The dismissed former police superintendent in Nakhon Sawan province, Pol Col Thitisan Utthanaphol, had been involved in the seizure of 410 luxurious cars smuggled through into Thailand from Singapore and Malaysia during his service, with 270 of them reported to have been stolen abroad, according to Deputy National Police Chief Pol Gen Suchart Thiraswasdi.

 

Thitisan, aka “Joe Ferrari”, and his subordinates at Nakhon Sawan’s Muang district police station are accused of torturing a drug suspect in their custody to death, by covering his face with several layers of plastic bags. All are currently on remand pending the outcome of the investigation.

 

Citing a report into Thitisan’s involvement in the seizure of the cars and suspected money laundering, Pol Gen Suchart said it was discovered that 101 of the smuggled cars were reported to have been stolen abroad, before they were seized in Thailand, and 169 were reported stolen after their seizure, leaving 140 cars, the provenance of which is still being investigated.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/sacked-cop-joe-ferrari-involved-in-seizure-of-410-smuggled-high-end-cars/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2021-10-05

 

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I would say that the entire Police force should be reviewed and their incomes and property owned checked 100%, but I think we all know who'd be doing most of the checking.

The whole governing structure of this country is a joke. Imagine, a for profit police force .

What could go wrong with that?  

Hole idea police get profit from doing job is ridiculous! Same if drug dealer give you money to look away!

So it is feasible that some of his wealth came from legitimate sources (the bounty paid to police involved to the seizure of illegal cars).  That system is wrong as no reward should be offered for normal police work.  Then again when the police salaries are woefully inadequate police will devise other ways of generating genuine income.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying every baht he 'earned' was from a legitimate source. Far from it.

1 hour ago, sirineou said:

The whole governing structure of this country is a joke. Imagine, a for profit police force .

What could go wrong with that?  

Indirectly, part and parcel of the black economy - akin to a criminal sybdicate.

A double Wai, 500 Baht fine and on your way.

You naughty boy Joe.

For anyone who have been in Thailand long enough would know that policemen are getting their salaries supplemented from dozens of sources be it a general all the way down to those cups on a motorcycles, and to get to be in commanding rank you have to BUY this privilege, yes, BUY with lots of money, millions at times, so no surprise there at all...

44 minutes ago, lujanit said:

So it is feasible that some of his wealth came from legitimate sources (the bounty paid to police involved to the seizure of illegal cars).  That system is wrong as no reward should be offered for normal police work.  Then again when the police salaries are woefully inadequate police will devise other ways of generating genuine income.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying every baht he 'earned' was from a legitimate source. Far from it.

 

Oh come on, please don’t fall for their nonsense.

 

What is more likely ? 

 

1) Unassuming Joe Ferrari is the car seizing super hero Thailand needs. All of this achieved from the innocuous central northern province of Nakhon Sawan, which for some strange reason is like a magnet for Lamborghinis or …

2) Joe Ferrari knows he can “cash in” stolen and smuggled cars in Thailand and is involved in an international car theft ring…

 

11 minutes ago, realfunster said:

 

Oh come on, please don’t fall for their nonsense.

 

What is more likely ? 

 

1) Unassuming Joe Ferrari is the car seizing super hero Thailand needs. All of this achieved from the innocuous central northern province of Nakhon Sawan, which for some strange reason is like a magnet for Lamborghinis or …

2) Joe Ferrari knows he can “cash in” stolen and smuggled cars in Thailand and is involved in an international car theft ring…

 

The insurance companies must be paying to get the cars back again and could help with inquiries on who receives the money .

 

 

 

Over 10 years ago, I recall a story of a man that had his car stolen, went to the police station to report it, saw his car in the parking lot, then watched a cop get in and drive it off. 

Investigation uncovered a car theft business run by police with an estimated 1,000 cars hijacked and exported to Cambodia. 

The case is about him murdering a suspect with plastic bags for a corrupt payment of 2 million baht. not about his car collection

3 minutes ago, clivebaxter said:

The case is about him murdering a suspect with plastic bags for a corrupt payment of 2 million baht. not about his car collection

Makes for better reading than some poor soul murdered in custody . 

You have to find it hard to believe that this guy has got all these cars taken from their owners as they were illegal etc and not one got the hump and tried to get revenge !

Would be interesting to know if any other cop has similar numbers of busts with illegal cars , I bet not even close . Plus how can he have so much money when the raids will be conducted by several policemen so surely that would water down his catch bonus . ????

46 minutes ago, clivebaxter said:

The case is about him murdering a suspect with plastic bags for a corrupt payment of 2 million baht. not about his car collection

No, the case is about the murder AND what other crimes have been committed!

2 hours ago, lujanit said:

So it is feasible that some of his wealth came from legitimate sources (the bounty paid to police involved to the seizure of illegal cars).  That system is wrong as no reward should be offered for normal police work.  Then again when the police salaries are woefully inadequate police will devise other ways of generating genuine income.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying every baht he 'earned' was from a legitimate source. Far from it.

It's actually a very effective money laundering scheme. 

1. Acquire ill gotten gains from drug trafficking or corruption.
2. Send money to Malaysia to buy/steal high end cars.
3. Pay a mule to bring them back.
4. Know where the car will be and make the arrest.
5. Mule gets minor fine for cooperating with police and released to do again.
6. Car seized and commission earned - CLEAN money.
7. Use clean money to buy car at govt auction.
8. Sell for big profit - more CLEAN money.
9. Repeat.

