Thai Beer, Wine, Foreign Mafia In Thailand

[DtemJai]

Summary of The Darker Side of
Tropical Bliss: Foreign Mafia in Thailand

By Thomas Schmid 25 February 2010

Every kind
of Thai beer is undrinkable since 2 years ago. Best beer I ever had was in Papa
New Guinea.

5 liter Mont
Clair red wine from Breede River Valley South Africa is now available at Big C
@ 1000 baht here in Udon Thai. Little fruity, blended & 13 ALC% VOL and
bottled by Samut Sahorn, Thailand.

Summary of The Darker Side of
Tropical Bliss: Foreign Mafia in Thailand

By Thomas Schmid 25 February 2010

Ever increasing numbers of foreign
visitors almost inevitably triggered the appearance of crime syndicates from
their respective home countries. Whether it’s German, British or Irish groups,
the Russian, West African or even Filipino mob, the Yakuza, Chinese Triads or
Taiwanese and South Korean “brotherhoods”, they all seem to proliferate in the
Kingdom .

This development has caused
Thailand’s foreign mafia scene to become extraordinarily complex. The
authorities are unable (or perhaps unwilling) to disclose any reliable figures
on the prevalence of foreign mafia presence in the country, but it is estimated
that literally hundreds of mafia groups currently carry out their activities
more or less openly. Prominent tourism centers such as Pattaya or Phuket are
well known to harbor crime syndicates of every couleur.
Thai gangs usually serve as facilitators or intermediaries to foreign mafia
organizations, for example by procuring unsuspecting and naïve local girls and
women to be sent abroad and be put to work as prostitutes.

Real estate scams are another
specialty of foreign crime syndicates. Yet another excellent method to skim
unsuspecting people of their life savings is the operation of so-called “boiler
rooms”. A boiler room is basically a rented space furnished with desks and lots
of telephones. A phalanx of accomplished sales people each “cold-call”
literally hundreds of potential clients every day and talking them into
investing substantial amounts of money in “house stocks”, a term that describes
worthless, over-priced or even non-existent company shares and securities. The
lure is of course the promise of phenomenal gains over short periods of time.
It almost goes without saying that these profits generally don’t materialize.

Besides counterfeit merchandise,
forged or falsified passports and other travel documents are yet another area
of lucrative engagement pursued by foreign mafia elements. In this context, it
is predominantly Pakistani, Iranian, Indian and Bangladeshi gangs who seem to
have carved out a niche for themselves here for reasons that are difficult to
determine. Foreign business owners in Bangkok and elsewhere in the country can
sing a song of how they are accosted and threatened by shady types of/

In fact, he pays thrice: to local mafia (to be
safe), to foreign mafia (to be safer) and to the local constabulary (to not
have problems with the former two).
Abductions of wealthy business people are not unheard of either. One
recent example is the kidnapping of five members of a Taiwanese family upon
their arrival at Suvarnabhumi airport. A plethora of foreign mafia gangs
engaging in illegalities of every conceivable sort and often maintaining
transnational connections remain active in the country.

Thai police admits that Thailand has become a heaven for
international criminals. “Thailand is their heaven. Thai people are kind and
friendly so the criminals feel at ease here,”
According to government figures, Thailand has witnessed an increase in
the number of foreign prisoners in recent years and more than 7,134 foreign
drug dealers, gangsters, terrorists and criminals are languishing in different
Thai prisons.

[whybother]

Or if you want the whole article ... http://www.thailawforum.com/the-darker-side-of-tropical-bliss-foreign-mafia-in-thailand/

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Interesting article.

Thanks for posting the link to the full version from the Thailand Law Forum, where it is dated Oct. 2012, and is a considerably clearer, more coherent version than the OP post above.

The article must have also appeared somewhere else, because the OP above is dated Feb. 2010.

[whybother]

Interesting article.

Thanks for posting the link to the full version from the Thailand Law Forum, where it is dated Oct. 2012, and is a considerably clearer, more coherent version than the OP post above.

The article must have also appeared somewhere else, because the OP above is dated Feb. 2010.

Yep ... the 2010 posting: http://www.thailawforum.com/foreign-mafia-thailand.html

Not sure if it's exactly the same, but it looks generally the same.

Not sure what the beer and wine comments have to do with the mafia article.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

My favorite section:

Foreign business owners in Bangkok and elsewhere in the country can sing a song of how they are accosted and threatened by shady types of their own nationalities. “Pay up and be safe, or else,” is the prevailing chorus in cases where protection money is extorted. “I have to shell out almost 60,000 Baht a month to ensure that my business can continue to operate without problems,” confessed the proprietor of a prominent Italian restaurant in Bangkok under condition of anonymity. In fact, he pays thrice: to local mafia (to be safe), to foreign mafia (to be safer) and to the local constabulary (to not have problems with the former two).

Ahh,...I forgot... second after my most favorite section:

A German civil engineer had to learn the hard way that it is best not to get involved with the mafia. No amount of money potentially earned can make up for the loss of your life, as 45-year-old Uwe Keienburt discovered. His body parts were found in a pineapple plantation not far from Pattaya in mid-August 2009. The unlucky man was blown to smithereens by what investigating police originally described as “presumably C-4 plastic explosives charges strapped to his body and detonated remotely”. C-4 is a highly regulated material and supposedly only available to the military and related forces. To obtain C-4 is extraordinarily difficult without the right connections, which suggested that Keienburt had crossed some lines that he could not control.

[Kilgore Trout]

How do you get from that article to this? The OP needs to lay off the crack pipe!

[Payboy]

Best beer I ever had was in Papa New Guinea

Papa knows best.