Bangkok police swept through four luxury housing estates on October 10 and arrested 11 foreign suspects. Officers also seized assets worth more than 6 billion baht, about 179 million US dollars. Everyone taken in faces the same accusation: using Thai nominees, meaning Thai citizens acting as fronts, to buy houses and land. Thai law bars foreigners from owning land outright, so nominee deals occupy a legal grey zone that authorities have decided to shut down. The raids were the eighth phase of a wider crackdown on illegal foreign property ownership. Judging by the value of the assets seized, this stands among the heaviest operations of the campaign so far.