Lao Vegas - the Kings Roman Chinese Casino City - Golden Triangle

DavidFL

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It seems as if more people are aware of and interested in the story of the Kings Roman Casino city 'Lao Vegas" at the Golden Triangle on the Laos side.
So here is some info from an earlier GTR reports on Kings Roman
From

Kings Roman - the Lao Vegas & Sin City

From the "Lost princess shrine" it 41 kms upstream to the wild west casino sin city of Kings Roman / Ton Phueng.
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The road is generally narrow bumpy asphalt / concrete with a few trailer trucks that you should take care of.
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The turn off to Ton Phueng.
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Ton Phueng used to be the sleepy little village opposite Chiang Saen.
In 2023 though it is the scene of a building frenzy & booming with kms of pubs, restaurants, karaoke, phone & beauty shops, servicing the masses working / visiting the Kings Roman Megalopolis.
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Outside the main attraction, the Kapok Star wonder hotel.
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In 2010 it all looked likethis:
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The old road from Houei Xai:
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In 2023 the road from Houei Xai:
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2010
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2023
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The change is unbelievable & a bit frightening.
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I never imagined there would be such a fully developed, functioning city behind the casino facade you see from across the river in Thailand; but indeed there are apartment blocks, shopping malls, pubs, restaurants, karaoke, phone, shoe & beauty shops. It is amazing & deserves more exploration - I need to return & check it all out!



Some Chinese tourist attractions.
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It should be noted that generally in the heat of the day there are few people out & about.
Hence there are few people in these photos.
Then at dusk the punters start coming out like thousands of termites after a shower of rain.
I would have liked to stay longer, to witness the night scene, but time was up for the day.

Some night time images from the Thai side:

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Not sure what is going on - some info - how the hell could this happen!
The GTSEZ is run by a Chinese-born gangster-tycoon Zhao Wei, who in 2007 secured a 99-year lease for kms of prime paddy land on the Mekong River, basically stretching from Ton Phueng to the Golden Triangle.

Zhao Wei was born Liaoning, China on 16 September 1952.
Starting as a timber trader he moved to Macau in the 1990s & invested in casinos & gambling.
In 2001 then Zhao moved to Mong La on the Myanmar / China border and founded a casino franchise, Landun Entertainment.
In 2005, this complex ran foul of the Chinese authorities who imposed a travel ban to Mong La following reports of officials gambling & losing state funds. The travel ban caused the casinos to shut down.
The same also happened with the casinos at Boten on the Laos / China border, where China state officials, gambled away government money, ran up debts & were detained until they paid their debbts, or were even killed!
In 2007 Zhao Wei popped up again with a new casino biz - the 99-year King Roman lease. Construction soon started & has proceeded at a frightening pace ever since.




More info







As crooked as he is, laundering money, he has great influence in the area; and has secured 2 more long term leases. One near the Plain of Jars and one near the Vietnam border in Saravan.







Perhaps the most famous incident related to the GTSEZ was the 2011 murder of 13 Chinese Sailors on a boat loaded with drugs, that was "highjacked."




Yesterday, ASTV Manager Online, that has for years been reporting on news in the Golden Triangle, presented a clearer (but still incomplete) picture of what happened to the two Chinese cargo ships and their crew last October.

According to the report, the two ships were seized by Naw Kham, “the freshwater pirate”, who has been running a protection racket in the area since 2007, on 4 November. One of the crew women had then made a call to Thailand’s Chiang Saen to inform about what had taken place. This had sealed the fate of herself and the rest of the crew, it says.

On the next day, the two boats were stormed and taken by the Thai Army’s Pha Mueng Task Force.

On 6 October, Pha Mueng and the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) officials held a press conference to explain the previous day’s events.

According to them, Pha Mueng received information at 06:00 on 5 October about the hijacking of the two boats and had accordingly organized a team to intercept them.

At 10:30, the two ships turned up and seeing the Thai officials trying to head them off, the unidentified armed men on the ships fired at the officials and later escaped in a speedboat. The catch, Pha Mueng and ONCB said, included 1 dead armed man and 920,000 pills of “yaba” (methamphetamines).

On 7 October, the dead crewmen and women started floating up on the river one after another.

On 28 October, Thai police summoned 9 Pha Mueng officers to face two charges: killing of 13 Chinese crewmen and women and concealing evidence, which the officers had promptly denied.

