Police say key suspect in macau888 case fled Thailand last month

Police say that a key suspect in the Macau888 gambling network case fled Thailand last month, along with his girlfriend.

The suspect, 32 year old Kittipong ‘Big’ Kajornboonthavorn, is the younger brother of alleged macau888 gambling kingpin ‘Benz Daeman.’ Benz was finally arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport upon his return to Thailand on February 14.

According to the head of the Cybercrime Investigation Bureau, Pol. Lt. Gen. Worawat Watnakonbuncha, Big and his girlfriend, 32 year old former actress Pulada Luechatham, fled Thailand on January 16. This was after actress Arisara ‘Due’ Thongburisut posted allegations on Facebook about the gambling network.

Due alleged that macau888 was run by “four brothers,” and that one of them was Benz Daeman, her ex-boyfriend.

Five other wanted suspects include Wanlop Kanjanapaphakun, Nuttakorn Khaekmek, Sirilak Iiamyai, Somsit Thanomwat, and Thanattha Sansuk, Thai Rath reported.

An investigation revealed that Sirluk and Somsit fled to a neighbouring country while the other three are trying to do so, with one of them having switched off their mobile phone.

The investigation is ongoing, and authorities are expected to question Arisara when she returns to Thailand from Taiwan on March 16. If the seven suspects do not turn themselves in over the next two to three days, the Police Foreign Affairs Division will be asked to issue a red Interpol notice for their arrest.

This news comes after Thai Cyber Police last week nabbed three more suspects in the macau888 case. Officers from the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) raided two spots in Bangkok and one in the northeast province of Sakhon Nakhon.

Police found social media influencer ‘Tanyakarn’ in a room of a condominium in Bangkok’s Phahonyothin area. Police then raided a housing estate in Bangkok’s Thung Khru district. There, they arrested another social media influencer, ‘Mira.’ During the third raid, in the Pung Kone district of Sakhon Nakhon Province, the police searched the house of “Anuwat,” a rapper who wrote a song promoting the “Macau 888” website.