Foreign felons fall: Immigration Bureau’s busts net 25 international suspects in Thailand’s crime crackdown

Immigration Bureau officers yesterday announced a number of successful operations against foreign criminals in Thailand. The Immigration Bureau managed to arrest 25 foreign suspects in five major cases.

The first case was the arrest of a 31 year old Swiss man named Jonathan who managed to evade a drug charge in Switzerland and sought refuge in Thailand. The authorities apprehended him at a Bangkok airport, believed to be Suvarnabhumi, when he was attempting to flee to Vietnam.

The Embassy of Switzerland in Thailand revealed that Jonathan had bought 2,000 methamphetamine tablets from an African supplier in Thailand. He then proceeded to sell the illicit substances to customers residing in Zurich.

The second suspect is a 45 year old Swedish man named Stephan, who was on arrest warrants issued by Swedish Court, European Union, and Interpol. Stephan and his accomplices had reportedly committed copyright infringement by recording and distributing television programs on an online platform without permission.

The immigration police checked Stephan’s documents and discovered that he was staying in Thailand legally under a valid visa. Officers then revoked his visa and successfully apprehended him at a residence in Chon Buri province.

The third case involved the arrest of five South Korean men in Pattaya, following a complaint filed by residents regarding the operation of a travel agency in Thailand. They rented a pool villa accommodation in the province and offered tour packages to South Korean tourists.

The officers investigated the complaint and raided the accommodation. The leader of the group, Kim, and his four employees, Beck, Choi, Chung, and Sean, were arrested at the house.

The South Korean suspects confessed that they sold the travel packages via a website. The package included airport transfers, accommodation, restaurants, and massage parlours owned by South Korean investors.

In the fourth case, the immigration police apprehended a Vietnamese person with a fake passport which eventually led officers to a group of Vietnamese people who operated an online gambling website in Samut Prakarn province near Bangkok.

Officers conducted a raid on the premises of the online gambling premises in Samut Prakarn, resulting in the arrest of 17 Vietnamese nationals who worked as administrators for the illicit website. Police authorities revealed that the gambling website itself was owned by a Chinese investor, with the Vietnamese individuals serving as mere employees.

During the raid, officers not only confiscated equipment utilised for the operation of the illegal websites but also seized a counterfeit rubber stamp bearing the logo of the Immigration Bureau, which the gang had employed to create fake passports. Additionally, a cache of illicit cigarettes was seized due to suspected tax avoidance.

Lastly, the fifth case involved the apprehension of a Chinese man, 41 year old Chang, who overstayed his visa in Thailand for over five years. The arrest was made at an accommodation in the Bang Lamung district of Chon Buri.