Police raided 12 locations in five provinces Tuesday linked with the Ponzi network allegedly operated by Pol Maj Gen Suthip Palitkusolthat, a deputy commissioner of Provisional Police Region 4.
Pol Maj Gen Suthip's network is said to have swindled 240 million baht from 192 police officers in Loei. He was suspended from active duty last month.
The fraud allegedly began when Pol Maj Gen Suthip was Loei police chief and chairman of the local police cooperative.
He allegedly persuaded local policemen to borrow from the cooperative to clear their debts with various creditors. He also offered to manage the borrowed money, and promised them monthly investment returns of about 5,000 baht.
The policemen believed him and transferred the money to Pol Maj Gen Suthip who failed to pay the promised returns this year.
Some victims were subordinates of his. One, the former deputy inspector of Pakchom police station in Loei, Pol Capt Sompao Phosri, suffered a stroke and died on Aug 31 after losing his money and seeing his debts pile up.
Worawee Phosri, the 58-year-old wife of the late deputy inspector, pledged not to cremate him until the case was resolved.
The spots raided yesterday were in Khon Kaen, Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Chiang Mai and Udon Thani.
In Khon Kaen, more than 300 soldiers and police officers were divided into six teams to search several locations. The deployment was presided over by Tourist Police Bureau deputy chief Surachate Hakparn and Pol Maj Gen Thanasak Ritthidejpaibul, another deputy commissioner of Provincial Police Region 4.
In Muang district, officers raided the home of Kreangkrai Ketpaiboon, 36, an associate of Pol Maj Gen Suthip.
Officers also raided the house of Mr Kreangkrai's wife, Saowalak Saenjek, 24, in tambon Non Sombun of Ban Hat district.
Ms Saowalak told officers she had nothing to do with the scam.
She said the case began before she met Mr Kreangkrai.
Ms Saowalak said she herself had invested 400,000 baht, and her family a total of 14 million baht, after learning about the scheme from her husband.
She said she received a 3% weekly return in the early stages.
After July last year, she said this return ceased at about the same time that rumours started to spread regarding whether the scheme was genuine.
Ms Saowalak told police that her husband bought three houses with cash believed to be linked to the investment.
Pol Maj Gen Surachate said officers seized six houses, valuables and related documents during the raids.
He said the Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo) expanded the investigation and found all the money transactions in this case were linked to one other person too -- a former legal officer of Chiang Mai Provincial Court.
Pol Maj Gen Surachate said this man was found to have invited people to put money in the investment scheme too.
More than 10 people including Pol Maj Gen Suthip are believed to be part of a large network involved in the fraud, he said, adding over 100 million baht worth of their assets will likely be seized.
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