Four foreign criminals caught in Pratunam

Four foreign criminals caught in Pratunam

Culprits were sought in abduction case

Police release photos showing the hunt for one of the four foreigners in connection with an abduction case involving an Indonesian victim. (Immigration Bureau photo)
Police release photos showing the hunt for one of the four foreigners in connection with an abduction case involving an Indonesian victim. (Immigration Bureau photo)

Four unnamed foreign criminal suspects — three Indonesian nationals and one Vietnamese national — have been detained in Bangkok in connection with an abduction case involving an Indonesian victim, the Immigration Bureau said on Thursday.

A video clip received by the abducted man's family showed the abductors cutting off his finger and making a demand for a ransom of over 300,000 baht, said Atchayon Kraithong, chief of the bureau’s Division 3.

The abduction case has come as a shock to those in Indonesia, said Pol Maj Gen Atchayon.

On Sunday, the suspects had entered Thailand at an immigration checkpoint in Sa Kaeo province, which prompted a car chase from Sa Kaeo to Bangkok, he said.

The bureau was alerted by its Cambodian counterpart to the movements of the suspects from Cambodia into Thailand, he said.

The suspects were aware they were being chased and they managed to switch to a different public getaway van to avoid being caught at a special checkpoint set up to stop them, he added.

The authorities later located the suspects at a hotel in the downtown Pratunam area of Bangkok, he said.

Biometric technology was used to confirm whether the suspects were the same ones sought by the Cambodian police in connection with the  Indonesian abduction case.

The four were later handed over to the Cambodian police.

In related news, the bureau also announced the arrest of a Japanese man identified only as Kazuo and two Thais who admitted to illegally procuring underage female prostitutes for the Japanese man.

The three suspects were detained by the immigration police in the northern province of Khon Kaen on Tuesday.

One Thai suspect was identified only by his first name as Phiraphong who is 57 years old and the other as Sayumphu. They were charged with human trafficking, while the Japanese suspect was charged for sexual molestation of minors. 

Prior to the arrests of these suspects, Khon Kaen immigration police had learned that at least two girls, one aged 14 and the other 15, had sold sex to the Japanese man and they had told police investigators they were paid 10,000 baht each for the service, said Setthaphat na Songkhla, chief of the bureau’s Division 4.

Mr Sayumphu was caught red-handed while taking a 17-year-old girl to the Japanese suspect at a hotel in Khon Kaen, said Pol Col Setthaphat.

Police release photos showing the hunt for  one of the four foreigners in connection with an abduction case involving an Indonesian victim. (Immigration Bureau photo)

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