Police raided a luxury home used by a Chinese gambling gang in Thailand.

The Chinese nationals reportedly worked as administrators of an online gambling website operated out of the lavish house in 'Sin City' Pattaya.

Officials converged on the property in a gated housing estate following reports of suspiciously high electric consumption. Neighours also claimed the Chinese group rarely left home or interacted with the community.

Police arrested one woman holding a tourist visa, and four men with student visas. They also seized three laptops and 29 mobile phones.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Kawinwat Arayasuriwong, deputy superintendent of Chonburi Immigration, said: ‘The investigation revealed that the big boss behind the website is in China. These suspects acted as website administrators who reply to customers and handle their money.

‘We are investigating further because this activity is considered online gambling.'

The suspects reportedly replied to customers and received funds through the WeChat application. They would verify the transactions from Chinese gamblers before granting them access to the online slots system.

The operation reportedly handled around 100,000 THB (2,350 GBP) per day.

On February 7, police raided an illegal online loan business run by yet another Chinese gang in Pattaya.

The 11 suspected loan sharks were found to be operating from a luxury pool villa. They were said to have lent money to Chinese citizens at exorbitant interest rates, allegedly targetting victims at random through the WeChat messaging application.

They were detained and questioned search for other potential suspects.

Chinese nationals are the largest group of foreign tourists to Thailand as both nations inked a mutual visa exemption agreement in March 2024.

However, Thai officials are now scrambling to crack down on Chinese criminal gangs that have mushroomed across the Southeast Asian country.

(1 GBP = 42.54 THB)