PHOTO: Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva resigned the leadership position last night amid dismal polls around the country

The Democrat Party in Phuket, once a reliable strong-hold of Democrat votes, has yielded its customary monopoly, ceding two House seats to the junta-aligned Phalang Pracharat Party.

The unofficial tally, as of late last night, gave Phalang Pracharat’s Sutha Prateep na Thalang the victory in Constituency 1 with 32,338 votes.

PHOTOS: Surachete Hakparn

A Guyanese man has been arrested in Phuket after the owner of a local language school reported a money scammer with an unusual scam.

The Immigration Bureau Chief Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn reports that they have arrested the Guyanese man named Abdul Kalam Azad Sattaur at a mansion in Phuket Town last Friday.

The arrest follows a Thai woman, the owner of a language school in Phuket, filing a report to the Thalang Police that a suspect used a fake Facebook and LINE account and claimed that he was an American man who had worked in Syria.

He told the woman that he will send a security box which contained blank papers and a special liquid that would turn the blank paper into bank notes when she added the special liquid.

He claimed that the total money was 650,000 US dollar, about 20 million baht.

He said that the woman had to pay him an amount before he would send the security box. The victim had transferred money to the man’s bank account 10 times, a total of about 9 million baht.

Beware of magic bank notes!

PHOTO: Siam Rath/Thai Immigration

A male Russian ‘mafia’ identity has been arrested in Chalong, wanted over a number of alleged offenses in his home country.

Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn says, “Officers have arrested a Russian man named Igor Tretiakov (spelt as ‘Ior’ on the Immigration poster), at an apartment in Chalong last Friday.”

“We were notified from the Russian Embassy about the man wanted over a number of ‘mafia’ style offenses in Russian. He was living in Thailand using a tourist visa.”

“He has threatened and extorted many people in Russian and then fled to Thailand. His visa will be revoked and he will be deported back to Russia to face charges.”