Thai police arrested an Iranian man who allegedly ran a fake passport business, and two more suspected human traffickers in Southern Thailand last week suspected in involvement in the smuggling of 97 ethnic Rohingya.
The arrests demonstrate the broad-based and stepped up enforcement campaign that Thai authorities have been waging against human trafficking syndicates since the current administration came to power in May 2014. Authorities in neighboring Laos said last week that Thailand returned 157 of their citizens who were trafficking victims, up from 103 in 2013. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has said ending human trafficking in Thailand is a national priority.
Stolen and forged passports are one of the tools traffickers use in moving people illegally across borders. Last Wednesday, agents from the Department of Special Investigations (DSI) arrested a 45-year-old Iranian who they said was part of a criminal organization selling fake passports in Thailand for more than 20 years.
Arrested in Chon Buri's Tambon Nang Prue, police charged him with stealing, receiving stolen properties, making fake documents, passports and visa stamps or stickers. DSI chief Suwana Suwanjuta said the Iranian is a key man in the syndicate that purchased stolen passports in many countries and altering them in Thailand for customers. Suwana said police also obtained information about some of the customers.
Officers seized 1,053 passports from more than 60 countries. DSI has been on the trail of fake passport-making syndicates for a long time and tracked down many Iranian groups involved in facilitating human trafficking from the Middle East via Thailand to Europe, North America and Australia, Suwana said.
The DSI is seeking the extradition of another Iranian suspect who fled to Malaysia. Thai courts have sentenced nine Iranians in recent years for stealing and forging passports in Thailand. All have received sentences of at least 10 years.
Also last week, police in southern Thailand announced the arrests of two more Thai suspects in a case involving the smuggling of 97 ethnic Rohingya and seized over a hundred bank accounts they held with nearly $1 million in transactions.
The Rohingya were rescued and other suspects taken into custody in early January when police in the northeastern Thailand discovered them in several trucks they stopped at a checkpoint. The Rohingya, most of who come from Myanmar or Bangladesh, were being smuggled to Malaysia.
