BANGKOK (The Nation Thailand/ANN): Thai immigration police have arrested a 39-year-old Japanese man accused of leading a major call-centre scam network operating from Poipet, Cambodia.
Immigration Bureau officers have arrested a 39-year-old Japanese man, described as a key leader of a major call-centre scam network, in the Thong Lor area of Watthana district, Bangkok.
An investigation found that the suspect was wanted under an arrest warrant issued by a court in Nagoya, Japan, in a public fraud case. He was identified as a key figure allegedly controlling and directing a call-centre network that defrauded Japanese citizens, causing losses worth several billion yen.
Information from Japanese security agencies indicated that the network’s main base of operations was in Poipet, Cambodia, with links to transnational criminal groups in several countries. The suspect allegedly oversaw operations and planned scams targeting Japanese victims through a call-centre system.
Japanese police investigations later found clues that the suspect had fled to Thailand with his family. Japanese authorities then coordinated with Thai officials and requested assistance in tracking him down.
After receiving the information, the Royal Thai Police Anti-Human Trafficking Centre assigned the Immigration Bureau to conduct an in-depth investigation. Officers were eventually able to locate and arrest the suspect in Bangkok.
In addition to the fraud case, investigators also found information linking the network to operations that allegedly transported and forced people to work for call-centre gangs in neighbouring countries, raising concerns over transnational human trafficking offences.
Officials believe the network lured people from several countries before sending them to bases in Cambodia, where they were allegedly forced to deceive victims by phone and online. Such crimes are now being urgently targeted by law enforcement agencies across Asia.
Pol Gen Thatchai Pitaneelaboot, director of the Royal Thai Police Anti-Human Trafficking Centre, said the arrest reflected the success of cooperation between Thailand and Japan in exchanging intelligence and tracking cross-border offenders.
Thai authorities confirmed they would continue cracking down on both call-centre operations and human-trafficking networks, focusing on the arrest of masterminds and senior leaders.
They said this approach was crucial to dismantling the structure of transnational crime and preventing Thailand from being used as a safe haven or transit route for illegal networks in the future.
After the arrest, officers were proceeding with legal steps and coordinating with Japanese authorities to send the suspect back to face prosecution under the Japanese court warrant. -- The Nation Thailand/ANN
