Police Hunt For Iranian Fugitive As Australian Tourist Is Robbed At Gunpoint.

[britmaveric]

Police hunt for Iranian fugitive as Australian Tourist is robbed at gunpoint.

A case of armed robbery now reported by an Australian Man who lost a total of 500,000 Baht’s worth of valuables. Mr. Jason James Botoya aged 21 from Australia made his way to Pattaya Police Station in the early hours of Thursday Morning and spoke with Police Lieutenant Colonel Pongsawat who listened to his disturbing story. It begins at a Beer Bar on Walking Street at just after Midnight where he started a conversation with an Iranian Man.

The man bought Mr. Botoya drinks for the next four hours. At around 4.00am Mr. Botoya decided it was time to leave the bar and make his way back to his hotel. As he left the bar he was confronted by three Thai men who placed something over his head to block his sight. Mr. Botoya’s sight was only partially impaired and he told Police that he was taken into a Black pick-up truck at gun-point and taken to a remote area in Nong Pla Lai sub-district.

He did notice that the Iranian man was following the truck on his motorbike and they arrived at Soi Hr in Nong Pla Lai where Mr. Botoya was unmasked and told to hand over his valuables which included three diamond rings, a gold necklace, a gold bracelet, two mobile phones and some cash, totaling 500,000 Baht. Police knew of one Iranian man who was currently on-the-run after failing to appear at the Pattaya Court on drugs charges and showed a picture of him to Mr. Botoya who confirmed this was the man that led the armed theft operation.

He is Mr. Savit Sosadin aged 32 from Iran, a former soldier. Police are now conducting a massive man hunt and people are advised not to approach him but to call the Police immediately if they spot him as he is considered dangerous and may be armed.

-Pattaya City News

Thursday 3rd August 2006

Insurance Fraud?? (what's someone doing with 500K BHT on their person)

Edited August 3, 2006 by britmaveric

[Kerryd]

Police hunt for Iranian fugitive as Australian Tourist is robbed at gunpoint.

A case of armed robbery now reported by an Australian Man who lost a total of 500,000 Baht’s worth of valuables. Mr. Jason James Botoya aged 21 from Australia

It begins at a Beer Bar on Walking Street at just after Midnight where he started a conversation with an Iranian Man.

The man bought Mr. Botoya drinks for the next four hours.

21 years old. Wearing/carrying 500,000 baht of cash and jewellery. Meets a guy in a bar and lets the guy buy him drinks for 4 hours ?

Mr. Botoya’s sight was only partially impaired and he told Police that he was taken into a Black pick-up truck at gun-point and taken to a remote area in Nong Pla Lai sub-district.

And after drinking for 4+ hours in the bar, he knows where he was taken ? Was the guy born and raised here ? I couldn't tell you the names of the sub-districts around here sober !

He did notice that the Iranian man was following the truck on his motorbike and they arrived at Soi Hr in Nong Pla Lai where Mr. Botoya was unmasked and told to hand over his valuables which included three diamond rings, a gold necklace, a gold bracelet, two mobile phones and some cash, totaling 500,000 Baht.

Insurance Fraud?? (what's someone doing with 500K BHT on their person)

Uh huh. Half a million baht of bling bling dripping off him. Lets a stranger buy him drinks for 4 hours in a Walking Street bar. When he leaves the bar 3 Thai men place "something" over his head and put him in the back of a pick up (and nobody else notices a farang being kidnapped ? Even at 4 am, there are lots of people on Walking Street).

You'd think with that kind of dosh, he'd have had a half-dozen BG's draped all over him. Not a lone Iranian guy.

I'm smelling fish.

Let's see if he shows uo on here in the next day or two and makes a post about how terrible things are here.

Edited August 3, 2006 by Kerryd

[karazyal]

"Mr. Jason James Botoya aged 21, an Australian Man who lost a total of 500,000 Baht’s worth of valuables."

.

This guy is incredibly stupid or something is else is funny! A 21 year old guy with big bucks??

Didn't this idiot ever hear of safety boxes or banks? Where does a 21 year old get all that loot?

You are judged by the company you keep!

(Convenient that the guy that robbed him is also a known fugitive!)

[kurgen]

(Convenient that the guy that robbed him is also a known fugitive!)

hats off to the BIB, that was quick

Case solved, NEXT !

[Scott]

One thing you've got to love about TV is that it's always the victims fault.

Obviously nobody here has ever stayed out drinking until 4:00 a.m.

Obviously nobody here has ever worn any ornaments--such as gold, or a watch.

Obviously nobody here has ever fallen for a conversation with someone who appears charming.

