PHUKET: Phuket expat Marc de Schutter was presented to the media today in Bangkok as a suspect with mafia connections in Israel and Italy, wanted for murder, extortion and embezzlement.
Mr de Schutter, 57, who had been living a luxurious lifestyle on Phuket for 17 months, commuted regularly to Singapore, police said.
Today at a media presentation at the offices of the Crime Suppression Division, Mr de Schutter sat in a dark pink shirt between senior police.
The Commander of the CSD, General Pisan Pakdeenaruenard, said Mr de Schutter was just one of many international criminals who had gone into hiding in Phuket and other tourist destinations in Thailand.
''We aim to actively seek them out,'' he said.
According to the general, Mr de Schutter, a Belgian, had admitted the crimes for which he was wanted in Europe, including murder, money-laundering and drugs-related offences.
No details about the nature of his crimes beyond the most basic outline has been revealed so far. He is said to have been Belgium's most wanted man.
Before fleeing Europe, he was at one stage fined 20 million euros by a court for a fraud involving fuel sales, police said. Fifteen years ago he was charged with murdering his wife and hiding the body, police said.
His latest return trip to Phuket from Singapore, where he was also engaged in crime, was made on June 17, police said.
It is believed that Belgian officials alerted Thai police to Mr de Schutter's presence on Phuket. He was arrested in a raid involving 20 CSD police from Bangkok and a similar number of police from southern Phuket about 1pm yesterday.
Computers, documents, telephones and two vehicles were seized in the raid on the luxury house where Mr de Schutter had been living off Saiyuen Road in Rawai.
Mr de Schutter will be held in Bangkok until the Attorney-General's office has organised the paperwork required for his extradition to Belgium, which could take a day or two.
Mr de Schutter, 57, who had been living a luxurious lifestyle on Phuket for 17 months, commuted regularly to Singapore, police said.
Today at a media presentation at the offices of the Crime Suppression Division, Mr de Schutter sat in a dark pink shirt between senior police.
The Commander of the CSD, General Pisan Pakdeenaruenard, said Mr de Schutter was just one of many international criminals who had gone into hiding in Phuket and other tourist destinations in Thailand.
''We aim to actively seek them out,'' he said.
According to the general, Mr de Schutter, a Belgian, had admitted the crimes for which he was wanted in Europe, including murder, money-laundering and drugs-related offences.
No details about the nature of his crimes beyond the most basic outline has been revealed so far. He is said to have been Belgium's most wanted man.
Before fleeing Europe, he was at one stage fined 20 million euros by a court for a fraud involving fuel sales, police said. Fifteen years ago he was charged with murdering his wife and hiding the body, police said.
His latest return trip to Phuket from Singapore, where he was also engaged in crime, was made on June 17, police said.
It is believed that Belgian officials alerted Thai police to Mr de Schutter's presence on Phuket. He was arrested in a raid involving 20 CSD police from Bangkok and a similar number of police from southern Phuket about 1pm yesterday.
Computers, documents, telephones and two vehicles were seized in the raid on the luxury house where Mr de Schutter had been living off Saiyuen Road in Rawai.
Mr de Schutter will be held in Bangkok until the Attorney-General's office has organised the paperwork required for his extradition to Belgium, which could take a day or two.
I love to see the three covertly masked police officers in the background behind him. It looks fun.
Posted by J on July 31, 2012 18:12