BANGKOK – Police cracked down on a Chinese gambling den in the heart of Bangkok on Feb 14, which had a front as a restaurant.

The raid followed intelligence that showed a building in Bangkok’s Yannawa district operated a Chinese restaurant on the first floor and a poker den on the third floor.

More than 20 gamblers were found on the third floor. Twelve of them were arrested – 10 men and two women.

Eight of the arrested gamblers are from China, two from Singapore and one each from the Philippines and India. The police also arrested a Thai woman who was the building’s caretaker.

All the suspects were taken to Bang Phong Phang police station for interrogation.

Police confiscated more than six million baht (S$238,000) worth of multiple currencies, including Singapore dollars, Chinese yuan, Hong Kong dollars, euros and Macanese patacas. They also seized two bags of cash chips, 10 card decks, a poker table, nine chairs, 15 telephones and 45 bottles of illegal imported liquor.

A foreign gambler told the police he had been invited to the gambling den by his foreign friend, saying that he did not know gambling was illegal in Thailand, and that he had gambled regularly abroad, especially in Singapore. One Singaporean was also found to have overstayed in Thailand.

The Thai building caretaker said she had been hired by a Chinese employer and had been doing the job for a year.

Initially, police charged the gamblers for playing without permission, and a Thai national for organising the gambling. Investigation is under way to identify more suspects. THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

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