mini mart but there is no evidence of the hospital business, Pol Lt Col Phayao said.