‘Land of Smiles’ fast becoming ‘Land of Russian Crime’

[reader]

From The Thaiger

Maybe Thailand should rebrand its Land of Smiles moniker to the Land of Russian Crime after yet another Russian man was nabbed for criminal activity. Yesterday, a 36 year old Russian national added his name to a catalogue of former Soviet block criminals arrested for reportedly operating illegal activities.

Russian Ibragim Gaitukiev was arrested for allegedly running an unauthorised cryptocurrency exchange service on the popular tourist destination, Koh Pha Ngan, in Surat Thani, Thailand.

The location of his arrest was a property on Sri Thanu Beach in the Koh Pha Ngan district, as disclosed by Police Major General Sermphan Sirikhong, the head of the Surat Thani province.

This arrest resulted from an investigation focused on the en-samui.bitmonyekb.com website, which had been promoting the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies in Surat Thani’s Koh Samui and Koh Pha Ngan districts. The contact phone and WhatsApp numbers listed on the website were traced back to the bank accounts of Gaitukiev and another foreign individual, Maksim Variukhin, according to the province’s head of police.

The investigating officers discovered that the two foreign individuals served as executives for OM 118 Co, a company located on Koh Pha Ngan in Surat Thani. The company operated from a house on Sri Thanu beach, a well-known tourist hotspot. This building also housed a cannabis shop known as Plantasia cannabis collective, with a noticeable Bitcoin sign placed at the front, as per police reports.

Investigators hypothesised that this shop was the advertised location for the cryptocurrency exchange. Following this lead, they obtained a court-approved warrant from the Samui Provincial Court on a Wednesday to search the premises. The search was conducted the next day.

Gaitukiev was present during the search and identified himself as the owner of the shop. While the search of the cannabis shop revealed no illegal items, there were advertisements for cryptocurrency exchange within the premises.

Gaitukiev was consequently arrested for operating an illegal cryptocurrency exchange. Upon questioning, he reportedly confessed that he and Variukhin had been offering digital currency services to tourists.

====================

Russian man arrested in Pattaya for illegal trade linked to a suicide

Economic Crime Suppression Division (ECD) officers arrested a Russian man at a luxury penthouse in Pattaya yesterday for allegedly running an illegal trade, which led to the suicide of a Thai woman.

ECD officers arrested the 40 year old Russian man, Alexey Vegman, at his penthouse yesterday, April 4 on an accusation of illegally trading. Vegman reportedly denied all allegations and is now being questioned at the ECD office.

Officers conducted raids at his penthouse and two other houses in the area and seized several items of evidence related to the crime including, seven laptops, three mobile phones, six electronic cards, 14 bank accounts, four cheque books, and nine secure pass devices.

These secure pass devices are used to generate one-time passwords (OTPs) to access online financial transaction systems.

 

[Moses]

56 minutes ago, reader said:

Gaitukiev

56 minutes ago, reader said:

Variukhin

56 minutes ago, reader said:

Vegman

Only second family name is Russian. First one is from Caucasus, last one is clearly Jewish or German.

[10tazione]

I cannot clearly see how Vegman would be a german name and I cannot clearly see what the origin of a name has to do with nationality.

[vinapu]

that mechanism works everywhere and without exception.

If somebody with name Zhou En Lai wins Nobel Price in chemistry  or Olympic gold in marathon for country like say ,Mexico, Ireland or Belgium will be feted as country's  most treasured  asset and pride.

But if guy with the same name , being  5th generation resident turns mass murderer he will be still classified as immigrant and poster child in arguments  why immigration should be curbed 

[vinapu]

4 hours ago, Moses said:

Only second family name is Russian. First one is from Caucasus, last one is clearly Jewish or German.

Moses is not a Russian name and you still use it as your nick and no, there's absolutely nothing wrong with it,   although Kostik's nick sounds more patriotic, specially coupled with his "Ivan the Terrible" avatar. 

