Dark Side of Pattaya

[bumblebee]

For any of us who have spent time in Pattaya, we often hear about the local mafia, and foreign ones also. Well this article on Thaivisa sheds some light on who some of the international players are.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/434966-foreign-crime-gang-activity-increasing-in-pattaya/

Foreign crime gang activity increasing in Pattaya

By Staff Writers

Communications between the United States Embassy in Bangkok and the United States State Department, released by the whistleblower website Wikileaks and featured in the United Kingdom-based Guardian newspaper, highlight a disturbing growing trend of foreign gangs operating in and out of Pattaya.

The communication stated: “Thailand enjoys a rapid expansion of Russian tourists visiting Thailand but has to deal with an unwanted side effect - the presence of Russian organized crime networks around the popular beach destinations of Pattaya and Phuket.”

Whilst the cable highlighted the increasing presence of the Russian mafia in Pattaya, recent arrests of foreign criminal gangs have, surprisingly, been predominantly from South America.

Informed sources have also pointed to growing suspicions of a large Iranian drug network in the city, which Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) officers believe is the target of much of the recently seized drugs being muled in by Iranian tourists.

Pattaya One reviewed the available evidence of criminal gang activity in Pattaya during 2010, which backs up the disturbing claims that Pattaya is increasingly a foreign gang hideout.

The arrests of a South American gang of thieves operating in Pattaya made headline news late last year, when they were discovered in a house on a residential estate in East Pattaya with a large hoard of stolen jewellery, credit cards, laptops, cameras, gas bottles and blowtorch equipment.

Denying all knowledge of these items, the Peruvian and Argentine gang were arrested following the arrest of two more gang members in Bangkok.

The recovered items were claimed by victims from Bangkok and the surrounding area, and a Metropolitan Police 7 investigator believed the suspects were hiding in Pattaya, acting as tourists, renting vehicles and targeting luxury residences, before transferring money and valuables back to their home countries.

Readers may recall another arrest in 2010, of another South American gang of robbers, this time from Colombia, when one of their members escaped from police custody twice, once from a hospital, after being shot during his first escape attempt.

This five-man gang were thought to have links to another Bangkok gang, and they were believed to be responsible for at least 20 robberies in the Chonburi area. [more...]

[DownLoLarry]

I suppose Sodom By The Sea is a magnet for lowlifes. :D

Not sure exactly what the Russian Mafia actually does in Pattaya but probably more fun to operate international scams from Cozy Beach than Saint Petersburg.

In Bangkok suppose there is a Nigerian Mafia on the odd numbered sois of Lower Suk.

[SiamSam]

And then there is the notorious Corner Bar mafia. I heard they can be a nasty bunch.

Especially this one guy called Lefty :)

[Lefty]

And then there is the notorious Corner Bar mafia. I heard they can be a nasty bunch.

Especially this one guy called Lefty :)

As long as you buy that Lefty dude a drink every time you see him there, you should have nothing to worry about from the CBM.