More than 20 gamblers were found on the third floor but 12 of them were arrested – 10 men and two women. - THAIMETROPOLICE/FACEBOOK
BANGKOK: Police cracked down on a Chinese gambling den in the heart of Bangkok on Friday (Feb 14), which fronted as a restaurant.
The raid followed intelligence that showed a building in Bangkok’s Yannawa district operated a Chinese restaurant on the first floor and a poker den on the third floor.
More than 20 gamblers were found on the third floor but 12 of them were arrested – 10 men and two women.
Eight of the arrested gamblers are from China, two from Singapore and one each from the Philippines and India. The police also arrested one Thai woman who is the building’s caretaker.
All suspects were taken to Bang Phong Phang Police Station for interrogation.
Police confiscated more than six million baht in multiple currencies, including Singaporean dollars, Chinese yuan, Hong Kong dollars, euros and Macanese patacas, as well as two bags of cash chips, 10 card decks, a poker table, nine chairs, 15 telephones and 45 bottles of illegal imported liquor.
A foreign gambler told the police that he had been invited to the gambling den by his foreign friend, saying that he did not know gambling was illegal in Thailand, and had gambled regularly abroad especially in Singapore. One Singaporean was also found to have overstayed in Thailand.
The Thai building caretaker said she had been hired by a Chinese employer for a year.
Initially, police charged the gamblers for playing without permission, and a Thai national for organising the gambling. Investigation is underway to seek more suspects. - The Nation/ANN
