Couple on 53 fraud warrants caught

Couple on 53 fraud warrants caught

Chayaphol Dokmai-ngam (right), 54, and his wife Suthicha or Tik Suphan, 39, a couple wanted on more than 50 arrest warrants for alleged fraud, are caught at a food shop in Chiang Mai province. (Supplied photo via Wassayos Ngamkham)
Chayaphol Dokmai-ngam (right), 54, and his wife Suthicha or Tik Suphan, 39, a couple wanted on more than 50 arrest warrants for alleged fraud, are caught at a food shop in Chiang Mai province. (Supplied photo via Wassayos Ngamkham)

A couple wanted on more than 50 arrest warrants for alleged fraud charges have been arrested in Chiang Mai province.

Crime Suppression Division police arrested Chayaphol Dokmai-ngam, 54, and his wife Suthicha or Tik Suphan, 39, at a food shop inside Ratjabhat University Chiang Mai’s canteen in tambon Chang Phuek on Monday, Pol Col Man Menyaem, chief of CSD's sub-division 4, said during a media briefing on Tuesday.

The couple were wanted on a court warrant issued by the Uthai provincial court for fraud charges. They also had 52 more arrest warrants on similar charges, said Pol Col Man.

The arrests came after the duo, who operated a used car tent in Nong Khayang district of Uthai Thani, had unusual arrangements with their customers, who were mostly farmers. They allowed the customers to take the vehicles and agreed to pay financial institutions monthly instalments on their behalf. The buyers could later pay them back in lump sums after they harvested their crops.

The business model worked for a while but the dominoes eventually fell. The couple said they later faced liquidity problems and they refused to pay the instalments to the financial firms as promised. Many buyers who saw their vehicles seized subsequently filed complaints at various police stations, said the sub-division 4 chief.

During the interrogation, the couple confessed to the fraud charges. They claimed some customers had allegedly failed to pay them after they advanced their money to pay the financial firms on their behalf.

They were handed over to Nong Khayang police station for legal action.

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