‘Land of Smiles’ fast becoming ‘Land of Russian Crime’
Maybe Thailand should rebrand its Land of Smiles moniker to the Land of Russian Crime after yet another Russian man was nabbed for criminal activity. Yesterday, a 36 year old Russian national added his name to a catalogue of former Soviet block criminals arrested for reportedly operating illegal activities.
Russian Ibragim Gaitukiev was arrested for allegedly running an unauthorised cryptocurrency exchange service on the popular tourist destination, Koh Pha Ngan, in Surat Thani, Thailand.
The location of his arrest was a property on Sri Thanu Beach in the Koh Pha Ngan district, as disclosed by Police Major General Sermphan Sirikhong, the head of the Surat Thani province.
This arrest resulted from an investigation focused on the en-samui.bitmonyekb.com website, which had been promoting the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies in Surat Thani’s Koh Samui and Koh Pha Ngan districts. The contact phone and WhatsApp numbers listed on the website were traced back to the bank accounts of Gaitukiev and another foreign individual, Maksim Variukhin, according to the province’s head of police.
The investigating officers discovered that the two foreign individuals served as executives for OM 118 Co, a company located on Koh Pha Ngan in Surat Thani. The company operated from a house on Sri Thanu beach, a well-known tourist hotspot. This building also housed a cannabis shop known as Plantasia cannabis collective, with a noticeable Bitcoin sign placed at the front, as per police reports.
Investigators hypothesised that this shop was the advertised location for the cryptocurrency exchange. Following this lead, they obtained a court-approved warrant from the Samui Provincial Court on a Wednesday to search the premises. The search was conducted the next day.
Gaitukiev was present during the search and identified himself as the owner of the shop. While the search of the cannabis shop revealed no illegal items, there were advertisements for cryptocurrency exchange within the premises.
Gaitukiev was consequently arrested for operating an illegal cryptocurrency exchange. Upon questioning, he reportedly confessed that he and Variukhin had been offering digital currency services to tourists.
Following his arrest, Gaitukiev was charged and moved to the Koh Pha Ngan Police Station for further legal proceedings. The police did not disclose any additional information regarding the other foreign national, Variukhin.
