Online Casino Games

Police in Thailand have arrested 11 people, including two foreign nationals, for operating an illegal online casino from a building directly opposite the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) headquarters in Soi Phaholyothin.

About 50 police officers were involved in the raid which took place at the group’s HK & T (TV and Film) Production headquarters on the 12th floor of the Rasa Tower II Building yesterday, just 40 metres from the CSD head office. A 29-year-old Hong Kong man Than Yiu Hung, a 33-year-old Malaysian male Ang Kong Yong and their Thai accomplices - four men and five women, were arrested for broadcasting live baccarat games via a webcam on the website www.ok2628.com.

Metropolitan Police Investigation Centre Superintendent Colonel Phirapong Wongsaman, who led the raid, said that he had received a tip-off alerting police that the group were operating online gambling, which remains illegal in Thailand.

He added that the group reportedly used brokers to lure rich customers who would be given up to £1 million in credit, with winnings being wired to them within a week.

Officers also seized five televisions, 16 computers, two closed-circuit cameras, and four baccarat tables. During the raid of the office - leased to a Thai woman Chatduan Maneesawangwong, 37, since September - police found two men in tuxedos dealing cards to the webcams for gamblers to bet via the Internet.