Police arrest Pathumwan loan shark

Police have arrested an Indian man and charged him with lending money to traders and office workers at an exorbitant rate in the Pathumwan area.

The Crime Suppression Division and Pathumwan district police worked together to arrest Bhagat Rajesh, 43, an Indian national, at a popular shopping complex in the Pathumwan area yesterday.

Pol Maj Somdech Saraban, chief inspector of the CSD, said Mr Rajesh has been acting as a loan shark for some time, lending mostly to traders and office workers at the shopping complex.

He was charging them a hefty 20% per month interest on their loans, which is far higher than what is legally allowed.

The chief inspector said Mr Rajesh would collect interest from his customers every day.

The police launched an investigation and were able to track down the man yesterday. He was caught by police officers while he was collecting debt from one of his customers at the shopping complex.

Police seized from the suspect a book recording the names of more than 50 customers.

Mr Rajesh allegedly admitted that he had been lending at a monthly interest rate of a whopping 20% and that he was part of a lending network.

Money collected from customers was deposited at a bank or transferred to members from his lending network.

He was charged with extending a private loan at a rate higher than is legally allowed. Police are also looking for other members of the lending network.