Deputy National Police Chief General Surachate Hakparn calls for the public to phone in reports on 24-hour hotlines of suspicious activities linked with foreigners nationwide but especially in Chonburi and Pattaya while Provincial Police Region 2 is conducting an intelligence gathering operation with a view to further raids and arrests of crime gangs being operated by foreigners following police efforts to smash ‘The Outlaws’ crime gang in the wake of the brutal murder of 62-year-old German business dynamo Hans Peter Ralter Mack in early July.
A crackdown on a motorcycle crime gang run by foreigners continues in Pattaya with the arrest of four expats including the 39-year-old leader of ‘The Outlaws’ at his home by police as he made ready to take flight after an arrest warrant was issued against him. On Friday, General Surachate Hapkarn said the crackdown continues with police gathering new intelligence on other foreign gangs who will also face suppression in the resort city just over 100 km from Bangkok.
Police in Pattaya, on Friday, announced the arrest of four foreign nationals as part of the crackdown ordered the week before by Deputy National Police Chief General Surachate Hakparn.
Thomas Ginner, a 39-year-old Austrian national, was taken into custody under a warrant from the Pattaya Provincial Court, number 380/2566.
Mr Ginner was found to already be the subject of an arrest warrant for crimes under the Computer Crime Act 2007 and fraud relating to the operation of beer bars.
Leader of the motorcycle crime gang resigned after news broke of the Ralter Mack murder and the lead actor, gang member Olaf Thurston Brinkmann
At the scene, police also seized a leather vest with an eagle symbol and the logo of ‘The Outlaws’ crime gang together with an Asian gang symbol.
It is reported that Mr Ginner was the acknowledged leader of the gang until early July when news broke of the murder of a German property tycoon in the city when links between the gang and those behind the outrage were made by police investigators.
The arrests come in the wake of the horrific murder of German national Mr Hans Peter Ralter Mack on the 4th of July last in the resort city which led to the arrest of four individuals including Mr Olaf Thurston Brinkmann, the 52-year-old leader of a group of people involved in the German businessman’s cruel murder under torture in a crime perpetrated in an attempt to extort Mr Ralter Mack’s money and assets under the threat of physical violence and pain.
Crackdown ordered on organised crime in Pattaya, stricter visa screening after Ralter Mack murder
Germans linked with Ralter Mack murder behind bars in Pattaya with strong evidence in the case
The investigation led police to the organised crime activities of ‘The Outlaws’ crime gang run by foreigners.
Ginner arrested at home as he was packing his bags. Taken to Pattaya Police Station to face prosecution on other criminal charges before being deported
Mr Brinkmann was reported to have been a member of the gang similar in style and manner to the notorious Australian ‘Hells Angels’ crime group which terrorised Pattaya up to its suppression by police at the end of 2017.
Mr Ginner, who has been in Thailand for over 10 years, was arrested at his home in the Nong Prue area of Bangkok on Friday.
Police officers report that he was in the process of packing his bags to make his escape when they arrived to apprehend him.
Police searched his home and seized a Harley Davidson motorbike before later transferring the Austrian to Pattaya Police Station where he is understood to be subject to legal proceedings relating to other matters while facing deportation subsequently from the kingdom.
This follows express instructions from General Surachate who has ordered all those involved in ‘The Outlaws’ crime gang to be arrested, duly prosecuted according to the law to the fullest extent possible and only then deported from Thailand while being placed on a blacklist denying them re-entry permanently as a threat to the country’s security.
Another 42-year-old German member of ‘The Outlaws’ arrested in Nong Prue in the same housing area where the body of Mr Ralter Mack was found
After the arrest of Mr Ginner, police later raided another home in the Chokchai Garden development in Nong Pru, near a rented property where the dissected body of Mr Ralter Mack was found in a chest freezer on the night of Monday 10th July last.
Germans linked with Ralter Mack murder behind bars in Pattaya with strong evidence in the case
On the estate on Friday last, they arrested 42-year-old Mr Danny Rhode, another German member of ‘The Outlaws’.
Mr Rhode is reported to have tested positive for illegal substances at the scene when police handed him a urine test.
The German was arrested on this basis and is facing appropriate charges.
Afterwards, the police task force assigned to suppressing ‘The Outlaws’ crime gang divided up and raided two more locations in Pattaya.
Both were again in the Nong Prue area.
American and Swiss men arrested under 1979 Immigration Act for failing to observe visa conditions will be deported in due course at their own expense
First, they arrested an American national identified as Mr Daniel Thomas Toth and later a Swiss foreigner identified as Mr Theodor Matis.
These individuals were apprehended after failing to comply with the 1979 Immigration Act in respect of their visa conditions and stay in the kingdom.
The duo face deportation after being held at the notorious Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) in Bangkok while this is being organised at their own expense.
They also face being permanently blacklisted from the kingdom.
German property tycoon died in murder outrage that has horrified and angered many in Thailand especially foreigners currently living in the kingdom
In the wake of the German businessman’s murder, news emerged that he was tortured by the gang with a small electric saw used for gardening in a terror incident which led to him being brutally murdered at the hands of a member of this gang.
Police in Pattaya believe ‘The Outlaws’ crime gang was involved in serious criminal activity in the resort city including the distribution of drugs and human trafficking.
The police chief, General Surachate, said that this operation against foreign criminal gangs in Pattaya, Chonburi and across the area covered by the Royal Thai Police Region 2 force, will continue with the gathering of further intelligence currently underway and other groups being placed under observation.
General Surachate calls for public co-operation
He called on the public to report any suspicious activity to do with foreigners, in particular those involved with high-powered motorcycles.
He encouraged members of the public to make reports to police on the tourist police telephone number 1155 which is open 24 hours a day.
In Friday’s police operation, it is understood that five top-of-the-range Harley Davidson motorbikes of various styles and designs in addition to a Kawasaki Z900 model, which was taken from the German national Mr Rhode, were seized by police in addition to other properties and assets.
‘After the murder and mutilation of the German businessmen, the Royal Thai police has expanded its crackdown on illegal foreigners living in Thailand and involving themselves in a range of crimes which include drugs, human trafficking and money laundering. Currently, I have instructed police in Region 2 together with the Immigration police to cooperate between their agencies to eradicate such criminal activity. Where wrongdoers are detected, they will have their visas revoked and offenders will subsequently be deported,’ General Surachate told the media as he concluded the briefing.
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Further reading:
Crackdown ordered on organised crime in Pattaya, stricter visa screening after Ralter Mack murder
Germans linked with Ralter Mack murder behind bars in Pattaya with strong evidence in the case
Police quiz German property broker and partner as they impound black SUV in the Ralter Mach case
Police have identified two young women who may have parked the car of missing German in Pattaya
UK man’s killer behind bars after shooting him off his motorbike on Thursday at point-blank range
Pattaya police hunt down the killer of a UK man who had just returned to Thailand from Britain
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Convictions of Burmese Koh Tao murderers and death sentences upheld by Thai Supreme Court
Koh Tao victim’s family endorse the conviction of Myanmar migrants
Koh Tao claims by UK teenager questioned by Thai police – arrest warrants indicated for some media
