A senior immigration officer, a fourth and final suspect wanted for the abduction and cryptocurrency extortion of a Chinese man and his Thai interpreter, turned himself in to police in Pattaya of Chon Buri on Friday night.
Pol Maj Jiraphat Boonnam, police inspector attached to Immigration Division 1, contacted police to surrender at a petrol station in Pattaya.
He arrived with his girlfriend before being taken to Din Daeng police station in Bangkok around 10.40pm for questioning, Pol Maj Gen Noppasil Phoonsawat, deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, said on Saturday.
Pol Maj Jiraphat was one of the four immigration officers named in arrest warrants issued by the Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases for colluding in illegal detention, depriving others of their freedom, coercion with threats to life or body, and abuse of authority.
The three other suspects – Pol Maj Sorawit Inlab, a police inspector at Immigration Division 1; Pol Lt Suriya Rukkhachart, a deputy investigator; and Pol Snr Sgt Maj Peerasak Yimbaiboon – earlier surrendered.
Pol Maj Jiraphat’s girlfriend, whose name was withheld, was also treated as a suspect and had been charged with sheltering or helping the suspect in violation of Section 189 of the Criminal Code, said Pol Maj Gen Noppasil. After questioning, she will be detained at Thung Song Hong police station.
During questioning, Pol Maj Jiraphat denied all charges. He will be sent to court for detention.
Earlier, a Chinese man, who was not named, and his 38-year-old interpreter Namsee Sae Lee filed a complaint with Din Daeng police on March 20.
They said a group of men abducted them from a house in Din Daeng and took them in a car to another house in Soi Prachasongkroh 2, also in Din Daeng, on March 10.
The men demanded payment for their release, paid in Tether (USDT), a cryptocurrency stablecoin pegged to the United States dollar. The amount paid was reportedly 30,000 USDT, worth about 1.02 million baht. Subsequent reports in Thai media put the amount as high as 10 million baht.
Police questioning of the victims led to the issuance of arrest warrants for the four officers.