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Woman and accomplice arrested over 'drug money'
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- A WOMAN and her alleged accomplice were arrested on suspicion of transferring money for a drug syndicate based in Min Buri.

Police also yesterday reported six major drug busts due to the government's decision to raid 38 targets and examine 46 checkpoints across the country.

Pol Maj General Sompong Chingduang Sompong, deputy Narcotics Suppression commissioner, said police, acting on clues from an earlier arrest, made morning raids on a house in Bang Khuntien district belonging to Sarocha Ruang-urai and a house in Bang Khae district owned by Phitat |Tham-in.

In January, drug baron Arthit Ratianan was captured and 1.7 million amphetamine pills, 36 kilograms of methamphetamine and two cars were seized.

Police checked Arthit's five bank accounts and found that more than Bt800 million had been transferred through Sarocha to Morn Phetthun, a drug dealer in Laos who has already been apprehended.

Phitat had allegedly helped Sarocha transfer funds to the other accounts.

'Bt30m transfers every month'

Police confiscated Bt2 million, a land deed, a car and a condominium in Sathorn district from Sarocha and a motorcycle, laptop computer, watch, mobile phone and bank accounts from Phitat.

Phitat said he met Sarocha through his girlfriend and Sarocha convinced him to open a bank account, for which he was paid Bt1,000-Bt2,000 a day.

He said Bt30 million was transferred into the account every month and about Bt1 |million-Bt2 million was |transferred out each time.

On the other six cases, Sompong said agents from Narcotics Suppression Police, the Narcotics Control Board and the Anti-Money Laundering Office nabbed nine suspects on drug dealing charges nationwide and impounded 192,070 amphetamine pills, 15.1 kilograms of methamphetamine and Bt100 million worth of properties.

This was the first crackdown on drug trafficking networks under the policy, he said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Woman-and-accomplice-arrested-over-drug-money-30267250.html

-- The Nation 2015-08-24

[noitom]

Who are the Thai bankers handling and managing those acounts?

[Seastallion]

" to raid 38 targets and examine 46 checkpoints across the country."

""On the other six cases, Sompong said agents from Narcotics Suppression Police, the Narcotics Control Board and the Anti-Money Laundering Office nabbed nine suspects on drug dealing charges nationwide and impounded 192,070 amphetamine pills, 15.1 kilograms of methamphetamine and Bt100 million worth of properties"

Sooooo....checkpoints are under suspicion? No mention if a checkpoint was one of the six places found with drugs.

[NongKhaiKid]

Who are the Thai bankers handling and managing those acounts?

That's a road less travelled and likely to remain so.

[toooa]

impounded a watch?

[slapout]

Who are the Thai bankers handling and managing those acounts?

Now you bring up those responsible, in fact partners with the criminals, for getting drug, graft monies out of the country. its not going out via dhl nor fedex i would wager..

A whole sector that is a part of the corruption / graft that needs cleaned up and many jailed and lose all assets .They are involved in loans which are approved upon receipt of tea money, new employee hire requirements before the new employee becomes officially on parollo, etc. This is not based on hearsay for you doubting Thomases,

[brianj1964]

all that money flowing through these accounts, yet they only confiscated 2 million

[gemguy]

Who are the Thai bankers handling and managing those acounts?

That would be very hard to monitor and or lay the blame on the Bankers.

Obviously it would be better if the banks could know who exactly their clients are and their sources of income and cash flow and most importantly are any of their clients known drug dealers.

If that was the case then their accounts would be closed and or seized....but not voluntarily as they would need a court order or similar to do so.

But how can the banks know for certain before the police inform them.

Difficult.

Cheers

[gemguy]

Who are the Thai bankers handling and managing those acounts?

Now you bring up those responsible, in fact partners with the criminals, for getting drug, graft monies out of the country. its not going out via dhl nor fedex i would wager..

A whole sector that is a part of the corruption / graft that needs cleaned up and many jailed and lose all assets .They are involved in loans which are approved upon receipt of tea money, new employee hire requirements before the new employee becomes officially on parollo, etc. This is not based on hearsay for you doubting Thomases,

You have a point....but that is based on the assumption that all the bankers ...all of them........ and all branches of any bank, know that the accounts are owned by the drug lords or any drug dealer or any proxy person they use to open a bank account on behalf of a drug dealer.

