Police break Chon Buri ring of fraudsters

Vnuchenko

Though Russian national Anton Soldatenkov and Ukraine's Vnuchenko Oleksandr denied any wrongdoing, Prakiat Bunmoh admitted to the crimes and implicated both of them. Police are expanding their investigation to determine whether they had stolen money from five clients of KTB and Siam Commercial Bank totalling around Bt10 million.

Acting on a complaint filed by the SCB that it had lost Bt1.5 million possibly to the three men, Crime Suppression Division detectives decided to monitor the three in a series of stakeouts. The suspects were positively identified through security-camera footage last week when Prakiat went to open an account at the Bang Lamung district branch of KTB.

Police arrested Prakiat and found a fake ID card, with a fake name, in his possession as well as a KTB bankbook with Bt6.5 million in it. Prakiat later led police officers to the two foreign suspects waiting for him in a car.

Oleksandr, a former Ukrainian soldier, is also on the US Federal Bureau of Investigation's wanted list for similar crimes committed in the US.

Both Soldatenkov and Oleksandr have been charged with illegal entry, while police confiscated four mobile phones, a computer notebook, a car and the KTB bankbook carrying Prakit's fake identity.