(Image from Thai Tourist Police, via The Nation) (Image from Thai Tourist Police, via The Nation)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—Thailand’s Deputy Commissioner of Tourist Police held a press conference on Sunday to detail the arrests of six Taiwanese citizens who are charged with operating an extortion scam in Thailand.

The Taiwanese are all young men in their early twenties. The Bangkok Post reports they may have been targeting illicit businesses, sending forged warrants, posing as law enforcement and threatening prosecution to coerce money transfers from the targets.

Pol. Maj. Gen. Srauchet Hakpal explained that the arrests began on Wednesday last week, when police raided a residence and seized four atm cards, bank books, and 90,600 Thai Baht in cash (US$ 2,840 / NT$ 83,400). Three of the suspects were arrested.



Two more suspects were arrested in another province on Saturday at a coffee shop, and 30,000 Baht was seized (US$ 940 / NT$ 27,000), according to the Bangkok Post.

After their arrests, the five suspects all indicated that they had received the ATM cards from a sixth Taiwanese national, who was later stopped at the Suvarnabhumi airport in Samut Prakan as he was preparing to flee the country.

The Nation reports that charges for the Thai nationals that helped the group open their bank accounts are also being sought.

The second report says that in total the police have seized 12 million baht ( US$ 376,000 / NT$ 11 million) in cash and five million baht (US$ 176,750 / NT$ 4.6 million) in other assets from the group.