Immigration police have arrested 6 foreign nationals, implicated in 3 separate cases, just over the past week, according to a Bangkok Post report. Pantana Nuchanart, deputy commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, confirmed that four Pakistani nationals, one Italian, and one Russian national have been arrested.
In the first case, officers were acting on a tip-off that a number of Pakistani men were providing foreigners with fake visas for the Schengen Area. The Schengen Area is made up of 27 European countries that have abolished passports and other border controls for travel between member states.
The Bangkok Post reports that Thai immigration police used a foreign undercover agent to entrap the group. An Indian man named only as Rohit contacted them to ask for a Schengen visa, handing over his passport and a completed visa application form. When the passport was returned to him, it contained a Schengen visa stamp, for which the undercover agent paid around 265,000 baht.
Police then took the passport to the Italian embassy, where it was confirmed the visa was fake. Officers subsequently conducted a raid on an apartment in the Bang Kapi district of the capital, arresting 4 Pakistani nationals. They have been named as 31-year-old Ammad Hussain, 49-year-old Muhammade Yaseen, 33-year-old Shakeel Liaqat, and 28-year-old Irfan Hussain.
PHOTO: Cops Magazine
In the second case, an Italian man, named as 63-year-old Adriano Corrado, was arrested at a condo in the Bang Lamung district of Chon Buri. In that case, officers were responding to a request from Interpol in Rome, who informed them that Corrado was wanted under a Red Notice for robbery in Italy.
According to the report, the Italian and a number of accomplices had raided the home of an elderly couple, a disabled woman, and a blind man, robbing them of 28,000 Euros, jewellery, and stealing from their bank accounts. The Italian then fled to Thailand, arriving in the kingdom on February 8, 2020. He managed to obtain a visa that allowed him to remain until January 30, 2023.
The third case involves a 32-year-old Russian suspect, named as Nikolai Shtanko. He was detained by immigration officers at a border checkpoint in the southern province of Satun, while attempting to leave for Malaysia.
Shtanko had overstayed his visa and a subsequent check of the Immigration Bureau database showed that he was wanted under an Interpol Red Notice.
It’s understood that between October 2008 and July 2023, the Russian belonged to a criminal gang involved in illegal electronic money transactions in Moscow. He has been charged with overstaying his visa and will be deported.
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
