Pattaya police missed a chance to capture alleged Russian mafia kingpin Alexander Matusov more than a year ago, when the high-profile fugitive filed a robbery complaint against a transgender prostitute.
Mr Matusov, who was arrested last Monday on multiple murder charges, went to police in December 2012 after being drugged and robbed of what he claimed was more than 1.5 million baht by the prostitute, who he picked up on Jomtien beach.
The Russian fugitive supplied his real name to investigators after being found nearly-naked and unconscious at his home after the robbery. But police at the time failed to link Mr Matusov to his storied criminal past, despite him being on an Interpol most-wanted list since 2009.
Pattaya police told Bangkok Post Sunday it is not standard practice to run checks on victims of crime, and their database systems are not designed to automatically check for international arrest warrants. Despite Mr Matusov’s full name also being printed in local media reports, no one clued on to his criminal past during the one-month robbery investigation.
Pol Col Chaiyot Varakjunkiat, superintendent of Chon Buri immigration police, confirmed Mr Matusov’s name had appeared in the local police system several times in recent years.
“But our system has never detected his name as being a most-wanted criminal before,” he said, adding that the Interpol database is not linked with the local police system.
Mr Matusov was finally arrested last Monday, drunk and shirtless on a motorcycle which he was riding against the flow of traffic, in front of a supermarket in Chon Buri’s Sattahip district. He is accused of leading the Chelkovo criminal organisation which has been responsible for more than 60 murders as well as other criminal activity in Russia.
After slipping through the police net following the robbery in 2012, it was a recent complaint about a property scam that was to prove the Russian’s downfall.
Pol Col Chaiyot said another Russian national went to police about two weeks ago, claiming he had paid a 500,000-baht deposit to purchase a condominium owned by the alleged mafia boss. The complainant told police he transferred the money, but Mr Matusov backed out and kept the cash.
When police took up the investigation, they soon discovered Mr Matusov’s record. Undercover officers followed him for a week, before receiving confirmation from the Russian embassy and Interpol that they had found the right man.
Mr Matusov entered Thailand in 2009 using a fake Armenian passport and has been living in the country on a retirement visa ever since.
He is being held at an immigration detention facility in the Suan Phlu area of Bangkok. It is expected he will be interrogated by Russian Interpol agents tomorrow.