PHUKET – Police arrested a Russian national wanted for a cryptocurrency theft in Phuket at the Koh Samui ferry terminal as he tried to leave the island by car on Thursday. Officers from several units in Koh Samui, Surat Thani, worked with Chalong Police from Phuket and the Technology Crime Investigation Division 5. Together, they detained the suspect following a Phuket Provincial Court warrant for robbery.
Authorities received information that the suspect had travelled to Koh Samui by the 11:00 a.m. ferry, driving a grey sedan with Prachinburi plates. Police set up surveillance at the ferry terminal to intercept him.
At 12:50 p.m. on 28 August, officers saw a matching vehicle arriving at the Lipa Noi ferry terminal in Koh Samui. The driver, a foreign man alone in the car, caught their attention. When they pulled the car over for a search, they found another foreign man hiding in the back seat.
The driver was identified as Gleb, a Russian citizen. The man found hiding was Dmitri, also Russian, aged 26, who matched the details in the 27 August arrest warrant. Police seized a vehicle ferry ticket from Don Sak to Samui but found no passenger tickets.
With an interpreter present, police showed Dmitri the arrest warrant from Phuket Provincial Court. Dmitri refused to talk during the arrest. Police then handed him over to investigators at Chalong Police Station.
Immigration records showed Dmitri had travelled in and out of Thailand seven times, with his latest entry through Phuket Airport on 15 August. Investigators learned he had invited the victim, Alexander (another Russian), to a house in Phuket, suggesting a business investment opportunity.
However, when Alexander arrived at the house, he was met not by Dmitri but by four other Russians who attacked him. They forced him to transfer 35,000 USDT (worth roughly 1.3 million baht) using the TRONSCAN app. After the attack, the group released Alexander and fled Thailand, leaving Dmitri behind.
While the rest of his group escaped overseas, Dmitri sought help from another Russian in Koh Samui to try and leave the island, but police caught up with him at the ferry terminal.
Russian Gangs in Thailand
Thailand has become a base for foreign criminals, including Russian gangs, especially in tourist centres like Phuket and Pattaya. Since the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, organized Russian groups, often called the “Russian mafia,” have built networks in Thailand. They take advantage of easy visa rules, a large tourist population, and weak law enforcement.
These gangs are involved in crimes such as drug dealing, extortion, money laundering, people smuggling, and firearms trading.
In one key case, police arrested Alexander Matusov in Chonburi in 2014. He allegedly led the Chelkovo gang responsible for about 60 murders in Russia between 1995 and 2009.
Matusov entered Thailand with a fake Armenian passport and lived under a retirement visa until his arrest in a joint Thai-Russian operation.
Likewise, in 2025, authorities in Phuket arrested a 27-year-old Russian for firearms trafficking after luring him to the immigration office for what he thought was routine paperwork. Such cases expose Thailand’s draw for fugitives.
Pattaya, which has a large Russian expat community, remains a hotspot for these activities. Investigations show Russian criminal groups run businesses like restaurants and car hire services as covers for illegal work, such as prostitution networks involving women from Eastern Europe.
In 2017, police arrested 14 suspects in Pattaya, including six Russians, linked to drug trafficking and racketeering.
Thai police have stepped up action against foreign criminals, starting policies like “Good guys in, bad guys out” and working closely with international bodies like Interpol. However, endemic corruption and the country’s dependence on tourism mean some criminals escape justice by bribing local authorities.
