UPDATE: Phuket included in Thailand’s foreign nominee-business crackdown
Thailand’s Koh Samui operation has opened 60 legal cases involving 88 suspects, while reports put the number of suspected nominee companies at 59, 60 or 61.
Phuket is among the major tourism provinces targeted by Thailand’s crackdown on foreign-linked businesses suspected of using Thai nominees to hold property and other assets. The Koh Samui operation has opened 60 legal cases involving 88 suspects.
Publisher reports differ over the number of companies involved in the same operation. Nation Thailand reported 59 suspected companies linked to 37 plots of land and buildings valued at about B1.2 billion. The Phuket Express reported 61 suspect companies linked to nominee structures, controlling 42 land plots and properties covering more than 33 rai and valued at about B1.5 billion. Thaiger reported in its headline that the raid uncovered 60 illegal nominee firms. The supplied reports do not reconcile these three company totals, and the 60 firms reported by Thaiger are separate from the 60 legal cases.
Both Nation Thailand and The Phuket Express gave the same breakdown of the 88 suspects: 26 Thai nationals and 62 foreigners. The investigation examined 12,906 registered companies on Koh Samui. Authorities identified 8,254 with foreign shareholders and 875 with characteristics they considered potential indicators of nominee arrangements.
More than 300 police and government officials took part in the operation. Nation Thailand dated it to 15 August 2026, while The Phuket Express reported that the operation, led by Deputy National Police Chief Pol Gen Samran Nualma, took place on Friday, 14 August 2026.
Koh Samui Provincial Court issued 37 search warrants. Nation Thailand reported that police arrested 14 foreign nationals under warrants, including four Chinese and four British citizens. The Phuket Express reported 27 suspect arrests and 62 arrest warrants for foreign suspects, and said officers seized documents, computers, mobile phones and electronic data. The reports do not establish whether the 27 arrests included the 14 foreign nationals or whether the figures refer to different stages or categories, so the totals are presented separately.
The Phuket Express said the seized material would help officers trace financial flows and expand the investigation domestically and internationally. The campaign is being conducted in major tourism provinces including Surat Thani, Phuket, Krabi, Phang Nga, Chon Buri and Prachuap Khiri Khan. Authorities said it is intended to bring foreign investment and business activity into compliance with Thai law.
Five business networks examined on Koh Samui were allegedly linked to offences including unlicensed operations, property development, fraudulent visa applications and tax avoidance.
