Police continued their nationwide crackdown on football gambling on Monday night as the Fifa World Cup 2018 group phase matches continued in Russia.
A combined force of security and local officials in Surat Thani raided a football gambling den on Chalok Rat Road in Muang district and detained 14 people -- 12 gamblers and two employees.
Phitsanu Nuannom, a senior administrative official who took part in the 8pm raid, said the gambling premises were a former boxing stadium now converted into a shop called The Ku.
People standing at the counter of the shop waiting to place bets appeared stunned by the sudden arrival of the law enforcement team, and then started running away. Some escaped arrest by climbing up and over a wall, he said.
The shop was decorated in the Fifa World Cup 2018 theme -- with numerous international flags and other decorative material -- and had two gigantic LED TVs for showing the matches to customers, he said.
Also seized were 268,205 baht cash, a number of bank passbooks, nine computers and football betting slips, used and unused, he said.
Authorities had received a tip-off the former boxing stadium was being operated as a football gambling shop, he said.
Dramatic footage shows a security team raid on a gambling den in Muang, Surat Thani. (Video by Supapong Chaolan)
Two other raids were also reported in Surat Thani on Monday night. Evidence of bets being taken was seized but no suspects detained.
In Prachuap Khiri Khan, police raided four spots in Hua Hin district, arresting a total of 19 suspects.
Pol Col Thanakon Wongsirilak, chief of Hua Hin police, said the series of raids began about 6pm.
The first spot targeted was a three-storey building about 200 metres from a school, he said. Eight suspects were detained and seven computers suspected of being used for gambling were seized for inspection.
The second raid was on a computer shop called CmDesign, where 11 people were held and another 20 computers and 30 mobile phone SIM cards seized, he said.
Both premises had a room equipped with a large TV screen where customers could watch football matches.
The other two premises raided later on Monday night were the homes of the owners of the first two places, he said. Police impounded more evidence, including computers and bank passbooks.
The two owners denied organising a football betting service, saying they had only promoted the World Cup on the internet. Police were not convinced and the investigation was proceeding.
In Buri Ram, seven suspects were detained in a similar raid at a commercial building in Nang Rong district, according to an informed source.
Investigators had learned the premises were being used for online football gambling. Police seized 13 computers and about 8,000 baht in cash were seized for inspection.
Six of the seven people arrested confessed to gambling online there. The seventh, Warawut Sirisan, 24, told police he only waited on customers and collected fees for using the computers.
He said he worked for a man known only as Hia Mu, who owns the shop, but he was not there at the time of the raid.