[Moses]

15 minutes ago, vinapu said:

Moses is not a Russian name and you still use it as your nick

In the very distant past, when I chose this nickname, the choice was purely technical: spammers who spam by brute force usually do not include the names Jesus, Moses and Buddha in the list of names. Therefore, less spam was sent to email with this name. This had nothing to do with the nationality of Moses and me

[vinapu]

2 minutes ago, Moses said:

In the very distant past, when I chose this nickname, the choice was purely technical: spammers who spam by brute force usually do not include the names Jesus, Moses and Buddha in the list of names. Therefore, less spam was sent to email with this name. This had nothing to do with the nationality of Moses and me

nobody accuses you of not being smart

[Moses]

3 hours ago, 10tazione said:

I cannot clearly see how Vegman would be a german name and I cannot clearly see what the origin of a name has to do with nationality.

Only because English is poor language to distinguish ethnicity and nationality. At least when we are talking about "Russians". For citizens of Israel English has Israeli and Jew/Arab,  and for Russians... err... Russian and Russian. Look at topics here where are "Russians" mentioned in titles. Find there my comments and you will start to understand situation. By the way: about half of citizens of Israel are "Russians" if you want to use that words in meaning on "nationality".  

Western propaganda uses that lack of words in own interests.

And if we remember the author of the topic, he drags here any mention of Russians for a very clear purpose, while when committing offenses by individuals from other countries, he uses the politically correct “foreigner”. In fact, mentioning an Australian in the title may offend some of his fellow citizens, but now in the West it is customary to kick Russians for any reason.

No one has yet managed to blame the Russians for today's earthquake in New York, or have they already?

[reader]

34 minutes ago, Moses said:

And if we remember the author of the topic, he drags here any mention of Russians for a very clear purpose...

Author of topic is The Thaiger news service out of Phuket. I reckon they're more familiar with who's responsible for crime in their province than either of us.

[Keithambrose]

46 minutes ago, Moses said:

Only because English is poor language to distinguish ethnicity and nationality. At least when we are talking about "Russians". For citizens of Israel English has Israeli and Jew/Arab,  and for Russians... err... Russian and Russian. Look at topics here where are "Russians" mentioned in titles. Find there my comments and you will start to understand situation. By the way: about half of citizens of Israel are "Russians" if you want to use that words in meaning on "nationality".  

Western propaganda uses that lack of words in own interests.

And if we remember the author of the topic, he drags here any mention of Russians for a very clear purpose, while when committing offenses by individuals from other countries, he uses the politically correct “foreigner”. In fact, mentioning an Australian in the title may offend some of his fellow citizens, but now in the West it is customary to kick Russians for any reason.

No one has yet managed to blame the Russians for today's earthquake in New York, or have they already?

I note an anti semitic theme here, which I do not think is helpful.

[Moses]

1 hour ago, reader said:

Author of topic is The Thaiger news service out of Phuket. I reckon they're more familiar with who's responsible for crime in their province than either of us.

"Thaiger News" doesn't publish news here, you know? By the way: "Thaiger news" has policy how to use their data on third party sites, as well as Thai copyright law.

 

Quote

Intellectual Property

All original content provided within or via this site is protected by various international copyright laws, patent laws, trademark regulations, and laws, and various intellectual property laws and international treaties and agreements. Copying, reproduction, publication, or broadcast of any protected content contained within or via this Site is strictly prohibited without the written permission of The Thaiger. 

https://thethaiger.com/terms-of-use

[Moses]

48 minutes ago, Keithambrose said:

I note an anti semitic theme here

So you feel "anti semitic theme" in example of how English language distinguishes ethnicity and nationality, but don't see "anti Russian note" in example how it doesn't, and some users exploit that... 

[reader]

From MSN

Russians Arrested For Illegal Crypto Trading In Thailand Cannabis Dispensary

The serene beaches of Koh Phangan, Thailand, recently became the center of an unexpected clash between cryptocurrency trading and cannabis retail.

Owned by Russian citizens Maksim Variukhin and Ibragim Gaitukiev, the Plantasia Cannabis Collective was investigated by Thailand's Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) for operating as an unlicensed digital asset business, reported Khaosod English.

[Moses]

9 minutes ago, reader said:

Owned by Russian citizens

Correct words. They are Russian citizens if they are holders of passports of Russia. "Russian" means ethnicity, not nationality. 

If I will write here "Jews arrested for illegal cryptocurrency..." here half of the forum will accuse me in Anti-Semitism. 

