"Many foreign victims expected" as two beefy extortionists arrested in Chiang Mai set-up

[webfact]

"Many foreign victims expected" as two beefy extortionists arrested in Chiang Mai set-up

 

Picture: Thairath

 

CHIANG MAI: -- Police said that many foreign victims are expected to come forward after the arrest of two alleged extortionists.

 

The burly men - from Australia and Holland - have been preying on foreigners in the area, said police.

 

They had threatened to kill one Aussie man's entire family if he did not pay up reported Thai Rath.

 

They deny charges of extortion with menaces (threatening to kill). They claim they were just the debt collectors.

 

Arrested yesterday in the parking lot of Makro, Mae Rim were 45 year old Australian Paul Gibson and Adrianus Van Gool, 50, a Dutch national.

 

The arrests came after an Australian called Leonard Senler (name transliterated from Thai), 53, went to police on March 9th.

 

Leonard, who lives in Muang district of Chiang Mai, told police that he was terrified after two men threatened to kill his entire family if he did not pay them 1.7 million baht.

 

It has not been reported why the demand was made.

 

Leonard coughed up 300,000 baht to the two men and said he would pay the rest at 2pm at Makro on Thursday. After that he went to the cops.

 

Police were waiting in the wings when the handover took place and Region 5 deputy chief Tawatchai Phongwiwatnachai stepped forward to make the arrest.

 

Both suspects deny extortion with menaces saying they were just collecting a debt for a foreign friend. Both men have been in Thailand at least 10 years and have Thai wives, said police.

 

The police allege that the pair have been involved in many similar cases of extortion with menaces against the foreign community. They are confident that there are other "foreign mafia figures" behind these two arrests.

 

They said that many foreign victims of the gang were scared to come forward but with the arrest of the two suspects yesterday they are confident that those victims will now come forward.

 

Source: Thai Rath

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-03-17

[Berkshire]

So did the Leonard guy actually owe the money?  There's a difference between extortion and "debt collection." 

[taichiplanet]

33 minutes ago, Berkshire said:

So did the Leonard guy actually owe the money?  There's a difference between extortion and "debt collection." 

there is a difference between debt collecting by taking assets and debt collecting by threatening to kill his family.

 

i'm guessing we or maybe the police did not get the whole story.

[lemonjelly]

Let the tossers lose a few kg and contract TB in over the space of a few years in a Thai prison before deportation.

[arithai12]

2 hours ago, Berkshire said:

So did the Leonard guy actually owe the money?  There's a difference between extortion and "debt collection." 

2 hours ago, theguyfromanotherforum said:

 

Who gives a crap.

 

Deport!

Like Berkshire, I also would like to know whether these fine specimens were targeting someone just for the sake of it, because it would be worrying.

I do agree with Deport.

 

[CMBob]

3 hours ago, Berkshire said:

So did the Leonard guy actually owe the money?  There's a difference between extortion and "debt collection." 

 

If force or threats of force were involved, there is no difference whatsoever. 

[Berkshire]

1 minute ago, CMBob said:

 

If force or threats of force were involved, there is no difference whatsoever. 

I'm not condoning nor defending these dudes.  But I would like to know if the Leonard guy was in fact a victim.  Aren't you guys the least bit interested to know why these guys were trying to collect from Mr. Leonard?  It's about whether the rest of us can be victims.  But if Khun Leonard got himself into deep debt for whatever reason and was hiding in Thailand.....well.

[worgeordie]

There's a woman who lives in our Mooban,she has Farang husband,covered

in tatts,seems to spent most of his time in Bangkok,anyway,she told the guard

if big men on motorbikes come asking about me,say nothing,she seems very paranoid

calling the guard 2-3 times a night saying she hears noises outside the house.

Maybe coincidence,who knows,but if she finds this out I am sure she will sleep lot better. 

 

regards Worgeordie

[terryp]

2 patched Bandidos.

[TechnikaIII]

Show their faces!

Not that I would ever go near such an ugly sack of sh*t.

[kaonoister]

29 minutes ago, terryp said:

2 patched Bandidos.

thes two gentlemen are sure no Bandidos.

no farang Bandidos in chiang mai,only thais !!!

so make sure what you talk about

[sandrew33]

1 hour ago, Berkshire said:

I'm not condoning nor defending these dudes.  But I would like to know if the Leonard guy was in fact a victim.  Aren't you guys the least bit interested to know why these guys were trying to collect from Mr. Leonard?  It's about whether the rest of us can be victims.  But if Khun Leonard got himself into deep debt for whatever reason and was hiding in Thailand.....well.

So, in such circumstances, you are condoning - right? 

 

If he owes money under some sort of contact then the correct approach is to seek to collect it my legal means. 

