Four Russian gangsters who set up shop in Pattaya have been arrested, along with ten other Eastern Europeans engaged in what immigration officials called “Mafia” behavior.
Immigration and Provincial Police Region 2 officials announced the planned deportation of the convicted drug dealers and extortionists wanted on Interpol “red notices” March 20 following their arrests over the past several months.
Aleksandr Danilov, 43, allegedly ran a Pattaya offshoot of the Russian Mafia in Pattaya, managing many underlings as he hid out on the Eastern Seaboard from drug-dealing charges back home. He entered Thailand on May 29, 2012 and had overstayed his visa by more than four years and seven months.
Kikhail Kriventsov, an alleged heroin dealer in Russian, was first captured in Loei Province in September last year and currently was nine months overstay on his visa.
Anton Filippov slipped out of Russia after a court conviction, visiting Thailand eight times, most recently on Feb. 1 on a 60-day tourist visa.
Sergei Mareev, police alleged, lived like a “playboy” in Pattaya, sleeping with a steady stream of Thai women despite the fact he is HIV-positive. He was caught after a female undercover agent contacted him via the WhatsApp messaging program to arrange a liaison. Officers said they seized a large quantity of drugs from him. He had overstayed his visa by nearly a month.
The other 10 arrested all hailed from the former Soviet Union and were arrested on a variety of charges, from working illegally to overstaying their visas to acting like a Mafioso.
