The Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo) is investigating whether the resale of gold worth more than 200 million baht by an unnamed senior police official in 2020 is linked to the recently busted BNK Master online gambling network, according to Amlo spokesman Witthaya Nititham.
Amlo is looking into the BNK Master online gambling ring, which allegedly involves a number of civilians and some high-ranking police officials, Mr Witthaya said.
Amlo is working with Tao Poon police station on the case, he said.
Even if the 2020 gold resale is cleared of all suspicions of money laundering, people connected with the gold will still need to identify where the gold was bought, he said.
They need to also tell investigators about the source of the money used to buy such a vast amount of gold, he said.
Mr Witthaya said if they fail to provide a satisfactory explanation or prove their finances were above board, the gold may be confiscated, and the suspects may be charged with money laundering.
At this point, it was found that the gold had been sold on various occasions to a gold shop, a source said.
The shop had submitted a report about multiple gold purchases to Amlo as required by the law, the source said. No details were given about the location of the gold shop.
According to the law, gold transactions worth more than 2 million baht must be reported to Amlo for inspection, Mr Witthaya says.
The police and Amlo are now tracking a money trail linked to the 2020 gold resale case to learn more about the source of the money. Amlo has also found that more than 200 million baht was paid using bank transfers, which can be easily traced, the source says.
On Wednesday night, two more suspects -- a police colonel and a civilian from Songkhla -- reported to Tao Poon police station. They denied any wrongdoing and were released on bail afterwards.