Crime involving foreigners is rising.
By: Wassayos Ngamkham
Published: 16/03/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: NewsForeigners from nearly 50 countries are exploiting the Land of Smiles to make smiles of their own with money and assets they reap from plundering Thai victims.





Street pilfering by Cambodians and Vietnamese, the hacking of ATM card information by Malaysian gangs and robberies in luxury hotels by Pakistanis and Iranians are among nine criminal types categorised by Phanthana Nutchanart, an investigator with the Transnational Crime Coordination Centre. The agency is controlled by the Central Investigation Bureau.

Pol Lt-Col Phanthana's team has been assigned to track these transnational criminals after at least three cases, allegedly committed by foreigners, have been reported in the past two weeks.

Police have identified suspects in these crimes, but with so many cases to deal with, some officers fear they are fighting a losing battle.

Blaming a lack of international cooperation to share criminal records, Pol Lt-Col Phanthana said there was little hope to catch criminals unless better joint efforts among police in each country were established.

Thai police realised how serious the transnational crime problem was when they searched for clues in ATM-related crimes, which used sophisticated technology.

Investigations into gold and cash robberies also highlighted the extent of the problem.

During one case, on March 9, police managed to identify an Argentine man suspected of stealing from vehicles at car parks. Markos Saimon Bacili, 24, was alleged to have followed a gold and jewellery businessman to his car before accosting the victim and making off with gold and cash worth 4 million baht.

The man was later arrested at a Pattaya beach in Chon Buri, police said.

An earlier case involved a Taiwanese gang allegedly colluding with a Thai man in a tax refund scam.

The Department of Special Investigation later released a report that revealed Malaysian gangs were the prime suspects in ATM card fraud.

The DSI said the gangs install fake card slots at ATMs. Card holders' information is then stolen by tiny skimmers inside the slots and small cameras hidden above can record people entering their PINs.

Pol Lt-Col Phanthana also warned tourists at luxury hotels about Iranians and Pakistanis who disguise themselves as guests to steal from mostly wealthy victims.

He said hotel room safes were not always safe as these criminals were skilled at opening them, he said.

"All of these crimes have occurred in countries worldwide," said Pol Lt-Col Phanthana, especially in tourist areas.

He admitted it was an uphill job to crack down on these gangs which he said had spread to nearly 50 countries. The task could not be only done by Thai police, he stressed.

While many police are hoping for the introduction of a law to ensure foreigners who commit crimes in Thailand are prosecuted here, his team have at least paved the way for further investigation by identifying nine types of transnational crime.