However, there are still two Jigsaw pieces missing, the report says: two well known men living in the nearby Maesai district: “Uncle N” and “Mr S”, who is Uncle N’s relative. (A source in Maesai told SHAN “Uncle N” was none other than Olarn Somphongphan aka Chamras Phacharoen, a known “Chao Paw” (Godfather) in the district.

Due to the disappearance of the two who are believed to have gone underground, at least three questions remain unanswered:

Where did the drugs originate?
Who seized the boats and killed the crew?
Who would be the recipient of the drugs?

A local who wished to remain anonymous said one way to find it out is to look at the year’s events that had made headlines in the area and piece them together:

4 April 2011
A ship belonging to Kings Romans Casino on the Laotian side of the Mekong seized and 19 crewmen abducted. Zhao Wei, the casino owner, was reported to have paid a hefty B 22 million ($730,000) ransom to Naw Kham

21 September 2011
Burmese and Laotian security forces attacked Naw Kham’s men at Sri Dorn Mee island, 25 km north of the Triangle. 20 of his men were said to have been killed, while 4 of the wounded came to Chiangrai for medical treatment

26 September 2011
Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister announced that Kings Romans was raided and 20 sacks of yaba pills were seized

5 October 2011
Pha Mueng seized two cargo ships, one either belonging to Zhao Wei or his associate Ah Ming

Updated (1 December 2011)
According to ASTV report, 30 November, there were 4 boats manned by an unknown armed group escorting the two cargo ships into Thai waters on 5 October. 9 Thai officers who are under investigation meanwhile say they had only fired warning shots.




It remains unclear who killed the Chinese crewmen on board the Hua Ping and Yu Xing 8 boats on Oct 5.
But nine army personnel of the 3rd Army Region's Pha Muang Task Force came under suspicion and have since been charged with the murders.
One initial account says the soldiers intercepted the Hua Ping and Yu Xing 8 as they entered a stretch of the Mekong and found 920,000
methamphetamine pills and one dead body on board one of the boats.

Other bodies were later retrieved from the river. Most were blindfolded, tied up and had bullet wounds.
The nine soldiers have denied the charges, blaming a drug trafficking gang from Shan State in Myanmar led by Nor Kham, who they said had hijacked the cargo boats.

A source at the northern branch of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board said criminal violence along the Mekong mostly involves drug
trafficking gangs betraying each other.
The source said there are four criminal groups with vested interests in trading, drug trafficking and protection money along the Mekong which is
the principal transport route for cargoes from Xishuangbanna through to ports in Myanmar, Laos and Thailand's Chiang Saen. There are 13 trade
ports dotted along the route.



See also

Enjoy, there is a lot of interesting history in the top North.
Read up on it a bit & it makes the ride a lot more rewarding.
:cool::innocent:
 
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DavidFL

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Watching the speed of the construction at the Lao Vegas at the GT & the pace is frightening.
Check out these new buildings going up on the riverfront, in front of the Kapok Hotel.

29 September 2023
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30 October 2023
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11 November 2023
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14 December 2023
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28 December 2023
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20 January 2024
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DavidFL

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Some excellent information in this guide by Bertil Lintner

Work your way through these written reports by Bertil








 
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DavidFL

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Update 7th August 2024.
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Still powering on upwards.

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Some "humour," my local GT contact tells me that Zhao Wei, Mr Kings Roman, was at the GT last week having a pizza @ Mekong Pizza!
 
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DavidFL

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Laos orders Golden Triangle scammers out of zone by end of month
RFA Update 12 August 2024
When the deadline passes, authorities will set up a special force to shut them down.

Authorities in northern Laos have given illegal call centers operating in the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone until the end of the month to clear out or face police action, according to officials and state media.

The murky Chinese-run special economic zone, or SEZ, along the Mekong River in Bokeo province is a gambling and tourism hub catering to Chinese visitors as well as a haven for online fraud, human trafficking, prostitution and illegal drug activities.

Scamming operations run by Chinese nationals who try to trick people into fake investments are rife in the zone and typically employ Laotians and other Asians trafficked to the area to work in the call centers. Many of the workers are mistreated and prevented from leaving the premises.

While authorities have arrested and deported alleged operators, the scam centers persist, drawing condemnation from the international community.

