Posted on: December 14, 2022, 10:48h.
Final up to date on: December 14, 2022, 11:34h.
In February of final yr, police in Thailand arrested an web persona and former boxer on costs of working an unlawful playing operation. Now, Siapo Po-arnon has had his day in courtroom and the end result was a sentence of 54 years in jail.
Thai police escort Siapo Po-arnon to jail. The net persona obtained a 54-year jail sentence for allegedly organizing unlawful playing. (Picture: Bangkok Put up)
Siapo was arrested at his home in Bangkok as a part of a sequence of raids. Police had been monitoring the playing operation earlier than dropping the web over seven places, together with his house.
Solely six months earlier, Thai legislators had requested Siapo to function an adviser on playing regulation. A Home committee was exploring the potential of on-line playing, which continues to be open for dialogue within the nation.
From Idol to Legal
Siapo was one thing of a cultural icon for a brand new period of Thai personalities earlier than his world got here crumbling down. On the time of his arrest, prosecutors accused him of being the mastermind behind a big unlawful playing operation that labored throughout the nation and the area.
Twenty-one individuals, together with Siapo, have been arrested through the raids. Together with him, police additionally arrested his spouse, his mom, a brother, and a sister-in-law. Along with unlawful playing, they confronted costs of cash laundering. These 5 managed the “govt group” of the group, in keeping with the Bangkok Put up. One other group managed the entire monetary transactions, whereas a 3rd managed the financial institution accounts that accepted on-line wagers.
The group allegedly moved over THB1.8 billion (US$52.09 million) earlier than police broke it up. After they made their first look, Siapo and 18 others denied the accusations. That originally landed them in jail with out bail. Shortly after, his brother and sister-and-law obtained bail earlier than fleeing the nation.
For his position because the ringleader, Siapo obtained a sentence of 4 years for the fees of unlawful on-line playing. To this have been added 25 counts of cash laundering, leading to one other 50 years. His spouse obtained a six-month sentence on two counts of the promotion of unlawful playing.
There’s a chance Siapo may serve simply 20 years of the 54, since that’s the utmost jail sentence in Thailand for a lot of non-violent offenders. Siapo is at present interesting the courtroom’s choice.
Introduced Down by the Home
There isn’t a lot info concerning Siapo’s position in aiding the Thai Home of Representatives with its dialogue on playing rules. Since he was an adviser solely six months previous to the arrest, there’s a robust likelihood that one thing throughout his work with the federal government triggered the investigation.
Police decided that he had been working his unlawful operations since a minimum of 2018. By the point they broke up the group, it had carried out over 575K monetary transactions.
When police launched their raids on the assorted places in 2021, lots of the would-be accomplices scattered. Some are nonetheless at giant, together with Siapo’s mom and a variety of residents from Myanmar who had traveled to Thailand for the job.
