Phuket Immigration Office had worked together with Chalong Police to make the arrest, the regular press conference at the Immigration Bureau headquarters in Bangkok was told yesterday (May 15).
The 25-year-old Swedish-Russian national was named only as ‘Mr Oleksandr’ (not his real name).
Phuket Immigration was informed of the incident by Chalong Police. The victim ‒ a 23-year-old Russian woman named by Immigration yesterday only as ‘Ms Diera’ ‒ had reported the incident at Chalong Police Station at 11pm on May 8.
Ms Diera explained that she had made an appointment through the Telegram app to meet Oleksandr at a villa in Chalong to exchange B25,000 in cash for US$700 in cryptocurrency.
However, when she arrived, Oleksandr had a companion with him. A bag was put over her head, her arms and legs were tied and her phone was taken from her.
Ms Diera was slapped and threatened until she gave Oleksandr the number to access her online account. As there was no more money in the account, Oleksandr forced Ms Diera to contact a friend staying in a room nearby to bring cash from Ms Diera’s room.
Oleksandr’s accomplice, reported to be a Russian national, acted as the intermediary and received from Ms Diera’s friend US$2,000 in US banknotes and B6,000 in cash.
The total amount of the extortion was B104,546, the Immigration Bureau reported.
After Oleksandr was handed the cash, he released Ms Diera, who promptly went to file a complaint at Chalong Police Station.
On being informed of the incident, Phuket Immigration added Oleksandr to the Immigration ‘Watchlist’.
Immigration officers at Phuket International Airport were notified at 12:30pm on May 9. By 2:30pm that day they had had Oleksandr in custody.
He was caught by immigration officers while attempting to flee the country by boarding a flight to Kuala Lumpur.
Chalong Police were notified and officers arrived to take him back to Chalong Police Station.
Ms Diera identified Oleksandr and he was charged “for the crime of conspiring to rob others at night”, said the Immigration Bureau in its report.
No mention was made of any charges for kidnap, deprivation of liberty, extortion or even assault.
Oleksandr’s accomplice had already fled the country, the Immigration Bureau noted.
Investigating officers are continuing to gather evidence in order to request an arrest warrant from Phuket Provincial Court and are working on tracking down the accomplice in order to press charges.