Phuket police target 80 sites in land-encroachment raids
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AS PART OF THE ongoing crackdown on public land encroachment, soldiers, sailors and police teamed up to search 80 locations in Phuket, including homes and resorts owned by local politicians.
Taxi queues that operate illegally and cheat or harass passengers on the island were also targeted yesterday.
The assets of the 80 encroachment suspects will be seized if those assets were obtained with ill-gotten money, said Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) secretary-general Sihanart Prayoonrat.
Senior Revenue Department official Sitthichai Tia-amnuaychai said inquiries into the tax status of the 80 people – all of whom were facing arrest warrants – would take place.
They include a former local politician, the son of another local politician, people running unlicensed taxis, and a number of kamnan in Muang district.
As of yesterday, no one had been apprehended or charged or even found at any of the sites.
The all-out operation involved some 500 local police, police from Bangkok and a regional bureau, as well as sailors and soldiers.
The police commander leading the raids, Lt-General Panya Mamen, commander of Police Region 8, said intelligence-gathering operations were conducted for three months prior to yesterday but many of the 80 suspects had fled.
The investigation into unlicensed taxis centres on the blocking of Pa Tong Road to increase business, aggressively soliciting fares from foreign tourists outside hotels and mafia figures running independent services and demanding protection fees from members.
Sihanart said assets worth about Bt300,000 had been seized from three people running unlicensed taxis.
He said while the value of the assets was not large, many people were involved and they would be subject to AMLO scrutiny.
