Immigration tackles fake passports

PHUKET TOWN: A hundred officers from Phuket and neighboring provinces gathered over the weekend at the Pearl Hotel, on Montri Rd, for a training seminar on how to identify fake passports and visas. Pol Maj Gen Krerkphong Pukprayura, Commander General Staff Division of the Immigration Bureau, chaired the seminar, which is part of a nationwide program to crack down on the number of illegal immigrants in Thailand. Maj Gen Krerkphong explained that the training seminars are being held because the number of fake passports confiscated so far this year is double that for the same period last year. “The problem was concentrated around Bangkok, but now all tourist areas have problems with passports, especially stolen passports that have been modified,” he added. In particular, he identified China and the Middle East as the sources of most fake passports in Thailand. To add to the program’s effectiveness, three experts in passport control will speak at the nationwide series of training seminars. They are Georges Menard, First Secretary (Immigration) of the Canadian Embassy, Juan Antonio Lustres Lampon, Attaché to Spain’s Ministry of Interior and Head of Security at the Spanish Embassy in Thailand, and Denise Broderick, Second Secretary, Airline Liaison Officer, British Embassy.