At 11am on the morning of June 12 Pattaya police announced the arrest and detention of the “Arab” couple they have been looking for after a tour guide was conned out of 7000 baht in Pratumnak on May 15.

Forty-four year old Turkish born Polat Ibrahim and a forty-five year old Iranian woman, Ms Sadena Geravandeh Hamedani, were detained with cash made up of twenty different currencies. A black Honda PCX motorcycle was also confiscated.

After receiving many complaints from Chinese, Indian and Korean nationals, who were all tricked into handing over cash in a similar fashion to the Thai tour guide, officers were able to identify the scammers thanks to CCTV footage at several locations.

Arrest warrants were issued and a team was sent to the Amazon Condominium at Soi Boonkanjanaram 5 near Jomtian Beach. At that moment the pair appeared in the parking lot and two of the victims, who had joined officers, were able to positively identify them.

The couple fiercely denied all accusations, although officers then discovered that Mr Ibrahim had been in Thailand since January 20, 2014 and his visa expired on February 8, 2014. Ms Hamedani entered the country on March 30, 2016 and her visa ran out on May 28, 2016...