Thai police raid nets 32 foreign bridge players

A vow by Thailand's junta to rid the country of foreign criminals has netted an unlikely group of outlaws - elderly bridge players.
Police and military volunteers raided a bridge club yesterday in Pattaya, a resort town renowned for its go-go bars and links with organised crime, arresting 32 foreigners, most of them British.
"There were 32 people, all of them foreigners arrested for gambling on Wednesday night," Colonel Suthat Pumphanmuang, Pattaya police superintendent, told AFP today, saying the raid was sparked by a member of the public complaining to the junta's anti-corruption centre.
Almost all forms of gambling apart from the lottery and bets on some animal fighting are outlawed in Thailand, though underground betting is rampant.

"The chairman of the bridge club is arguing that they were not gambling (for money)," Suthat said.
He added that all but one of those arrested were freed on a 5,000 baht (USD 140) bail after 12 hours in custody. The final person was unable to pay bail and remains in jail.

Police said those arrested included 12 British nationals, three Norwegians, three Swedes, two Australians, a German, a Dane, a Canadian, a New Zealander and one Dutch and one Irish national. The other nationalities were not made public.
A British Embassy spokesman said officials were in contact with local authorities "following the arrest of several British nationals".

Jomtien and Pattaya Bridge Club, the target of the raid, is a venue popular with elderly foreign players that advertises publicly and meets three times a week above a restaurant.
Video of the raid posted by local media outlets showed groups of largely elderly foreigners gathered around tables holding playing cards looking confused by the sudden police interest. At one point officers pose for media pictures by a cabinet holding multiple packs of playing cards.
The accused were later seen being walked to the back of a police van, one of them with the help of a walking stick.
Pattaya One, a local English language newspaper, said the club had been operating bridge nights since 1994.

Since seizing power in 2014, Thai junta chief Prayut Chan- O-Cha has vowed to crack down on a raft of social ills including corruption and criminal networks, both foreign and domestic. He has set up a corruption centre where members of the public can inform officials of alleged abuses or crimes.