PHUKET: Five foreigners were arrested and gambling chips worth over 600,000 baht seized during a raid on house in Muang district in the early hours of Wednesday.
Provincial and local police searched the house in tambon Ratsada about 1.30am, acting on information that foreign nationals often gambled there.
A group of foreigners were playing poker when police arrived.
The alleged organiser, Ukrainian Oleksandr Shpetnyl, was arrested along with three alleged gamblers -- Russian men Evgenll Vylegzhanin, Rodion Elonov and Ruslan Kolontyrskll - and a Russian woman, Ekaterina Morozova, who was handling the betting chips.
Police seized a gambling table, six decks of cards, 318 chips worth about 79,600 baht, 309 chips worth about 567,925 baht, a sand timer and two computers.
The Ukrainian and the Russian woman were charged with illegally running a gambling operation. The three Russian men were charged with gambling.
All were handed over to Muang police station for legal action.
The five suspects - a Ukrainian man, three Russian men and one Russian woman - are arrested with poker chips worth over 600,000 baht, a gambling table and other items. (Photo: Phuket police)