SWAT raids cops’ house in ‘Betflix’ crackdown

SWAT teams led a crackdown on illegal online gambling network in Thailand on Monday that saw the house of potentially the next police chief raided.

One of the 30 houses targeted was in central Bangkok and belonged to Deputy National Police Chief Surachate Hakparn, who is touted as a possible candidate to replace the outgoing police chief.

Surachate, well known in Thailand for his regular appearances in the media giving updates on investigations, denied any involvement in the alleged gambling ring.

"I'm not worried at all, because I'm not involved in this and I can answer any question," he told reporters outside his home while the raid was under way.

"Today I see this as nothing more than internal politics within the police," he said.

Police Major General Trairong Phiwpan said the raids stemmed from a probe into a gambling website called "Betflix" and 12 subsidiary sites.

Investigators have issued 23 arrest warrants, he said, including eight for police officers —though Surachate said he was not among them.

Officers conducting the raid said they were unaware whose house it was.

The long-serving Surachate — nicknamed "the cat with nine lives" — has been linked to powerful figures in the previous government.

He was appointed by ex-deputy prime minister Prawit Wongsuwan as chief of the Immigration Bureau in September 2018.

He disappeared in 2019 over unclear reasons, before then-prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha made him a special adviser on strategy to police in 2021.

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, who took office last month, told reporters he was monitoring the situation.

"There may be the need to set up an independent investigation committee, "because this is a big problem," he said.

"It affects the morale and public impression towards the police."

Thai police have long been dogged by allegations of endemic corruption.

WITH AFP