PUBLISHED : 12 Feb 2024 at 20:10
Five immigration officers have been sentenced to 15 years in jail for extorting 10 million baht worth of cryptocurrency from a Chinese businessman found in illegal possession of a Thai ID card in March last year.
The sentence came from the Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases after a Thai man led five immigration policemen to arrest the Chinese businessman who illegally held a Thai ID card.
The five officers from Immigration Division 1 were identified as Pol Maj Sorawit Inlab, Pol Lt Suriya Rukkhachart, Pol Snr Sgt Maj Peerasak Yimpaiboon, Pol Lt Prawitpol Jangreed and Pol Maj Jirapat Boonnam.
A 58-year-old Thai man, Surachai Pattanachaicharoen, was sentenced to 10 years in jail for leading the group of immigration police to the Chinese man.
The five policemen abducted the Chinese national, identified only as Xi, and his Thai woman interpreter Namee Sae Lee, 38, from a house on Pracha Songkroh 2 Road in Din Daeng district on March 10 last year.
Instead of bringing the Chinese man to the Immigration Bureau, he was taken to other locations where they demanded he pay cryptocurrency worth 10 million baht in exchange for his freedom.
The interpreter, Ms Namee, filed a complaint with Din Daeng police station on March 20, 2023.