Obviously nobody here was ever 21!

[Donz]

yes he was an idiot for having that much on him in the club, hope he has learnt a lesson here, not saying the robber should get off, but wearing all that stuff is inviting robbers to rob you.

[Kerryd]

One thing you've got to love about TV is that it's always the victims fault.

Obviously nobody here has ever stayed out drinking until 4:00 a.m.

Obviously nobody here has ever worn any ornaments--such as gold, or a watch.

Obviously nobody here has ever fallen for a conversation with someone who appears charming.

Obviously nobody here was ever 21!

Well, when I was 21, I didn't have $10,000+ US dollars to blow on diamond rings, gold chains, bracelets and cell phones (and trips to exotic locations).

And when I was 21, if a stranger offered to buy me a drink in a bar, I would have been suspicious right off the bat. If that stranger kept buying me drinks for 4 hours ?

Not sure how charming a former Iranian soldier can be (or how good his english is). Must have been something though.

I've stayed out drinking (here) way past 4 am many a time

Like I said previously, had that been me, and I had been "taken to a remote area" around Pattaya at 4am, after at least 4 hours of drinking, I would have a extremely hard time identifying the place as "in Nong Pla Lai sub-district", especially when I couldn't do it in the middle of the day, sober.

Add this little tidbit to the mix. They "placed something over his head to block his sight", yet on arrival at the "remote area", they removed that "something", allowing him to see (and identify) his kidnappers/robbers ?!?!!?

And in the story, they appear to only be looking for the Iranian. What about the 3 Thai men that were supposedly involved ? What happened after he was robbed ? Did they just drive away ? Did he see the vehicles licence plate (if it had one) ? Did they drop him off downtown ? Did he walk out of that "remote area" and flag down a taxi ?

Maybe he was just a rich, niave, impressionable guy.Well, if the story is true, the young lad should be thanking his lucky stars.

People have been found dead after being robbed of a lot less. Victims (and/or witnesses) have been killed on many occasions to prevent them from identifying the criminals.

Gotta shake my head at times. They can catch a lady-boy pickpocket within minutes of the crime being reported, yet this wanted Iranian criminal can sit in a Walking Street bar for hours buying drinks for people without being noticed ?

(I guess all farangs look alike)

[hiromj]

Good Post Kerry.

[Kerryd]

Good Post Kerry.

Hahaha, that's not going to get you promoted to Level 2 !

(Side note: I know Thai girls that won't wear their gold, or will only wear a little bit, for fear of being robbed.)

Not sure how long this 21 y.o. guy has been in Thailand, but if it was more than one day, he's lucky he wasn't robbed before (and in a more violent fashion).

[suiging]

If he was drinking up the North end, the Russians wouldn't have taken four hours before nailing the silly sod.

[britmaveric]

Two Iranian men and a Thai man arrested after yesterdays armed abduction case.

An important update now on the story we ran on yesterdays show regarding allegations of armed abduction and robbery against an Iranian man and three Thai men.

The victim of the crime was a 21 year old Australian Tourist who lost a total of 500,000 Baht’s worth of valuables. We can announce that three men have now been arrested in connection with this case and they were presented to the gathered media in the car park of Pattaya Police Station on Friday Morning.

Police arrested two Iranian men at the Prince Hotel in Phatumnam in Bangkok and a Thai man in Soi Gopai in South Pattaya. A gold ring and a fake gun were also recovered and taken into evidence. The arrestees are Maidit Abdullah Gifar aged 30 from Iran and Savit Sosadin aged 32 also from Iran who is also wanted on drugs related charges here in Thailand.

Khun Moragot aged 35 was also involved in the armed abduction and has confessed to Police confirming his part in the crime. Another Thai man is also thought to have been involved but he has yet to be caught. Both Iranian nationals also confessed to the crime and will now be held on remand pending further investigation.

-Pattaya City News

Friday 4th August 2006

[jingjoe]

The kid might have had himself some premium Travel insurance... hope he hasn't embellished the truth too much in order to fund another 3 months in LOS. Is fraud a dirty word in Thailand?

[Pattaya_Fox]

Two Iranian men and a Thai man arrested after yesterdays armed abduction case.

An important update now on the story we ran on yesterdays show regarding allegations of armed abduction and robbery against an Iranian man and three Thai men.

The victim of the crime was a 21 year old Australian Tourist who lost a total of 500,000 Baht’s worth of valuables. We can announce that three men have now been arrested in connection with this case and they were presented to the gathered media in the car park of Pattaya Police Station on Friday Morning.

