From 1997 through 2001, FBI Offices in
Chicago, Detroit, New York, and Newark along with the Drug
Enforcement Administration, United States Customs Service,
Immigration and Naturalization Service, United States Secret
Service, United States Postal Inspectors, the British Customs
Service, as well as state and local authorities combined the
resources of three separate investigations to jointly target a
major international heroin trafficking organization primarily made
up of individuals of Nigerian descent. These investigations
identified subjects from West Africa involved in the importation of
Southeast Asian heroin from Bangkok, Thailand through West Africa
and Europe and then on to the United States. The members of the
organization were also involved in money laundering and various
financial fraud schemes including bank fraud, credit card fraud,
passport fraud, and welfare fraud. Court authorized wiretaps
conducted in each of the FBI Offices involved in the case provided
a large degree of the evidence needed to charge the members of the
organization
THAILAND
ORGANIZE CRIME AND THE TAIWAN TRIADS
http://www.ch7.com/
CRIME: Although the crime threat in
Bangkok remains lower than that in many American cities, crimes of
opportunity such as pick-pocketing, purse-snatching, and burglary
have become more common in recent years. Travelers should be
especially wary when walking in crowded markets, tourist sites and
bus or train stations. Many American citizens have reported
having passports, wallets, and other valuables stolen in Bangkok’s
Chatuchak Weekend Market, usually by thieves who cut into purses or
bags with a razor and remove items surreptitiously. Police at
the Market usually refuse to issue police reports for foreign
victims of theft, requiring them instead to travel several miles to
the central Tourist Police office. Violent crimes against
foreigners are relatively rare. However, there has been a
recent upsurge in violent crime against tourists, including the
murder of several independent travelers, on the southern islands of
Phuket and Koh Samui. Independent travelers should exercise
caution and stay in the vicinity of other travelers, especially in
the beach areas of these islands.