Tourist police focus on all 1,400 Nigerians after five arrested over scams
Tourist police will soon conclude their focus on all 1,400 Nigerians living in Thailand, deputy tourist police chief Pol Maj-General Surachet Hakpal said on Saturday.
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.
He spoke during a press conference held to share 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 Thai women out of Bt5.9 million.
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.