The kingdom has seized assets worth more than US$300mil (RM1.23bil), including shares in a major regional energy company, and issued arrest warrants for 42 people in a high-profile push against regional scam networks, officials said.
Parts of South-East Asia, including the border areas between Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia, have become hubs for online fraud, with criminal networks earning billions from illegal compounds where trafficking victims are often forced to work.
The seizures and warrants involve Chinese-Cambodian tycoon Chen Zhi, who heads the US-sanctioned Prince Group, and Cambodian nationals Kok An and Yim Leak, who authorities said were all linked to transnational online scam operations.
Chen, who is also facing indictment by the US, could not be reached for comment. Last month, Prince Group denied the company or Chen were involved in any illegal activity.
Although hundreds of people in the region have been detained for alleged involvement in scam centres that have defrauded people across the world, law enforcement agencies have yet to arrest the suspected masterminds of the lucrative networks.
“We have seized assets worth 10,157 million baht (RM1.3bil),” Sophon Saraphat, Deputy Commissioner of the Thai Central Investigation Bureau, said on Wednesday.
“As of yesterday, 29 individuals have been arrested.”
Some of the assets seized were tied to Prince Group head Chen.
Thailand’s Anti-Money Laundering Office said in a statement that investigators had found “information on networks of online fraud, human trafficking, and money-laundering” that were linked to Chen and his associates.
Chen’s whereabouts were unknown and it was not immediately clear if he was one of the people subject to a Thai arrest warrant.
In the past two months authorities in Hong Kong and Singapore froze or seized assets linked to the Prince Group worth US$354mil (RM1.45bil) and US$116mil (RM478.1mil) respectively, after Britain and the United States sanctioned the South-East Asia-based multinational network over accusations it was involved in running scam centres.
In October, the United States indicted Chen for wire fraud conspiracy and money-laundering conspiracy for allegedly directing Prince Group’s operation of forced-labour scam compounds across Cambodia. — Reuters
