Chinese gold mine owner arrested in Phuket over deadly flooding case
Thai police arrested a Chinese businessman and his wife in Phuket after they fled China to avoid legal responsibility following a deadly flooding incident at a gold mine.
Officers from Immigration Bureau Division 1 were contacted by Chinese officials requesting assistance in locating a wanted suspect, 56 year old Liu Hongbo. Liu was reported to be the owner of a gold mine in China where a serious flooding incident occurred, resulting in the deaths of multiple workers.
Chinese authorities said that as the owner of the mine, Liu was required to take legal responsibility for the incident. However, he and his wife failed to cooperate with investigators and instead fled the country, later entering Thailand.
Authorities did not release further details about the flooding, including the exact number of victims, but confirmed that the case involved multiple fatalities and was considered serious by Chinese law enforcement.
Thai immigration officers launched an investigation and successfully tracked down Liu and his wife at a hospital in Phuket. The couple were arrested yesterday, December 23.
During checks, officers found that both Chinese nationals had overstayed their visas by 113 days. Immigration police said the couple would first face legal action in Thailand for overstaying before being deported back to China to face further proceedings related to the gold mine incident.
The case follows several similar incidents in recent months involving foreign nationals fleeing to Thailand after serious crimes abroad.
In one case, two Indian brothers were arrested in Phuket after fleeing India following a fire at their nightclub in Goa, which killed employees and customers.
Last week, Thai police also arrested a Kazakh national in Phuket who was wanted under an Interpol Red Notice for involvement in a large-scale fraud case in Kazakhstan.
In another recent case, a Chinese man was arrested in Bangkok after fleeing China over a bid-rigging scandal. He was accused of interfering with public procurement processes and paying bribes to senior officials to gain advantages in supplying medical equipment, causing damages estimated at more than 260 million baht.
