News from Thailand – September 15, 2014
At least 22 transnational gangs have chosen Thailand as a base for their criminal activities such as identity theft, burglaries and card skimming. That conclusion is drawn by the Thailand Institute of Justice (TIJ) from the analysis of cases against 266 suspects from 101 countries, who were arrested and imprisoned.
Of the foreign heavy boys, one Russian gang is the most notorious. It is engaged in the production of ATM and credit cards based on skimmed data. The gang buys the data from another criminal group and uses the information to extract money from the wall in Thailand. The gang mainly operated at night because disguising is easier then.
A group from Romania can also do something about it. They managed to smuggle a map counterfeit device into the country from Spain via the post in the south of Thailand. With the counterfeit cards they bought jewelry and computers and smuggled them to Romania. The Romanians struck mainly in tourist areas and in Bangkok in Sukhumvit.
A German gang did it differently again. It spread viruses on the Internet, including Trojan horses. With the stolen data, they were able to transfer money to accounts in Russia. French and British gangs mainly operated in Phuket and South American gangs were crazy about break-ins.
– Court cases at the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, which are now lengthy, must be speeded up. The Office of the Judiciary (OJ) is working on a plan to form a special Court of Appeals for drug cases to speed them up. At present, 70 percent of the cases are pending before the Court of Appeal on drug cases.
Another change involves simplifying the procedure in specialized cases involving labor, bankruptcy, taxation, intellectual property rights and domestic trade, among others. Of these, there is still a reservoir of 20.000 cases, which have been appealed to the Supreme Court.
The appeal is also intended to be heard by the Court of Appeal, after a panel of Supreme Court judges has ruled it ineligible to hear. According to Bobornsak Thawipat, spokesman for the OJ, unnecessary appeals have been made in some cases.
– The chairman of the Provincial Council of Nakhon Ratchasima resigned his position after the States had agreed to a proposal to place eight districts in a separate province, which will be called Bua Yai. These are Bua Yai, Ban Luam, Prathai, Khong, Non Daeng, Kaeng Sanamnang, Bua Lai and Sida districts.
The decision has led to a division of minds with supporters and opponents who held rallies in the province on Saturday. The necessary frustrations are also expressed online. According to the advocates of separation, this will lead to a stronger development of the eight districts.
The provincial decision requires the approval of the cabinet and parliament. Not an easy task, according to the governor of the province. "The process takes a long time and it also costs something like 10 billion baht to form the new province." If you ask me, that new province will never come.
– The authorities in Krabi have decided to handcuff 85 farmers who have illegally taken possession of a large piece of land, formerly used as an oil palm plantation. The mostly landless farmers also want to grow oil palms on it.
The area has been managed by the Royal Forest Department since the Univanich Palm Oil Plc concession expired. Of the 10.000 rai, the farmers cracked 2.000 rai months ago. Previous attempts to get them out have failed. The court has issued arrest warrants. Today police, soldiers, forest rangers and security volunteers are in action.
The authorities are afraid that the squatting action of the farmers will be followed elsewhere in the province. This concerns 70.000 rai of former oil palm plantations.
– The Immigration in Nong Khai has managed to get hold of 1.765 counterfeit dollar bills with an equivalent value of 5,65 million baht. Three men and a woman were arrested. The police noticed them when they behaved suspiciously in a Mercedes Benz on Saturday. According to one of them, they bought the money from a man in Lop Buri and paid 200.000 baht for it.
– Three hundred residents of the neighborhoods Klong Toey 4, 5 and 6 (Bangkok) participated in a laughter therapy. That was one of the activities organized by the Office of the Narcotics Board. There is not more to report because the newspaper devoted a photo report to it: a photo with a caption of two lines. The photo is not on the newspaper's website, so I can't show it. A funny sight: people who put their hands over their eyes. Almost laughed myself.
– The heavily indebted Bangkok municipal transport company (BMTA) has submitted its recovery plan to a committee for public companies with a request to the Ministry of Finance to take over 60 billion in debt. If that plan is approved, the company expects to be out of the red after six years and to turn a profit after ten years.
Acting director Nares Boonpiem attributes the losses to the government's policy of reducing rates. The debt burden has risen to 90 billion baht, of which 58,5 billion baht (65 percent) is the result of this policy and not mismanagement. The BMTA's recovery plan consists of fourteen action plans that aim to reduce costs, increase revenues and improve the company's efficiency.
Varies
Not off Bangkok Post but read on the website stump (Singapore press holdings website): Dutch student fakes entire 5-week vacation in Asia with just Photoshop.
Dutch Zilla van den Born has spent a five-week holiday in Asia without leaving her room in Amsterdam. How did she do that? With Photoshop and some tricks. Friends and family didn't notice. She even Skyped with them.
The Imaginary Vacation was a university project to demonstrate how people can create an illusion of the world they live in using social media. Zilla: 'My goal was to show how easy it is to distort reality.'
www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post
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That fake holiday was briefly in some Dutch media at the beginning of this spring, just search for keywords “student fake holiday Thailand”. She also sent cards etc. to the family. She was not the first with this "project", another student from the same school preceded her, but that concerned a fake holiday elsewhere in the world.
Don't ask me about the stamps, one letter with a Dutch stamp stands out. Then you must:
– Or give your fake letter with Thai stamp (don't forget to add fake stamp and counterfeit addressing barcode) to the deliverer at the beginning of the street. Or deliver the letter quickly after the deliverer.
– Send letters and cards to Thailand and then send them back to the Netherlands by an accomplice.
– Just by Dutch post and hope no one notices that the letter has Dutch stamps?!
All those people who, with their reactions to a previous posting about transferring money via a Dutch or Thai bank, finally razed the Dutch banks to the ground, should read the article about the at least 22 gangs operating in Thailand, who mainly target bank cards. have, let's study it carefully again. How come those gangs specifically targeted Thailand? Perhaps something wrong with the security of the banks there? It must be made very easy for these men to operate successfully on such a large scale. I have also been a victim before for an amount of 1200 euros. Money back from my Bangkok Bank? You would have thought. Dutch and other European banks had repaid the money. For heaven's sake, stop glorifying Thailand and tearing down your own country. Many people do not know how good we have it and can play in Thailand with a reasonably accrued pension and supplementary state pension. Open your eyes and look at the average Thai and try to think soberly and sensibly.