Prosecutors overruled Chon Buri police’s decision to drop charges against six suspected online gambling hosts who earlier accused police of extorting 140 million baht from them.

Wacharin Panurat, deputy spokesman of the Office of the Attorney-General, said on Sunday that on Dec 19 last year public prosecutors in Chon Buri province ordered police at the Saen Suk station in Chon Buri to charge the six suspects with illegally hosting gambling and laundering money.

Prosecutors ordered the police to bring the suspects to them on Jan 18 for arraignment on the charges, said Mr Wacharin, who is also deputy chief of the OAG’s Department of Investigation.

Earlier police at the Saen Suk station decided not to press the charges because they said several witnesses who had testified against the suspects changed their mind.

However, other witnesses stood firm on testifying against the suspects, so public prosecutors believed that there was enough evidence and witnesses for the arraignment, Mr Wacharin said.

The six suspects included Thaninwat Udomchaoset, who recently accused Chon Buri police of extorting 140 million baht from them after they were arrested in May last year. The extortion was allegedly in exchange for an offer to free the suspects from legal action against their operation of an online gambling site called Foxbet168.

Mr Thaninwat had not backed down from the extortion accusation, Mr Wacharin said.

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