World Cup looms, crackdown on betting begins
A raid on a building in Bangkok’s Lak Si district on Sunday night where bets were being taken on this summer’s World Cup resulted in six arrests and the seizure of 13 computers, 16 bettors’ tickets and Bt14,449 in cash.
Police said Kanpasit Kao-ian, 38, who admitted being a bookie, and two “staff members”, Supanat Cherdchu, 32, and Rattapol Sukcharoen, 26, were arrested along with three punters who were not named.
Pol Maj General Panurat Lakboon, deputy chief of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, led the raid on the building on Soi Ngam Wongwan 43 said to be rented by a Cambodian gang.
Police said Kanpasit told them he’d opened the betting shop on April 21 and had Bt2.7 million in circulation. He said a Cambodia investor was financing the operation and had promised Kanpasit 10 per cent of the earnings.
Panurat said the raid was part of the national police chief’s strategy to crack down on football betting, which involves five police teams attached to a Royal Thai Police centre established for that purpose on May 1 and officially beginning its push on Tuesday (May 15).
Panurat said raids were conducted earlier on Sunday on two other targeted locations, one of which was a building on Soi Suan Siam 12, where seven suspects were arrested and five computers seized.