Irish man jailed for 218 months over forged passport offences
Hua Hin Provincial Court has sentenced a fugitive Irishman to 218 months in prison over forged passport offences, police said yesterday, March 3, after investigators linked him to a false identity used to travel in and out of Thailand.
Immigration police in Surat Thani said the court sentenced Paul Noel Casey to 218 months in prison, about 18 years, for offences relating to a fake passport and immigration law violations.
Investigators in Surat Thani and Prachuap Khiri Khan began looking into the case after receiving information from foreign media and an Irish community group in Koh Phangan.
The tip pointed to a man resembling a major drug trafficking suspect wanted in Australia.
After coordinating with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and checking fingerprints through a biometric system, police said the suspect was identified as Paul Noel Casey, an Irish citizen.
Casey had reportedly used the identity of Alan Murray, who died in 2016, to obtain a passport issued by an embassy in 2014 using his own photograph.
Police said Casey first entered Thailand in 2015 and stayed around Koh Phangan, using the false identity to travel in and out of the country 28 times.
Australian records cited by police allege Casey faced drug and money laundering charges in 2013 and later failed to appear in court.
He was traced to Koh Phangan before being arrested at a hotel in Hua Hin, Prachuap Khiri Khan, on August 11, 2024. Fingerprint data provided through AFP coordination matched records in a criminal database, reported Matichon.
Casey was charged with overstaying 446 days and with giving false information to an official. After nearly two years of court proceedings, the Hua Hin court issued its latest ruling on January 13, 2026, imposing a 218-month prison term for the forged passport offences.
Police added that once Casey completes his sentence in Thailand, Australia is expected to coordinate extradition to pursue the alleged drug and money laundering case there.
Elsewhere, two Syrian men were arrested for attempting to enter Thailand with forged passports. According to officials, the passports were riddled with red flags.
Officers reported missing UV security features as well as unusual binding and perforations. A search later uncovered the travellers’ Syrian passports concealed in their belongings.
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