At around 11pm, police officers led by Lt Col Wiwat Thongsuk of Region 8 Police and Lt Apirat Yanarat of Thalang Police arrived at a private house in Moo 1 of Pa Khlok. Having blocked all escape routes, police officers entered the premises and arrested 16 suspects for playing Po-pan (shrimp, fish, pimps, flowers).
Seized as evidence in the raid was a sheet for playing Po-pan, along with an assortment of wooden betting chips and B18,510 in cash. All 16 suspects were taken to Thalang Police Station and charged with gambling without permission.
Monpariya Pratthuk, 39, was additionally charged with organising the illegal gambling, and Malaiporn Paochamroon, 49, was charged with acting as the bookmaker for the gambling, police noted.
In the pictures, all suspects appear to be modestly dressed local people, many of them clearly being senior citizens.
Meanwhile, Region 8 Police have yet to provide updates on the Jan 22 raid in Rawai. During that operation, regional police officers raided a real high-profile gambling operation organised by Russian nationals at a luxury villa and widely advertised through Russian-language social media offering poker games complete with VIP service including "expensive alcohol, hookahs and e-cigs."
Four Russian men and a Russian woman were arrested in the Rawai raid, with four of them subsequently charged with participating in illegal gambling and one charged with illegal possession of baraku.
Oddly enough, the police didn’t charge anyone as the organiser of the illegal underground venue. Nothing has been said if Region 8 Police were continuing their investigation to bust foreign poker clubs in other parts of Phuket which had been advertised alongside the Rawai venue.