Phuket Immigration apprehended a Swedish-Russian man at the airport as he attempted to flee after robbing and extorting money from a Russian woman.
On May 15, Pol. Lt. Gen. Ittipol Ittisarnronnachai, commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, announced the arrest of Mr. Oleksandr, a 25-year-old Swedish-Russian national, at Phuket International Airport. He was handed over to the interrogators at Chalong Police Station for prosecution on robbery charges.
Mr. Oleksandr is accused of robbing Ms. Diera, a 23-year-old Russian national. According to Ms. Diera’s complaint filed with Chalong Police, she arranged to meet Mr. Oleksandr via the Telegram app at a villa in Chalong subdistrict, Mueang district, Phuket province, on May 8 at 11:00 p.m., to exchange 25,000 baht in cash for 700 US dollars worth of cryptocurrency.
During their meeting, another Russian man, acting as an accomplice, entered without Ms. Diera noticing. The two men then grabbed Ms. Diera, covered her head with a bag, tied her arms and legs, and confiscated her phone, demanding more money. When she claimed she had no more money, Mr. Oleksandr slapped her until she revealed her phone password. After confirming she had no funds left in her online account, he forced her to contact a friend in a nearby room to retrieve additional cash.
The men stole 2,000 US dollars and 6,000 baht from Ms. Diera, amounting to a total of 104,546 baht. After releasing her, Ms. Diera immediately reported the incident to Chalong Police. The police then alerted Phuket Immigration, who arrested Mr. Oleksandr as he was about to board a flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He was charged with nighttime robbery.
The other suspect has fled the country. Authorities are gathering evidence to request an arrest warrant from the Phuket Provincial Court and are pursuing further legal action.
