Thailand’s Tourist Police are currently investigating all
1,400 Nigerians residing in Thailand after recent Romance Scams as five more Nigerians
were arrested arrested.
Briefing journalists during a press conference on Saturday,
September 15, Thailand’s Tourist Police Pol Maj-General Surachet Hakpal said that
the Tourist police will soon conclude their focus on all 1,400 Nigerians living
in Thailand.
Thailand?s Tourist Police chief says singling out Nigerians
for investigation was needed as many are scamming marriage-seeking Thai women
Surachet said police would recheck Nigerians living in
Thailand to ensure they are living in accordance with the purposes they stated
in their entry visa applications.
Surachet said singling out the entirety of one nationality
for police attention was needed after “many Nigerians” were found to be taking
part in romance scams deceiving Thai women. He said five Nigerians had been
arrested in romance scams.
Speaking during the press conference, he shared the progress
so far of a police crackdown on romance scams.
Surachet said five Nigerians and 12 Thai accomplices from
eight gangs had been arrested from 39 areas in Chon Buri, Surat Thani, Trat,
Phitsanulok, Bangkok and other provinces for deceiving 48 marriage-seeking Thai
women out of Bt5.9 million.
The suspects were members of eight different networks of
online love scammers preying on Thai women.
Combined teams of police arrested the suspects in Bangkok,
Chon Buri, Nakhon Si Thammarat and other provinces between Aug 30 and Sept 13
following complaints by victims duped into wiring money into scammers’ bank
accounts.
Surachet previously launched an ongoing series of nationwide
raids focused on tourists and migrant workers. The raids were initially labelled
as “Operation Black Eagle”.
He was in August given the additional job of assistant
spokesman for Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Prawit Wongsuwan.
Police have been tracking down people involved in online
romance scams since January. To date, there have been 140 cases with damage
amounting to 81 million baht."