Certainly there is corruption occurring and the extent is hard to uncover and or prove as anyone can open an account while many legitimate businesses have cash flows coming and going far more so than the amounts and figures used to exemplify the account activities of the drug lord they apprehended and his bank accounts and or any persons, real or fictitious, attached to the accounts.

There are measures that can be taken and banking restrictions that can be applied but until a drug lord is exposed and his bank account(s) and financial details are revealed or exposed you can not immediately accuse the Bank and or bank officials of being illegally involved or complicit with the drug lords narcotics trafficking enterprises just because he happens to have a bank account at let us say : Your Bank ...or the Bank that you are a manager at while everyone assumes that you know or knew the owner of the bank account is a drug dealer while you also knowingly and willing opened an account for that known drug dealer and accepted the drug tainted money...and regardless of the moneys illegal source.

Difficult to pin the blame on the banks.....but ...yes...without a doubt, they should be far more vigilant concerning who exactly are the owners of the accounts and or the obviously large sums of money coming and going while the account or accounts are attached to private persons rather than businesses or corporate accounts.

Cheers

[scorecard]

Who are the Thai bankers handling and managing those acounts?

That would be very hard to monitor and or lay the blame on the Bankers.

Obviously it would be better if the banks could know who exactly their clients are and their sources of income and cash flow and most importantly are any of their clients known drug dealers.

If that was the case then their accounts would be closed and or seized....but not voluntarily as they would need a court order or similar to do so.

But how can the banks know for certain before the police inform them.

Difficult.

Cheers

But remember Thailand does have money laundering laws which kick in at fairly low amounts, when transfers / funds coming in etc., have to be reported to a unit of the Bank of Thailand and the Money Laundering Office for approval to proceed. Until that approval is given the funds are frozen.

Thai mainstream banks have been scolded in the past for non compliance.

[slapout]

A honest bank mamger is just like a honest businessmam/woman, They monitor their cash flow on a weekly if not daily basis. They know what companies have accounts and know about how much in checks, cash, wire tranfer flows thru those accounts,wnere the funds are sent and/or received from. Individuals / privte citizens called small business merchants are known by the tellers as they borrow short term or move income into intrest bearing accounts.

The bank managers , i would guarentee are involved as they are taking a cut of funds moved out of country or scattered to different banks, goups or people. Some people are so uninformed or they try to justify illegal activity by friends and associates, I can not believe they are capable of choosing how to dress themselves of a morning.

It takes a better thief to catch a good thief, Catch the best and he will snitch out the rest if given a good emough deal or the conquenses are so dire for non cooperation that they either commet sucide or they cooperate or run.

[Thai at Heart]

Who are the Thai bankers handling and managing those acounts?

That would be very hard to monitor and or lay the blame on the Bankers.

Obviously it would be better if the banks could know who exactly their clients are and their sources of income and cash flow and most importantly are any of their clients known drug dealers.

If that was the case then their accounts would be closed and or seized....but not voluntarily as they would need a court order or similar to do so.

But how can the banks know for certain before the police inform them.

Difficult.

Cheers

Try depositing and moving 30mn cash through a personal account in the UK without a proof of source for the funds....

[gemguy]

Who are the Thai bankers handling and managing those acounts?

That would be very hard to monitor and or lay the blame on the Bankers.

Obviously it would be better if the banks could know who exactly their clients are and their sources of income and cash flow and most importantly are any of their clients known drug dealers.

If that was the case then their accounts would be closed and or seized....but not voluntarily as they would need a court order or similar to do so.

But how can the banks know for certain before the police inform them.

Difficult.

Cheers

But remember Thailand does have money laundering laws which kick in at fairly low amounts, when transfers / funds coming in etc., have to be reported to a unit of the Bank of Thailand and the Money Laundering Office for approval to proceed. Until that approval is given the funds are frozen.

Thai mainstream banks have been scolded in the past for non compliance.

This is true....Meantime when very large sums of money are coming and going then they would be or could be suspicious....but generally when someone does open an account they do not scrutinize that person very much while they welcome the money, naturally ...while I surmise they really do not care if it is legal money or illegal money.

But yes the banks have to be far more vigilant about where exactly the money comes from while undoubtedly all too many of them are complicit while they will always feign innocence and try to absolve themselves of any wrong dong on their part.

Cheers