Phuket police raid gambling den in Wichit, arrest 15 people

In Cape Panwa, Wichit late last night, Phuket police raided and shut down an illegal gambling den and arrested 15 people there. The raid came just after midnight early this morning or late last night as Region 8 Police captured 14 people, all aged between 44 and 58 years old.

The police also confiscated hundreds of green cards and orange cards, a variety of poker chips, a deck of playing cards, a counter, and a tablecloth used for gambling among other items. They took into evidence a notebook that was used to keep track of accounting for the gambling operation as well. Police only seized 740 baht in cash during the raid suggesting it may have been only a small local gambling den.

A 45 year old man was charged with organising the gambling gathering as well as allowing a location to be used for gambling purposes. The other 14 people arrested in the raid face charges of illegal gambling. All will also face extra penalties under the Emergency Decree that restricts gatherings in order to reduce the possible spread of Covid-19 which has infected well above 200 people each day in Phuket over the last 10 days, which have also seen 11 deaths in the past week.

Wichit is the 3rd more infected district in Phuket with over 535 infections with 32 cases reported September 6, the latest data available. The district has about half as many Covid-19 cases as Phuket Town and a third as many as Rassada, the most infected district with over 1,400 Covid-19 infections.

In recent weeks, police have busted multiple gambling dens around the country as they crackdown on a growing underground gambling trend many attribute to the Covid-19 pandemic. Last week a small gambling group was broken up in Pattaya, while the week before police busted a group in Suphan Buri for gambling, drugs, and illegal firearm possession.

SOURCE: The Phuket News