Cops hunt more mask-hoarding suspects

Cops hunt more mask-hoarding suspects

A woman walks past a vendor machine selling masks made of fabric at the Airport Rail Link station at Makkasan area in Bangkok on Thursday. The machine sells the masks, produced by the Corrections Department, for 25 baht apiece. (Photo: Somchai Poomlard)
A woman walks past a vendor machine selling masks made of fabric at the Airport Rail Link station at Makkasan area in Bangkok on Thursday. The machine sells the masks, produced by the Corrections Department, for 25 baht apiece. (Photo: Somchai Poomlard)

Police are looking for more suspects involved in a network affiliated with hoarding and over-charging of face masks following a crackdown which on Wednesday saw the arrest of Paradonraphab Party chief strategist Phanyot Akkhara-amornpan.

Pol Maj Gen Panya Pinsuk, deputy commander of the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD), said Mr Phanyot was linked to two other men arrested in connection with the alleged hoarding of 200 million face masks.

Suspect Sornsuvee "Boy" Poo­raveenasawatchari, 47, was nabbed for inputting false information into a computer system about face mask sales.

Anonvat Vorametchayangkoon, a former election candidate for the Paradonraphab Party, was arrested last week in Bangkok in connection with the offence along with 100 boxes of face masks. He claimed he purchased the face masks from Mr Phanyot for resale.

Based on the probe, Mr Phanyot registered a company known as Thai Health International which illegally imported masks. The supplies were later repackaged and sold.

Mr Sornsuvee, who had wide political connections, promoted the products and manipulated the market. Mr Phanyot allegedly imported 513,300 masks but had managed to sell more than 640,000, yielding cash of 14 million baht.

The Sornsuvee case had hit the headlines after a man had his photo taken with a close aide of Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Thamanat Prompow.

According to the TCSD deputy commander, the Phanyot network is one of the major players in the market and police are expanding their investigation to find other accomplices.

However, he said Mr Phanyot was released on bail by investigators following his arrest on Wednesday because he posed no flight risk.

Pol Maj Gen Panya also said police want to know the identity of the administrator of Facebook page Maem Pho Dam and will summon the person for questioning. The page reposted Mr Sornsuvee's message which was considered importing false information into a computer system.

According to police, a total of 328 people have been arrested for selling overpriced masks since the crackdown was launched on Feb 4. Of this, 77 were online vendors.

Among medical supplies seized during the crackdown were 2,587,578 face masks, 2,764 thermometers, 80,500 litres of ethyl alcohol, and 55,048 health test kits with a combined value of 71,959,665 baht.

Meanwhile, a team of commerce officials and police on Thursday raided a mask factory in Samut Prakan's Bang Phli district following a tip-off that it allegedly produced, sold or purchased the goods without permission.

Suchart Sinart, the deputy permanent-secretary for commerce, said the factory's executives would be charged with failing to inform the authorities about their costs and the location of their warehouses.

"Operators must report production costs to the Internal Trade Department. Earlier, provincial commerce officials inspected the factory but it had claimed it had stopped operations," he said.

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