6 Chinese citizens arrested for working in Chon Buri without permits

Thai Police yesterday arrested six Chinese nationals for working in a factory in Chon Buri province without work permits.

The Superintendent of the Chon Buri Provincial Immigration Bureau, Parinya Klinkaesorn, told KhaoSod that the Deputy Commissioner of the Royal Thai Police (RTP), Surachate “Big Joke” Harparn, ordered the Immigration Bureau to crack down on illegal businesses operated by foreigners.

As a result, the team worked together with a police spy to investigate cases across the province. Following the investigation, six Chinese people were found working illegally at Lihua Environmental Technology in the Baan Bueng district of Chon Buri. The company produces paper boxes for mobile phones, security cameras, electric appliances, and other products.

The authorities raided the factory yesterday, April 26, but the company would not open the front door for the officers which allowed the factory’s Thai workers to help the illegal Chinese workers to escape.

According to the police report, the Chinese suspects jumped over the wall to escape but police officers chased after them and managed to arrest the whole group. The suspects were identified as 40 year old man Li Huajun, 36 year old man Chen Jinyu, 41 year old man Xi Xiaolong, 41 year old man Yan Yuju, 35 year old man Sun Gwang, and 38 year old woman Jang Na.

The Chinese group contained five men and one woman working in a management position. They entered the country with tourist visas and did not have work permits.

They were charged with violating Section 51 of the Alien Working Act by working without permission. The penalty will be imprisonment of up to five years, a fine of 2,000 to 100,000 baht, or both. If the illegal workers agree to leave the country within 20 days, they will be subjected to a fine, only.

Yesterday, the Consumer Protection Police Division (CPPD) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported that they arrested a Chinese doctor, 45 year old doctor, Lijun Cheung, after he sold herbal medicine to Thai people without permission. Although Dr Cheung has a license in traditional Chinese medicine in Thailand, his herbal medicine recipe was not registered with the FDA.

Two days prior, six other Chinese nationals were arrested after a victim filed a complaint to the police that the group had sold him fake gold worth 500,000 baht. The gang denied the accusation but admitted they had fake gold in their possession and ordered them from their home province Jiangxi in China.