Police nab 11 in online gambling raids

Police have arrested 11 suspects in raids on four sites linked to online gambling websites and seized about 70 million baht worth of assets from them.

The websites offered services including football betting, slot games, fish tables, bingo and more, said Pol Lt Gen Worawat Watnakhonbancha, commissioner of the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB).

The sites also facilitated cash deposits — used as gambling credit — and withdrawals via Thai commercial banks, he said on Saturday.

Officers received court-approved search warrants to raid four locations linked to the websites Xoslotz1688.com and slotking77.com.

The first site was reported to have about 35,000 users and monthly transactions of 20 million baht, said Pol Lt Gen Worawat.

Seized from its office in Chanthaburi were Ford and Toyota cars, a Toyota minivan, a Hino truck, four pickups and three motorbikes along with other properties worth 30 million baht in total.

Slotking77 had about 15,000 users with cash flow of about 15 million baht monthly. Police raided three locations: houses in Thanyaburi and Khlong Luang districts of Pathum Thani and a condominium in Muang district of Trang.

Officers confiscated luxury cars, luxury watches, designer bags, gold bars and guns worth 40 million baht in total from the three locations.

The investigation would continue to take down more illegal gambling websites and track their related networks, said Pol Lt Gen Worawat.

In a related development, he said that the actress Arisara “Due” Thongborisut, who shed light on the operations of the much larger Macau888 online gambling network run by her ex-boyfriend, would meet the national police chief next week and provide further details.