Thai police raid hotel being used 'as Chinese crime base'
Police raided a luxury hotel allegedly being used as a crime base by Chinese nationals in Thailand.
Crime Suppression Division officers stormed the building in Nonthaburi, on the edge of the capital Bangkok, following complaints about a steady stream of suspicious Chinese tourists were entering and leaving the premises.
Footage of the operation on July 26 shows cops sweeping through the hotel's eighth floor, believed to have been converted into a gambling and drug den.
They seized more than 200 items, including ketamine, packs of meth and ecstasy-infused drug cocktail called 'happy water', drug-packaging equipment, gambling equipment, cash, bank books, debit and credit cards, and mobile phones.
A Chinese man, Liu, 33, was detained and charged with possessing a Category 2 narcotic for sale.
He claimed lives at the hotel, where he worked as a supervisor and delivered narcotics to customers on instruction.
In some cases, customers allegedly collected the drugs directly from his room.
However, he denied ownership of the seized narcotics and the 110,000 baht in cash found inside a safe.
He admitted that he had entered Thailand illegally to work in the construction industry.
Three Burmese men, Aye, 31, Khun, 24, and Chan, 24, were also arrested on charges of illegally entering and staying in Thailand.
Police said the entire hotel had been rented and converted into a base for an illegal Chinese investment group.
It reportedly provided an 'all-in-one entertainment service' where Chinese clients can be picked up directly from airports before being taken to the hotel to gamble, use drugs, and have sex with prostitutes.
Undercover agents said the hotel had unusually strict security measures from the car park, where Chinese security guards used walkie-talkies to notify staff inside of arrivals.
Customers were then escorted them to a keycard-controlled lift to the sixth floor. They used the staircase to access the seventh and eighth floors, which were strictly prohibited from outsiders, including the hotel cleaning staff.
The second to sixth floors were used as guest accommodation.
Almost all service employees were Chinese nationals who lived inside the hotel to prevent information from leaking.
Police said the hotel claimed to be fully booked every day, though they found no signs of tourists apart from the Chinese nationals.
Multiple vehicles were found in the car park, most of them registered to Chinese nationals, including those linked to nominee company cases in the country.
Investigators also found that the Immigration Bureau had previously raided the same hotel in 2023, arresting 26 Chinese gamblers and 23 Thai accomplices while seizing numerous gambling tables, slot machines and other gambling equipment.
The hotel was subsequently closed for renovations before later reopening with even stricter security measures.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Sarawut Thongnoi of the Crime Suppression Division said: ‘After the arrest, we handed the suspects and all seized items over to the inquiry officer at Rattanathibet Police Station for further legal action.'
Thailand has become a notorious base for Chinese gangs involved in organised crime including cross-border fraud, smuggling and human trafficking operations.
Thai and Chinese authorities were coordinating to crack down on the transnational crime rings.
