Sightseers sans stamps: Syrian, Egyptian guests nabbed for visa overstay in Bangkok hotel

Immigration police arrested a Syrian man and an Egyptian woman at a hotel in Sukhumvit Soi 4 in Bangkok for overstaying their visas. The Syrian man was discovered to have committed several prior offences.

Immigration Bureau officers announced news of three successful operations at a press conference yesterday, January 31. The three cases included the arrest of a British man who sexually assaulted an underage girl, a crackdown on the illegal smuggling of Bangladeshi nationals, and the arrest of overstaying Egyptian and Syrian nationals.

Regarding the overstay case, immigration police reported receiving a tip-off regarding suspicious foreigners residing at a hotel in Sukhumvit Soi 4, located in the Khlong Toei district of Bangkok. The informant noted that the foreigners appeared to be of Arab descent, had prolonged stays at the hotel, and did not exhibit typical tourist behaviour.

Officers maintained surveillance of the premises until they observed a suspicious foreign woman entering the hotel. Subsequently, they requested the hotel owner to search the woman’s room. Upon opening the door and encountering the officers, the woman attempted to flee but was promptly apprehended.

The officers detained the woman and requested her passport; however, she failed to produce any documentation. Consequently, the officers conducted a search of her room, discovering parcel boxes indicating her name to be Sabi.

According to immigration records, Sabi overstayed her visa by 1,526 days, over four years.

Another group of officers outside the hotel noticed another suspicious foreign man watching the operation. Officers asked to see his passport and discovered that the man was a Syrian national named Adnan. He overstayed his visa by 2,451 days, almost seven years.

Apart from overstay, officers discovered a long list of crimes under Adnan’s name. He was arrested for human trafficking in 2017 after pimping out a Moroccan woman. In 2020 and 2021 he was arrested for theft, and in 2021 he was arrested for physical assault. Most of the crimes were committed in the Nana and Sukhumvit areas.

Further investigation into the two foreigners led the police to a Thai woman. Officers discovered the history of contact between the three people and would investigate their relationship or any crimes they may have committed together.