A man who allegedly swindled farmers in the North out of 10 million baht in a date palm seedlings scam has been arrested in Maha Sarakham province after six years on the run.
Crime suppression police on Saturday arrested Veerasak Wongrattanamekhin, 54, of Khon Kaen, at Silalard monastery centre in Nong Waeng village, Chiang Yuen district of Maha Sarakham.
Mr Veerasak was wanted under an arrest warrant issued by the Criminal Court for colluding in public fraud, said CSD police.
A group of farmers in the North filed a complaint with CSD in 2013, accusing him of cheating them.
The complainants said Mr Veerasak, claiming to be a staff member of a tree-planting firm in the North, had persuaded them to grow date palm seedlings for exports. The man claimed it was part of a royally initiated project.
To help them get started, he sold date palm seeds to the farmers at 30 baht each and promised to buy the seedlings from them at 60 baht each.
After the farmers grew the date palm seedlings, the firm the suspect claimed to work for refused to buy them. A total of 33 farmers had fallen victim to Mr Veerasak, with damage worth over 10 million baht.
CSD investigators began the investigation and later found he had been hiding in Chiang Yuen district of Maha Sarakham province.
The suspect denied all charges. He was held in CSD police’s custody for legal action.