Jets, drugs and fast cars: the ‘super-rich’ Chinese gangsters who call Thailand home

"A seized private jet, supercars, drugs and palatial mansions: the spoils of crime committed by suspected Chinese gangsters based in Thailand are raising awkward questions over how foreign criminals have freely moved millions of dollars of illicit money through the kingdom.

The scandal began to unfold in late October, when a nationwide anti-drugs operation by the Thai police unearthed a cavernous illegal nightlife den – called Jinling – hidden behind a car wash in Bangkok’s Sathorn commercial district.
It catered to a near-exclusive Chinese clientele, serving up bags of ketamine and other party drugs in karaoke rooms that raged through the night, allowing guests to stash any unfinished drugs for their next visit.

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Arrests have since pointed to five suspected Chinese gangs running criminal enterprises on student visas and fake Thai identities. One alleged ringleader arrested in early November even had a bogus Chinese embassy car and police escort motorcycle.

But the spotlight has been trained on one suspect in particular: Tuhao, also known as Chainat Kornchayanan. A Chinese national with Thai citizenship, he turned himself into police on November 23. He denies the drugs and money laundering charges that are being brought against him. “Tuhao is married to the niece of Police General Pracha Promnok [a former Justice Minister],” Thailand’s most prominent police officer Lieutenant-General Surachate Hakparn, who is leading the crackdown, told reporters last week. “So it’s natural that he knows a lot of police and former ministers, there’s no secret there.”

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Tuhao has had assets of more than 5 billion baht (US$113 million) seized so far, including a jet, land and three mansions, while the Chinese ownership of dozens of luxury houses in prime Bangkok developments are being investigated for links to his associates.

Tuhao is an alleged pioneer of the ‘zero-dollar’ tourism trend that brought Chinese visitors to Thailand in droves in the years before the pandemic. The concept pushed Chinese visitor numbers to a record of around 10 million in a few short years, but collapsed in 2018 after an overcrowded ferry sank in Phuket killing scores of Chinese tourists – and revealing a business model based on cheap packages with money spent in a closed loop of Chinese businesses leaving little on Thai soil.

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A recent Thai government bid to change the law to allow foreigners to own up to one rai (around a third of an acre) of land was withdrawn under a barrage of public anger, mainly over fears speculation by Chinese investors would drive prices beyond the reach of ordinary Thais.

The hashtag #ChineseGreyBusinessMoney has lingered on Thai Twitter for weeks, where anger at the scale of crime committed by foreigners is mounting.

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/a ... iland-home

Was in Bangkok just last week, pleasantly surprised to see hardly any Chinese. Smelt fresher.