Thai woman arrested for forging New Zealand ambassador’s credit card 14 years ago

After 14 years on the run, a woman was arrested in Sing Buri province in central Thailand yesterday for her alleged role in the forging of the New Zealand ambassador to Thailand’s credit card in 2008, with damages exceeding 10 million baht.

Police arrested 44 year old Ketkanya Khantawee at a house in Moo 10, Don Phot subdistrict, Mueang district, under an arrested warrant issued by the Criminal Court on July 17, 2009. The warrant accused Ketkanya of, “jointly forging an electronic card, jointly using a counterfeit electronic card to pay for goods and services or withdraw cash, and jointly forging royal documents.”

In 2008, a criminal gang forged a credit card belonging to the New Zealand ambassador to Thailand, Brook Barrington, at that time. The forged card was used to purchase “a lot of oil,” reports Sanook.

The gang bought the credit card information from criminals in Malaysia before making a fake credit card using the information. Then, they used the forged card to buy oil and resell it to “illegal” gas stations.

In total, the Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for seven people, and all but one – Ketkanya Khantawee – were arrested.

The accused confessed that she and the gang were driving around the country buying oil and many other products with the New Zealand ambassador’s money when they learned that they were wanted on arrest warrants.

Everyone else was arrested, but Ketkanya admitted to fleeing the law by hiding in Sing Buri and continually changing her address to evade arrest for more than 14 years. Police did not reveal how they finally tracked down the fugitive fraudster.

In February, a foreign man repeatedly stole credit cards from tourists in Phuket to go on expensive shopping sprees, buying items like gold and iPhones from department stores, using fake American passports.

Patong Police caught three Mongolian credit card thieves in February after a Malaysian and Singaporean woman filed police reports.