Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, I am asking yet again, what are we doing here? These Chinese gangs in Thailand; this is really weird frankly. I did a video recently where I was talking about there was this situation involving a guy, he had a gun in I think it was a convenience store, and he had been followed in by another guy; it had to do with scam call centers and all of this stuff. A lot going on here. On top of it, the thumbnail we have got, that is a lift from the film the Cable Guy - we will put a link in the description below in the photo credit for where we got that - but it is this scene in the Cable Guy where this character in the film he is sort of a character within sort of this trial, it is sort of supposed to resemble the OJ Trial that is going on in the background in this movie The Cable Guy. There is this scene where one guy has killed his brother and he calls 911 and he is trying to sort of cover up the crime and trying to blame it on an "Asian gang" and it's just, it is very, I find it funny. It's dark comedy but he is saying "they were speaking a language, I think it was Asian, there was an Asian gang" - he just keeps using the word "Asian" - so I thought kind of funny to make a thumbnail but yeah this is really concerning here in Thailand. Again I made recent videos on this in the past; got more data points for this video. 

That said, I get into a deeper dive on some of this in our paid news service. If you're interested in getting information on our paid news service, I do long form content at least once a week where we talk about the various news of the day and how it impacts expat land and just geopolitics, international politics, etc. But if you are interested in that, you can email us, [email protected], and we will get you information on getting on the mailing list for that. As I'm talking my book as well, it's worth pointing out my better half and I set up a restaurant here in downtown Bangkok, Pancake Palace. There are links in the description below and we would very much love to see you there. And I have noticed a lot of folks have come in, and I really do appreciate it, guys and gals who have come by the Palace and asked to see me and things. I'm not always there; I do have a day job. I try to be in there as much as I can. I am oftentimes there in the mornings. We open at 8.00 am. I am usually on calls by at least 9.30, so you may catch me there in the mornings for breakfast and I love to see people when I do see folks and I really appreciate all the support from the community out there that watches these videos, it's very much appreciated, so thanks a lot. Again Pancake Palace, Link in the description below. 

That said, let's jump into this. What is going on with these Chinese gangs? I thought of making this video initially after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post and I actually am going to come to another one where I was reading about this in the print edition of the Post as well earlier, but in that one I sort of said to myself, "I am not going to make a video exclusively on that", then I read this article recently where I said, "you know what, this is getting out of hand". Quoting directly, bangkokpost.com: Chinese gang escapes after attempted kidnapping in Central Pattaya. Quoting directly: "CHONBURI: A group of Chinese men attempted to kidnap compatriots for ransom at a Pattaya villa this morning but fled after a Thai woman escaped and alerted police. The incident occurred at 3.00am today at a house number in Suphamit Village, Tambon Nong Prue, Bang Lamung District." Quoting further: "Pol Lt. Col Anek Sarathongyu, Superintendent of Pattaya City Police Station, received reports of a dispute and attempted kidnapping at the two-storey pool villa. Officers from patrol and investigation units rushed to the scene. When police arrived, they found a white saloon car parked outside the property" - by the way this all sounds like something like out of, what was that movie called, Last Man Standing, I think it had Bruce Willis in it. It was from the series The Man with No Name series as I recall it. There is a great juxtaposition in that movie between the Wild West and the sort of gangster era of the Chicago like Al Capone era, and another movie that kind of captures that a little bit is the film the Road to Perdition with Tom Hanks where it shows the Midwest and the West as the city sort of came out and interacted with the West that you had this sort of on one hand kind of Wild West vibe coupled with the sort of gangster city urban vibe, and the sort of juxtaposition. I just thought of that when I was reading this article, especially when I heard a "white saloon car". Again, quoting directly: "When police arrived, they found a white saloon car parked outside the property. Upon seeing the officers, the suspects accelerated and rammed into a civilian vehicle and a police motorbike, causing the motorcycle to overturn. The perpetrators then sped away towards Soi Huai Yai, apparently familiar with local escape routes," - and again this is some really concerning stuff because it's like, I mean did they scope this all out and then tried to perpetrate this thing? And if so, can we add some scrutiny maybe to these folks that are coming in? Just one man's opinion. Quoting further: "Neighbours saw two men in the car before a young woman ran from the house screaming for help. The woman and a Chinese man had been detained inside, presumably for ransom, but she managed to escape and call the police." So yeah, no I mean this is really wild west kind of stuff, I mean. 

That said, going over here to the print edition; we will put this on screen. I saw this in a little blurb in the Bangkok Post print edition, quoting directly: 26 Chinese held for loan sharking. "Twenty-six Chinese nationals have been arrested for operating a loan sharking business near Pattaya. Police raided the villa in Bang Lamung District on Friday after a tip off. The single-story villa, in a high-end housing project worth tens of millions of baht, was surrounded by a fence and surveillance cameras. Inside, officers found 25 men and one woman, most on Tourist or Student Visas without Work Permits. Police said they ran an online lending operation targeting Chinese nationals, charging 60% interest." Yeah, so clearly a loan sharking operation. Again, Chinese Nationals. 

Then finally coming over here to an even more recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Crackdown on Student Visa abuse continues. The thrust of that article goes in a different direction but this particular excerpt I thought was relevant for this video. Quoting directly: "The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) in March 2023 was given a 139,000-page police report into 107 Immigration Officers accused of helping Chinese nationals involved in "grey" businesses to obtain visas. The NACC has not yet concluded its investigation." Yeah, unfortunately, it just seems like there is a lot that is entangling in a rather corrupt way; a lot of things going on down here in Thailand and there seems to be a nexus point with Chinese gangs involved in all of this stuff. It's really concerning to me. I am very, very hopeful that law enforcement, and I think that they are, notably the Anti-Corruption Commission as well as, look, at the end of the day, the Thai Police seemed to foil this kidnapping and on top of that they did ultimately catch the loan sharks. So let's be clear, I am not really being critical of the police. I'm more being observant of the fact that it seems like there's a concerted effort especially by the Chinese seemingly, or I should say maybe aspects of the Chinese underworld, to sort of get into Thailand for nefarious purposes.

Now whether or not this will have implications within the Immigration apparatus or the Police apparatus as regards things like enforcement as we get into in other videos made contemporaneously with this one, Thai Immigration is clearly cracking down on visas that they feel are basically problematic insofar as people are using them for reasons that aren't associated with the reason they are saying they are going to use them for. So that would seem to lend itself to the notion that yeah, the authorities here are taking this quite seriously. That said, it remains to be seen how this is going to play out, so we will certainly be keeping you updated on this channel, as the situation evolves.