Police arrested two Iranian men at the Prince Hotel in Phatumnam in Bangkok and a Thai man in Soi Gopai in South Pattaya. A gold ring and a fake gun were also recovered and taken into evidence. The arrestees are Maidit Abdullah Gifar aged 30 from Iran and Savit Sosadin aged 32 also from Iran who is also wanted on drugs related charges here in Thailand.

Khun Moragot aged 35 was also involved in the armed abduction and has confessed to Police confirming his part in the crime. Another Thai man is also thought to have been involved but he has yet to be caught. Both Iranian nationals also confessed to the crime and will now be held on remand pending further investigation.

-Pattaya City News

Friday 4th August 2006

Some pics from PCN.

[Kerryd]

Wow. Petty quick eh ? Unable to locate the guy while he's on the run from drug charges, but able to nab him all the way up in Bangkok a day after a kidnapping/robbery in Pattaya ?

I wonder if the aussie lad did have insurance ?

[Pattaya_Fox]

Amazing what a little publicity can do

[jimmy5L]

Two Iranian men and a Thai man arrested after yesterdays armed abduction case.

Police arrested two Iranian men at the Prince Hotel in Phatumnam in Bangkok and a Thai man in Soi Gopai in South Pattaya. A gold ring and a fake gun were also recovered and taken into evidence. The arrestees are Maidit Abdullah Gifar aged 30 from Iran and Savit Sosadin aged 32 also from Iran who is also wanted on drugs related charges here in Thailand.

-Pattaya City News

Friday 4th August 2006

Hope they will have a good time in a thai prison, iranians, bbbbrrrrrrrr, how many years will they get, you think?

and BRAVO too the Thai police!!!

[hopeless]

possible death penalty? drug charges and armed robbery!?

[thaiflyer1]

Amazing what a bit of pull does.............according to Pattaya People News the victim was the son of a wealthy jewelery dealer from Bangkok specialising in jewelery made to order.

So could of well been that he had that much jewelery on him.

[suiging]

The Iranian could well have followed him from BK to do the biz. That amount of bling and the team effort to rob him, always did look like a set up, rather than a poor tourist having a bad day !!

[Kerryd]

Amazing what a bit of pull does.............according to Pattaya People News the victim was the son of a wealthy jewelery dealer from Bangkok specialising in jewelery made to order.

So could of well been that he had that much jewelery on him.

That would definitely put a different light on the story, wouldn't it ? Instead of a dumb, newbie tourist, we now have the son of a Bangkok jeweller (and a wealthy one at that).

So, was junior wearing stuff from the display case ? Daddy is a Bangkok jeweller. The robbers commited the deed in Pattaya, but were arrested in Bangkok. Insurance scam ? Jewellery business a little slow lately ?

It almost makes you wish you lived in the west, where you would stand a slightly better chance of hearing the eventual outcome of cases like this.

"Almost", but not quite.

[suiging]

Lucky boy realy. It's a wonder daddy wasn't sent little bits of him home in the mail.

[gburns57au]

Just some further news on this story....

Real surname is Bertogna....he is a jewellery designer in Thailand...

His father is Aldo Bertogna who is wanted by a bankruptcy receiver over here for investigations into shady dealings...he owes money all over the place and is a known conman.

Perhaps that answers a few questions.

Stories were run in todays Sunday Times on the Pattaya incident and then on another page about the fathers dealings here....They both live in Bangkok.

[libya 115]

Just some further news on this story....

Real surname is Bertogna....he is a jewellery designer in Thailand...

His father is Aldo Bertogna who is wanted by a bankruptcy receiver over here for investigations into shady dealings...he owes money all over the place and is a known conman.

Perhaps that answers a few questions.

Stories were run in todays Sunday Times on the Pattaya incident and then on another page about the fathers dealings here....They both live in Bangkok.

Aldo Roberto Bertogna

[farangsay]

Two Iranian men and a Thai man arrested after yesterdays armed abduction case.

Police arrested two Iranian men at the Prince Hotel in Phatumnam in Bangkok and a Thai man in Soi Gopai in South Pattaya. A gold ring and a fake gun were also recovered and taken into evidence. The arrestees are Maidit Abdullah Gifar aged 30 from Iran and Savit Sosadin aged 32 also from Iran who is also wanted on drugs related charges here in Thailand.

-Pattaya City News

Friday 4th August 2006

Hope they will have a good time in a thai prison, iranians, bbbbrrrrrrrr, how many years will they get, you think?

and BRAVO too the Thai police!!!

Of course if one of the Iranians was the son of the (ex) Shah he probably wouldn't last

long would he.

Time for a "National Enquirer" forum ?