FOUR FOREIGNERS were rounded up by Phuket police after a Ukrainian tourist complained that they robbed him out of US$250,000 in cryptocurrency (around 8.5 million baht) after tying him up and threatening to harm him but the suspects denied doing so, TV Channel 7 said today (Nov. 11).
Pol. Maj. Gen. Sinlert Sukhum, commander of the Phuket Provincial Police, along with Pol. Col. Somsak Thongkliang, superintendent of Kamala police station, led the team of investigators in questioning the four suspects, identified as Mr. Arman Grigoryan, 21, an Armenian; Mr. Alfred Chernyshuk, 18, also a Ukrainian national; Mr. Ruslan Musaiev, 22, who too is a Ukrainian national; and Mr. Maras (surname withheld), 21, a Russian.
Mr. Viacheslav Leibov, 23, the Ukrainian tourist, said he had been lured to a hotel room were he was later tied up and threatened with a hammer being used to break his fingers unless he transferred US$500,000 in cryptocurrency to the suspects, which he negotiated and reduced to US$250,000 and complied.
Police said after the suspects got the money they hired a car to take them to Malaysia but the driver refused. They then asked the driver to take them to a hotel in Phang Nga where they took four VIP rooms but actually only used two of them with this being a ruse to throw investigators off their track.
One of the four suspects knew the victim and had found out that he regularly traded large amounts of cryptocurrency. He then conspired with his three friends to rob him last Friday night (Nov. 8).
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Phuket police arresting the suspects at the VIP hotel rooms in Phang Nga. Photos: MNG Online
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