1 of 6 suspects arrested in Koh Samui Russian cryptocurrency extortion case
A suspect in the Koh Samui Russian realtor couple extortion case has been arrested in the province of Chon Buri. The suspect, Andrey Nizhegorodtsev, 37, a Kazakhstani, was arrested at a house in tambon Huai Yai of Bang Lamung district Wednesday afternoon. Police charged him with physical assault without causing bodily or mental harm, collusion in theft, and coercing people through implied threats.
Police took the suspect to Koh Samui police station but said he did not give information about the five other suspects in the case. The victims, a Russian couple who worked in real estate on the island, say a gang of six foreign men extorted them of cryptocurrency worth US$50,000, or 1.89 million baht on September 15.
Evgeny Abdullin and his wife Ekaterina Abdullin, both 31 years old, were at Boy’s Organic Coffee shop in tambon Taling Ngam, when the gang approached them. The couple says the gang included Kazakh, German, and Russian nationals.
The couple says four of the men arrived in the black van that police recently confiscated from the home of Nizhegorodtsev, while the other two men arrived on a rented, red motorcycle. At first, the men demanded that they transfer US$3 million, or about 113 million baht, in cryptocurrency to them, but they did not have such an amount. Evgeny says he told the men that he only had US$58,000, or 2.28 million baht at the time.
He proceeded to transfer US$50,000, or 1.8 million baht of cryptocurrency to the gang, fearing that the men would hurt him and his wife. Evgeny says a German man named Salman Almaty, told the couple that he had met them before in Russia before demanding the transfer.
Evgeny says Salman wrote down his phone number and said he would be back to collect more digital currency from the couple. The next day, Evgeny says he went out to eat and noticed he was being followed and went back to his home. Then, on September 18, three days later, Evgeny says he got a Telegram phone call requesting more cryptocurrency to be transferred by Bybit. But, the couple had nothing left. They said they mulled over whether to report the incident to the police for a few days and decided to make a report.
In addition to the first suspect being arrested, the Bo Phut district crime suppression police chief in Koh Samui brought a Ukrainian national, named Oleh Yasoshenko, into the station for questioning. Police say they discovered that Yasoshenko was the one who booked ferry tickets from Chon Buri to Koh Samui for the foreign gang before the robbery took place.
Yaroshenko allegedly admitted that he knew the Kazakhstani suspect, but denied being involved in the robbery. Immigration police say that Yasoshenko had overstayed his visa and held him for further questioning.
The Russian couple has since reportedly asked for witness protection from the Justice Ministry as five other suspects are currently at large. Those suspects are Salman Almaty, 56, a Kazakhstani who had reportedly fled the country on September 17; Vladimir Orekhov, 42, a Russian national who fled Koh Samui; Tschingis Akhmadov, 39, a German national who also reportedly fled the country on September 20; and two other men whose nationalities are currently being verified by police.
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
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