OREANDA-NEWS A Russian citizen has been detained by police in Phuket, Thailand, on suspicion of extortion and unlawful imprisonment, the Bangkok Post newspaper writes.

"Russian Andrey Veselov was detained by the police on Wednesday. Major General Sarany Chamnarat, deputy head of the police department for the eighth region of Thailand (south of the country, including Phuket), conducted the interrogation of a Russian citizen suspected of extortion and unlawful imprisonment of another Russian last Sunday, together with the investigation team," the report says.

According to the newspaper, the Russian is accused of extorting money from the victim, another Russian citizen, along with his alleged accomplice, who was also a Russian citizen, on Sunday by illegally holding him in a hotel room.

According to the police officers leading the case, on Sunday, a man unknown to the victim arrived at the hotel, tied him up in a hotel room, taped his mouth shut and called Veselov, who, according to the investigation, demanded that the victim return to him 120 thousand dollars, which he allegedly owed him as a result of joint operations with cryptocurrency in Russia.

The victim, according to the newspaper, refused to obey, and then the man who tied him up stole about 7 thousand dollars in hundred-dollar bills from his suitcase and disappeared. The suspect was later identified from surveillance footage, but he managed to leave Thailand. Now, according to the newspaper, he has been declared internationally wanted by the Thai police through Interpol.