Following an Aug. 9 meeting between the governor of Bokeo province, high-ranking officials from the Lao Ministry of Public Security, and Zhao Wei, the chairman of the Golden Triangle SEZ, Lao authorities ordered all scam centers to be “completely shut down by Aug. 25,” according to state media reports and an official from the public security ministry.

The official who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns, told RFA Lao on Monday that the centers were given the opportunity to “remove all of their belongings by the deadline.”

“After that, we’ll set up a special force to enforce the order,” he said.

In the first half of 2024, as many as 400 call centers were operating in the Golden Triangle SEZ, up from 305 a year earlier, the official said. The centers have mostly targeted Chinese, prompting authorities in China to team up with their counterparts in Laos to tackle the problem.

As of Monday, Lao and Chinese authorities have carried out nine raids, arresting and deporting 1,389 scammers, he said, including 1,211 Chinese nationals, 145 Vietnamese, 16 Malaysians, 13 Ethiopians and four Burmese.

Amid the scrutiny, “some of them [the call centers] shifted into online gambling centers,” the official said. “Those that were arrested and deported were not big fish; they were small fish that were hired by Chinese to work as scammers.”

Order welcomed
Residents of Bokeo welcomed the Lao government’s ultimatum.

“Getting rid of the crooks is a good move; my hat goes off to those authorities who follow the government’s policy,” said one man who lives near the SEZ. “A lot of people lost money by transferring it via their mobile phones to scammers.”

The owner of a guesthouse in SEZ said that getting rid of the scammers has been long overdue.

But he acknowledged that when the centers are shut down, “the SEZ will be empty – the hotels, guesthouses and restaurants will have no customers.”

The order to evacuate came a week after Lao authorities raided several call centers in the Golden Triangle SEZ, detaining and deporting 154 Vietnamese and 29 Chinese for their alleged involvement in the scams.

In January, Laos repatriated 268 Chinese citizens suspected of scamming while living or working at the SEZ.

In November 2023, Lao authorities arrested more than 430 Chinese nationals who appeared to be involved in fraudulent call center operations in the SEZ, and handed them over to their Chinese counterparts for deportation.

And that September, the Lao Ministry of Public Security deported 164 Chinese arrested in Vientiane and other Lao provinces, including Bokeo. Nearly 50 of them were arrested in the Golden Triangle SEZ and believed to be involved in running call centers.

Source: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/golden-triangle-sez-scammers-08122024171757.html


Construction Update 15th August 2024: still powering on.

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DavidFL

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Here's another great story of an escape from a call centre at King's Roman.


Vietnamese man escapes from Golden Triangle scam gang, spends days on Mekong River
From Vietnam Express. By Duc Hung August 14, 2024 | 10:49 pm

PTA Vietnamese man recently made a daring escape from a notorious scam operation in the Golden Triangle, enduring a harrowing seven-day journey through treacherous conditions to return home.
After being sold to a phone scam operation in the global drug hub at the intersection of China, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar, Lang Van Thanh of the central Nghe An Province risked his life to escape, drifting on the Mekong River on a makeshift raft and begging for food along the way as he made his way back home.

According to the police in Nghe An’s Quy Chau District, Thanh, 34, was one of the victims of a transnational human trafficking operation led by Vi Van Nhap, 41, another Nghe An native, and Pham Thi Tuyet Chinh, 36, from the northern province of Nam Dinh.

Speaking to investigators after escaping from the Golden Triangle, Thanh described the experience as "terrifying," but said he knew he had to escape. Staying would have meant indefinite confinement with an uncertain future.

He said that in early 2024 Nhap persuaded him to go abroad to work with the promise of a "high-paying, easy job."

His accommodation and meals would be fully covered by the "big companies" offering the job, who would also pay a monthly salary of VND20-30 million (US$800-1,190) and bonuses for good performance, he was told.

Believing Nhap, he agreed to cross the border illegally, not realizing it was a scam.

Joining him and Thanh on the trip eight months ago were several other Vietnamese aged 35-40, who were also struggling financially and hoping to make a better life.

The case files show that in the first leg of the journey Thanh and the others were picked up by strangers and driven to a mountainous province in Myanmar to work for them.

The group seized all their personal documents and they were forced to take part in phone scams daily to defraud people and steal their money online.

