Cyber Police Detain Activist Achirawat on Money Laundering Charges
Cyber police arrested Achirawat Ruangrattanapong outside a prominent boxing stadium in Samut Sakhon on suspicion of money laundering and fraud. He denies the charges, alleging the evidence is fabricated and the 300‑million‑baht figure is false, and says he can prove his innocence. He remains in custody at Thung Song Hong Police Station awaiting a court appearance on October 5.
After the intense four‑hour questioning, investigators from the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau 1 escorted Achirawat to Thung Song Hong Police Station for detention, with plans to transfer him to the Bangkok Criminal Court on October 5 for a formal remand hearing. While in custody, Achirawat maintained that all four charges against him are baseless and that the evidence is fabricated, claiming he can prove his innocence. He said the money cited in the case does not come from fraud; police are trying to portray it as illicit gains from deceiving the public. He noted two amounts: a 14,000‑baht merit‑making donation and a 400,000‑baht payment for a nominee case in Phuket, which was a 1‑million‑baht deposit paid in two installments on March 19 and March 20, 2026, totaling only 414,000 baht allegedly linked to victims, yet the reports inflated it to 300 million baht. He added that references to a 2024 Facebook account are false because he closed his Facebook in 2022 and only runs a YouTube channel, never accepting donations or posting bank details in 2023. The evidence inserted into the case file is old material from the Provincial Police Bureau, merely recycled.
