Indian fugitive arrested in northeast Thailand

An Indian man wanted by Thai police for five months was arrested at a resort in Maha Sarakham province in northeast Thailand on Sunday.

Officers from Wapi Pathum Police Station and Maha Sarakham Immigration held a press conference yesterday to announce the joint arrest of 28 year old Ajit Yadav of Indian nationality. Police apprehended him at a resort in Nong Saeng subdistrict under an arrest warrant from Maha Sarakham Provincial Court dated November 30, 2022.

The warrant detailed that Ajit was wanted under suspicion of, “theft at night, armed robbery, jointly committing an offence with another person, using force to injure others without causing physical or mental harm,” reported SiamRath.

Police said that Ajit escaped the arrest warrant by hiding in Bangkok for more than five months. On Sunday at 9am, a spy informed Maha Sarakham Immigration authorities that Ajit had returned to Wapi Pathum district.

Police located Ajit at a resort where he admitted to being the fugitive identified in the arrest warrant. Police detained and took him to Wapi Pathum Police Station for questioning.

An investigation into Ajit’s history revealed that he entered Thailand as a tourist on September 26, 2019. He was permitted to stay in the kingdom until November 24, 2019, and overstayed his visa by three and a half years.

So, police filed an additional charge against Ajit, “being an alien residing in the kingdom whose permission has expired by 1,273 days.”

Immigration Supervisor of Maha Sarakham province, Pol. Lt. Col. Suphon Sriphak, asked the public to “be the eyes and ears” of immigration officers and “watch out for any aliens (foreigners) displaying undesirable behaviour or who might be a threat to society.”

Any suspicious activity displayed by foreigners in Thailand should be reported to any immigration office in the country, said Pol. Lt. Col. Suphon.

Thailand’s Immigration Bureau (IB) uncovered a substantial 1,272 overstayers in their latest nine-day crackdown from May 4 – 13.

Comparatively, the IB found 785 cases of foreigners overstayers in their previous crackdown which spanned the entirety of October and November 2022.

The IB attributed the shocking spike in foreign overstayers to their improved approach to catching them. The data reflects the IB’s success in streamlining its strategies in tackling the perennial issue of foreigners residing in Thailand illegally.