It was too late when they realized they had been deceived.

After two months Thanh and several other Vietnamese victims tried to escape by running into a nearby forest, but were unfortunately discovered by guards. They were then blindfolded and transported to Bokeo Province in Laos.

In this zone, which has hundreds of high-rise buildings, Thanh and the others were separated and handed over to various companies where they were confined. The victims were forced to make scam phone calls every day, and those who failed to meet targets were threatened and beaten.

Thanh said he was terrified and repeatedly demanded to go home, but the manager told him he would have to pay VND150 million to buy his freedom.

Knowing that his family could not raise such an amount, Thanh did not even contact them for help and resigned himself to staying.

Knowing what he wanted, he was placed on a "blacklist" and closely monitored by guards to prevent him from trying to escape.

He said he and others on the blacklist were sent back to Myanmar.

On May 1 Thanh and several other Vietnamese were being transported from Laos to Myanmar by car according to a prearranged schedule.

When they stopped for lunch at a small roadside restaurant, Thanh noticed a river behind the venue.

He pretended to go to the restroom and took advantage of a moment of inattention to jump into the water.

The guards, who were 30 meters away, immediately chased after him but did not dare approach the fast-flowing waters. They followed him by car but eventually gave up.

Thanh said the thought of dying occurred to him when he jumped into the river.

After swimming a few hundred meters and nearing exhaustion, he grabbed onto a floating Styrofoam box, using it as a makeshift float to move toward a shore.

"I did not dare get onto the highway after reaching land. I walked along small paths along the Mekong River, heading downstream."

For seven days he wandered, searching for a way home.

Whenever he was hungry, he would approach local houses or seek out Vietnamese residents in Laos to ask for food and water.

When deep waters blocked his path, Thanh used discarded Styrofoam as makeshift rafts to paddle across the river.

On May 8, on reaching Luang Prabang in Laos, he boarded a bus and requested to be taken to the Vietnamese border. The driver demanded VND25 million, and Thanh borrowed a phone to call his sister, asking her to transfer the money to the bus company.

After returning home Thanh reported Nhap to the police.

Thanh told investigators: "I no longer chase after high-paying, easy jobs. I'd rather stay home and pick bamboo shoots. If I want to make more money, I'll go to the south to work for factories."

Lieutenant Colonel Hoang Chi Hieu, deputy chief of the Quy Chau District police, said Nhap had been under surveillance for four months after he was found to lure people and sell them to gangs in the Golden Triangle. By the time Thanh's complaint was received, most of the "blank spaces" in the case had been filled, and many suspicions had been confirmed by then.

According to investigators, the human trafficking ring was led by Chinh, 36, a woman who lives in China, and Nhap received a share of the profits from her after each successful trafficking operation.

Chinh recruited many people to work for her in various provinces across Vietnam. When the bosses in the Golden Triangle needed people for their scam operations, Chinh would contact her network in Vietnam to find them.

Chinh has reportedly been elusive. She once attempted to enter Vietnam to discuss the modus operandi with her subordinates but turned back at the border as she was worried about being detected.

She continued to direct operations from outside the country.

On Aug. 8, learning that Chinh had just returned to Vietnam via the Lao Cai International Border Gate, police dispatched a team to arrest her. They seized several documents related to human trafficking.

At the same time, they also arrested Nhap in Nghe An.

Both Nhap and Chinh face charges of "human trafficking."

The Nghe An Province police have arrested and questioned 25 individuals related to the crime this year.

Investigators have collaborated with other agencies to verify and rescue 30 victims from the Golden Triangle and bring them back to Vietnam.

On Aug. 2 police in Ha Tinh Province near Nghe An raided a building with over 20 floors in Laos following a joint operation with Lao authorities. They arrested 155 Vietnamese men and women suspected of running or joining a ring to trick people in need of jobs to send them to Laos, where they were forced to work for online scammers.

The Golden Triangle encompasses parts of northern Thailand, western Laos, and eastern Myanmar, and is mountainous and remote, which has historically made it difficult for governments to exert control.

It is notorious for its historical and ongoing involvement in the production and trafficking of opium and heroin.

*The victim's name has been changed.


Source: Vietnamese man escapes from Golden Triangle scam gang, spends days on Mekong River - VnExpress International
 
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