 

Sending 2 big bastards to threaten to kill his family is extortion. There's no "...well..." about it. 

[BirdsandBooze]

Here come the bikie lickspittles.

[Berkshire]

Just now, sandrew33 said:

So, in such circumstances, you are condoning - right? 

 

If he owes money under some sort of contact then the correct approach is to seek to collect it my legal means. 

 

Sending 2 big bastards to threaten to kill his family is extortion no "...well..." about it. 

I just said that I did not condone nor defend the actions of these behemoths.  What's wrong with you guys?  I just want to know if these dudes go around extorting money from innocent people, or are they in fact debt collectors?  If the latter, most of us are in no danger.  Understand? 

[NextStationBangkok]

Good catch!

 

Both looks like, they fee not less than a dozen sausages in the mornings, and at least 6 beers in the evenings!

[BaldRichard]

From another Thai service

[Jimbo2014]

and they looked like such trustworthy and respectable gentlemen

[jollyhangmon]

Damn, what disgusting fat-sacks.

Would indeed be pure joy and an honor to relieve the planet of scum like this ... 

 

[BaldRichard]

Have seen them both at the Roo Bar a few times over the last few years.  The Oz is the guy with the beard and was pretty quiet did not notice any patch, the other guy wore Gremium stuff more than anythinng,  a lot more gregarious.  Both seeemed harmless, having said that everyone at Roo Bar (myself included) often look like they would not be out of place on a Crimewatch broadcast.

[snooky]

 

 

Giving out the name of the informer has been against the law in the US (and probably other countries) since around 1963 after a picture was published of a person who pointed out a notorious bank robber (Willie Sutton) to the police and was subsequently killed by the mob within a few days afterward.  Where are the brains???  How do authorities expect people to come forward with information on criminal activities when this process continues?

[nontabury]

35 minutes ago, sandrew33 said:

So, in such circumstances, you are condoning - right? 

 

If he owes money under some sort of contact then the correct approach is to seek to collect it my legal means. 

 

Sending 2 big bastards to threaten to kill his family is extortion. There's no "...well..." about it. 

 Not condoning these two men. But do you know how difficult it is to collect debt through the law in any country. Here in Thailand it's near on impossible.

[cheapcanuck]

17 minutes ago, BaldRichard said:

From another Thai service

Quality tourist

[malibukid]

too much white trash here in CM

[newatthis]

42 minutes ago, NextStationBangkok said:

Good catch!

 

Both looks like, they fee not less than a dozen sausages in the mornings, and at least 6 beers in the evenings!

And one looks like he couldn't find his "sausage" in the morning.

[AlexRich]

I'd like to know how Khun Leonard found himself owing money to someone who uses unorthodox collection methods? It does not look like some random extortion ... like a boiler room operation targeting an innocent victim.

[Baerboxer]

26 minutes ago, nontabury said:

 Not condoning these two men. But do you know how difficult it is to collect debt through the law in any country. Here in Thailand it's near on impossible.

 

I had some friends I used to train with. Our instructor and two brothers from Glasgow. They did nightclub door work, security and debt collecting. They followed a guy round in a EU country, took pics of his wife, kids, family home etc. Then when he went to the UK on business they abducted him, threatened him, including with guns, and threatened his family.

 

All to collect a debt and get paid. They got 12 years for the leader and 8 years for the other two.

 

Debt collection might be a difficult process but in most countries making threats with violence results in a custodial sentence.

[SpeakeasyThai]

36 minutes ago, BaldRichard said:

Have seen them both at the Roo Bar a few times over the last few years.  The Oz is the guy with the beard and was pretty quiet did not notice any patch, the other guy wore Gremium stuff more than anythinng,  a lot more gregarious.  Both seeemed harmless, having said that everyone at Roo Bar (myself included) often look like they would not be out of place on a Crimewatch broadcast.

For the life of me i fail to see the manliness of being in a motorcycle gang. I would even go as far to say it's a sign of a coward.

[Shaunduhpostman]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

The police allege that the pair have been involved in many similar cases of extortion with menaces against the foreign community. They are confident that there are other "foreign mafia figures" behind these two arrests.

So, I suppose we should expect that they would soon be released and allowed to carry on just as before. Or will it be different this time? I'm not holding my breath.

 

Interesting choice of words "confident." 

 

 Meanwhile efforts will be focused on making sure that people who have overstayed their visas will be deported and not allowed back into the country for years.

[Bluespunk]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

They are confident that there are other "foreign mafia figures" behind these two arrests.

Foreigners eh?

 

Pesky critters, so they are...

[LannaGuy]

3 minutes ago, Bluespunk said:

Foreigners eh?

 

Pesky critters, so they are...

well fair enough you know thais would never do anything like this