Thread: Phuket : Russian gang controls

Chuvit: Russian gang controls Phuket
29/03/2012

A criminal gang based in Russia has established its influence in the tourist island of Phuket with help from local officials, MP Chuvit Kamolvisit said on Thursday.


Patong beach, Phuket
(Photo EPA)

Mr Chuvit, a Rak Thailand Party list MP, said the gang, called "Spachiba", used Phuket to launder dirty money by encroaching on national forests and investing in luxury housing estates and five-star hotels.

This gang of Russian nationals was able to run this money-laundering business with the help of land and administrative officials and police, he said.

The opposition Rak Thailand Party leader said the gang had also open a large casino called "Tiger" in soi Saen Sabai in the heart of the Patong area.

Tiger was the largest casino in the South with a daily turn over of more than 100 million baht, he said.

Mr Chuvit said "Thung Thong" is another casino run by Russians in Phuket.

The two casinos made a daily payment to local and immigration police, he added.

The former massage parlour tycoon said he would ask the House committee on police affairs to investigate.

The national police chief and Region 8 Provincial Police chief as well as the provincial governor should seriously look into this matter, he said.

bangkokpost.com

Originally Posted by Mid

the gang, called "Spachiba",

Phuket Police Probe Maverick MP's Claims of Russian 'Mafia' in Phuket Casinos
Chutima Sidasathian and Sert Tongdee
Thursday, March 29, 2012


Major General Chonsit Wadhnawarangkun: ordered immediate police raids
phuketwan.com/file

PHUKET: A major police investigation was underway on Phuket today after extraordinary claims that Russian gangs are running a huge illegal gambling industry on Phuket with the help of police and other officials.

The claims came from maverick MP Chuvit Kamolvisit, a Rak Thailand Party member, at a media conference in Bangkok.

Although Mr Chuvit's claims have not always been substantiated in the past, Phuket's Police Commander, Major General Chonsit Wadhnawarangkun immediately ordered Phuket police to carry out raids on the alleged illegal casinos.

The former massage parlor tycoon's credibility probably rides on the accuracy of the remarkable claims he made today.

He said that, with the help of police and other officials, the Russian ''Spachiba'' gang had set up money-laundering outlets on Phuket, taking control of five-star resorts and villas in the process and creating two large illegal casinos.

Mr Chuvit said the biggest, in Patong's Soi Sansabai, was called ''Gambilng Tiger'' and handled 100 million baht a day. A second in the Tungthong district of Phuket handled 70-80 million baht a day.

Daily payoffs were made to police or Immigration officers, he claimed.

He said Phuket must have once been the Pearl of the Andaman but was now rapidly becoming the ''Bad Egg'' of the Andaman.

Mr Chuvit said he had been to Phuket recently and discovered a mosque and a school within six kilometres of the Phuket Governor's mansion where there was no electricity.

He said he was not surprised that Pm Yingluck Shinawatra and her Cabinet on their recent visit to Phuket had been entertained at the five-star Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort and Spa rather than visiting the powerless mosque and school.

Commander Major General Chonsit swung teams of police into action late this afernoon as soon as he heard Mr Chuvit's claims.

phuketwan.com

yep I do wonder why I bother

Chuvit is a television media whore.