Trans national organised crime as defined by Interpol

1 hour ago, clivebaxter said:

The case is about him murdering a suspect with plastic bags for a corrupt payment of 2 million baht. not about his car collection

Yup, its the slow drip drip drip of getting into peoples mind that this guy was a great cop.... its about slowly but surely removing the actual real case from peoples minds and building him up to be some type of hero...

 

The end goal is that eventually at some indecipherable point in the future, he will get some meaningless sentence for grievous bodily harm causing death, but he was a great cop, this was the 1st time, he has been on great behavior. The regulations for the offense says between 3-10 years, but due to his behavior and exemplary policeman-ship it will be on the very lower end of the case.... and due to time served he is free to go.... you heard it here 1st....

The deputy police chief said the fact that several cars were seized before they were smuggled into southern Thailand was a clear indication that the seizures were illegal, adding that several of the cars were brought into Thailand by foreigners, who immediately flew back to their countries.

He said he has ordered the immigration police to find out how many cars were brought into Thailand using this trick.

 

They’ll need a slide rule for this

1 hour ago, clivebaxter said:

The case is about him murdering a suspect with plastic bags for a corrupt payment of 2 million baht. not about his car collection

Well yes, but with the car collection "explained" that only leaves the cash and the death in custody. The wheels they are a turning...

 

 

 

3 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

I would say that the entire Police force should be reviewed and their incomes and property owned checked 100%, but I think we all know who'd be doing most of the checking.

It would be faster to check the ones whose salaries match bank balances and sack the rest.

2 hours ago, lujanit said:

Then again when the police salaries are woefully inadequate police will devise other ways of generating genuine income.

Which makes them entrepreneurs.

3 hours ago, sirineou said:

The whole governing structure of this country is a joke. Imagine, a for profit police force .

What could go wrong with that?  

It starts with the culture of money worship unfortunately. 

 

Gold idols, gilded temples, praying for money... etc.

1 hour ago, clivebaxter said:

The case is about him murdering a suspect with plastic bags for a corrupt payment of 2 million baht. not about his car collection

Absolutely correct. 

1 hour ago, realfunster said:

 

Oh come on, please don’t fall for their nonsense.

 

What is more likely ? 

 

1) Unassuming Joe Ferrari is the car seizing super hero Thailand needs. All of this achieved from the innocuous central northern province of Nakhon Sawan, which for some strange reason is like a magnet for Lamborghinis or …

2) Joe Ferrari knows he can “cash in” stolen and smuggled cars in Thailand and is involved in an international car theft ring…

 

There are none so blind as those that will not see. 

The ordinary citizens of Thailand must be happy to hear news about this case. It's a shame to see what's considered here as normal. In other countries, confiscated funds from criminal activities are passed on for the benefit of the population, e.g. schools and hospitals are modernized. Here a single police officer enriches himself privately with 600 million baht. The system has a serious defect here.

 

And the whole thing didn't free him as a murderer either.

Edited October 5, 20214 yr by tomacht8

22 minutes ago, animalmagic said:

It's actually a very effective money laundering scheme. 

1. Acquire ill gotten gains from drug trafficking or corruption.
2. Send money to Malaysia to buy/steal high end cars.
3. Pay a mule to bring them back.
4. Know where the car will be and make the arrest.
5. Mule gets minor fine for cooperating with police and released to do again.
6. Car seized and commission earned - CLEAN money.
7. Use clean money to buy car at govt auction.
8. Sell for big profit - more CLEAN money.
9. Repeat.

Trans national organised crime as defined by Interpol

That's one scheme for sure.

 

A lot of the higher end luxury and supercars are stolen from the UK then imported as legit, with the aid of corrupt customs officials.

 

Been going on for years.

2 minutes ago, tomacht8 said:

The ordinary citizens of Thailand must be happy to hear news about this case. It's a shame to see what's considered here as normal. In other countries, confiscated funds from criminal activities are passed on for the benefit of the population, e.g. schools and hospitals are modernized. Here a single police officer enriches himself privately with 600 million baht. The system has a serious defect here.

Couldn't have said it better myself. 

Joe Ferrari should have a Salem witch trial. In Salem the good citizens tied the suspected witch to a dunking chair, if she drowned then she wasn't a witch. If she didn't drown they made sure she did. I say tie several bags around Joes head, if he dies perhaps he was innocent. Probably not though.

1 hour ago, LarrySR said:

Over 10 years ago, I recall a story of a man that had his car stolen, went to the police station to report it, saw his car in the parking lot, then watched a cop get in and drive it off. 

Investigation uncovered a car theft business run by police with an estimated 1,000 cars hijacked and exported to Cambodia. 

1,000 cars exported to a country where they drive on the right? That sounds somewhat unlikely.

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Pol Gen Suchart said it was discovered that 101 of the smuggled cars were reported to have been stolen abroad, before they were seized in Thailand

So what happened to those cars ?

 

5 hours ago, webfact said:

and 169 were reported stolen after their seizure,

What does that mean, did the owners wait for them to arrive safely into Thailand before they reported them stolen so they could make a solid claim ?

 

5 hours ago, webfact said:

leaving 140 cars, the provenance of which is still being investigated.

I wouldn't think it would be that hard to find out where they came from if they looked in all of the right places as high end cars have squillions of numbers all over the cars.

 

Looks to me this will be shut down soon as they are digging too deep and might upset a few people who are behind this obvious money laundering scheme.