Bangkok, April 11 -- Thai authorities have intensified a crackdown on online scam and gambling networks, arresting a suspected ringleader and freezing assets worth billions of THB linked to transnational criminal activities.

The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), through its Special Operations Division, joined the Immigration Bureau to arrest a 32-year-old suspect at a luxury pool villa in Soi Jomtien 14 in Pattaya's Bang Lamung district, Chonburi province in eastern Thailand.

Police said he was classed as a prohibited person under Section 12(7) of Thailand's Immigration Act 1979, which covers people believed to threaten society, public peace, public safety or national security, as well as those wanted by foreign authorities, The Natio...