Five Chinese arrested in Chiang Mai for allegedly running online gambling site

Five Chinese men were arrested in Chiang Mai on Tuesday night for allegedly working for a gambling website after entering Thailand on student visas.

Pol Maj Gen Thawatchai Pongwiwattanachai, Deputy Commissioner of the Provincial Police Bureau 5, said the five suspects were identified as Lin, 32, Fang, 38, Xiang, 28, He, 33, and Yang, 23.

Acting on a tip-off, Chiang Mai police raided a house in Moo 5 village, Tambon San Phranetr, in Chiang Mai’s San Sai district and found the five suspects.

Some were working on computers, while others were resting.

Thawatchai said police seized 41 smartphones and laptop computers from the house.

The Chinese men were suspected of working as administrators for an online gambling site, Thawatchai added.

He said Lin, Fang, and Xiang were charged with organising gambling activities, soliciting others to gamble, and being immigrants working in the kingdom without work permits.

He and Yang were charged with being immigrants working without work permits.

Thawatchai said the five suspects had entered Thailand on student visas and were hired by the gambling website to run the site. They were each paid 30,000 baht per month. The five had been working for the site for five months.

Thawatchai said the site had about 10,000 users betting online.