Teams of police and soldiers have raided more premises and seized assets linked with the Ponzi network allegedly operated by Pol Maj Gen Suthip Palitkusolthat, a deputy chief of the Royal Thai Police human resources office.
On Monday, joint teams raided a total of 11 spots in Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen and Nong Bua Lam Phu and seized assets linked to the criminal network worth 70 million baht.
They included four houses, one condominium unit, one restaurant, a car care service shop and three cars.
Last Tuesday authorities raided 11 premises in Khon Kaen, Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Chiang Mai and Udon Thani and seized assets worth a total of 61.1 million baht in connection with the same Ponzi network.
Pol Maj Gen Suthip’s network is believed to have swindled 240 million baht from 192 police officers in Loei. He was suspended from active duty last month.
The fraud allegedly began when Pol Maj Gen Suthip was Loei police chief and chairman of the local police cooperative.
He is accused of persuading local policemen to borrow from the cooperative to clear their debts with various creditors. He also offered to manage the borrowed money, and promised them monthly investment returns of about 5,000 baht.
The policemen believed him and transferred the money to Pol Maj Gen Suthip, who failed to pay the promised returns this year.
Some victims were his subordinates. One, the former deputy inspector of Pakchom police station in Loei, Pol Capt Sompao Phosri, suffered a stroke and died on Aug 31 after losing his money and seeing his debts pile up.
Aside from the 192 policemen, there were also 40 civilian victims, Pol Maj Gen Thanasak Ritthidejpaibul, a deputy commissioner of Provincial Police Region 4 who is in charge of the investigation, said on Tuesday.
These 40 people have already lodged their complaints with police, he said.
Total losses caused by this network uncovered to date were estimated at one billion baht, Pol Maj Gen Thanasak said.
Pol Maj Gen Suthip has been temporarily dismissed from the force and faces major disciplinary and fraud charges.