 

[reader]

11 minutes ago, Moses said:

Correct words. They are Russian citizens if they are holders of passports of Russia. "Russian" means ethnicity, not nationality.

Be that as it may, Moses, I don't believe that you can deny that people from Russia are committing an inordinate amount of crime in the Kingdom.

[Moses]

Today in Thai news (on Thaiger) published news what British pedophile has been arrested after returning to UK.

Should I make conclusion "that people from UK are committing an inordinate amount of crime in the Kingdom"? 

[unicorn]

6 hours ago, Moses said:

...

No one has yet managed to blame the Russians for today's earthquake in New York, or have they already?

No, but if it happened in Rostov-on-Don, Putin would have blamed Ukrainians. 😉

[unicorn]

4 hours ago, Moses said:

... "Russian" means ethnicity, not nationality...

Factually wrong.

[unicorn]

7 hours ago, vinapu said:

nobody accuses you of not being smart

[reader]

10 hours ago, Moses said:

Today in Thai news (on Thaiger) published news what British pedophile has been arrested after returning to UK.

Should I make conclusion "that people from UK are committing an inordinate amount of crime in the Kingdom"? 

The crimes for which he was arrested occurred while he was in England. The crimes described in the lead article were perpetrated by people from Russia in Thailand. Word play doesn't alter that.

BTW, the plural of Russian is Russians. Again, word play doesn't change that, either.

No one is claiming that all Russians in Thailand are criminals. But Russians are arrested at a rate out of the ordinary. I don't like that and I fully understand why you don't. But it's happening and we regularly read about it the news.

Earlier this week, the Pattaya News carried a report of a Russian fraudster (their description) who conned investors into a forex trading scheme in which they lost over 20 million baht. One of those investors took her own life. None of this reflects poorly on you who runs a legitimate business in Russia. I'm sure you're eager to see the end to such activities.

 

[thaiophilus]

15 hours ago, Moses said:

"Russian" means ethnicity, not nationality.

FWIW The Oxford English Dictionary says:

 

NOUN

1. a. A member of an East Slavonic-speaking people living primarily in Russia and neighbouring countries; a native or inhabitant of Russia, or (more widely) its former empire or the former Soviet Union; a person of Russian nationality.

ADJECTIVE

1.a. Of, relating to, or characteristic of Russia, or (more widely) its former empire or the former Soviet Union; inhabiting or native to Russia, its former empire or the former Soviet Union.

[vinapu]

both of you are right, in Slavic languages "Russian", 'Czech' , "Tatar " etc means ethnicity thus Hungarians in Romania, Turks in Bulgaria  or Germans in Poland are still described as  Hungarians, Turks  or Germans even if living there since medieval times. 

[unicorn]

57 minutes ago, vinapu said:

both of you are right, in Slavic languages "Russian", 'Czech' , "Tatar " etc means ethnicity thus Hungarians in Romania, Turks in Bulgaria  or Germans in Poland are still described as  Hungarians, Turks  or Germans even if living there since medieval times. 

On this board, we are communicating in English. We must use standard, accepted language, and not the way we wish the language were expressed, or any other ideas we have in our head. I traveled through Romania a number of years ago, and, indeed, there are people in certain parts of that country who speak only Hungarian, and do not even know how to communicate in Romanian. However, if they have Romanian citizenship, they are Romanian, whatever their culture or language skills--by definition (regardless of how they would "describe" themselves). It is quite possible that Hungary grants citizenship to such people (I don't know), in which case they are both Hungarian and Romanian. This may be analogous to Northern Ireland, whose residents are dual citizens by birth. 

Culture and nationality are two separate concepts. Americans often celebrate our cultural heritages, but we're still all American. It's a sign of a strong society.

 

[vinapu]

3 hours ago, unicorn said:

1. We must use standard, accepted language,

2.It is quite possible that Hungary grants citizenship to such people (I don't know),

 

1. Why ?

2. it does

 

[unicorn]

7 minutes ago, vinapu said:

1. Why ?...

 

Because otherwise anyone can spout off any bullshit he wants and claim it's true in the language he invented in his head. That's the reason dictionaries were invented: to settle disputes regarding words' meanings and definitions.