Crime
Bangkok Criminal Court Grants Bail To Tuhao’s Wife For 2 Million Baht
(CTN NEWS) – BANGKOK – Pol. Col. Wanthanaree Kornchayanan, the wife of Chinese mobster Tuhao, was granted bail by the Southern Bangkok Criminal Court this afternoon for 2 million baht in security.
On suspicion of trafficking in illegal drugs and money laundering, Yannawa Police detained and arrested Wanthanaree and nine other people yesterday.
For persons facing such serious crimes, the court often does not grant bail in case they try to leave the country before being sentenced.
Today, the court released on bail five suspects who had been detained on suspicion of money laundering, including Sittikorn Praphacharatwong, 56, Suratsawadi Thongpermploy, 43, Chatchai Lap-amnoeycharoen, 50.
Nattawat Sri-orn, 48, Pheeraphat Thongpermploy, 25, and Pol. Col. Wanthanaree Kornchayanan, 47 (Tuha
Sittiphaiboon Khamnin, 49, and Sittiphong Theursattiang, 34, were taken immediately to Bangkok Remand Prison.
And Patcharin Ittiwattanna, 51, was transferred to the Central Women’s Correctional Institution after the court denied bail for three defendants accused of money laundering and drug offenses.
All nine arrests are related to the Yannawa Police’s raid on Jinling Pub in October, during which they seized numerous illegal narcotics, including heroin, ecstasy, and “happy water.”
When police began looking into Chinese national Chaiyanat “Tuhao” Kornchayanant, who is thought to be the leader of a sizable Chinese criminal organization in Thailand and had a phony Thai ID, they unintentionally opened a bag of worms.
Tuhao was nowhere to be discovered when authorities searched Tuhao’s residence in Bangkok.
Wanthanaree, a police colonel for the foreign relations division and the wife of the late national police head Pol. Gen. Pracha Promnok, welcomed the officers.
Police swiftly confiscated eight Tuhao-owned money-laundering enterprises in Phuket after his arrest. Several of the “companies” were owned by Tuhao’s wife, who stated she was unaware of her husband’s criminal past.
The criminal Surachate “Big Joke” Hakparn was able to seize the gangster’s private jet once it was discovered that he owned one.
The Chinese gang of Tuhao allegedly paid cash for 50 homes in a posh community in Bangkok’s Soi Laselle neighborhood, each worth 45–60 million baht.
The remaining 16 Thai families were reportedly driven out of the village by the gang’s relentless partying.
Tuhao disputes every accusation made against him.
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