Biometrics Wow! Immigration and media report nine cases where system came up trumps

A vinyl board at immigration proclaimed that the 2 billion baht biometrics system was wonderful. 

Naew Na repeated the claim in their headline after nine people were arrested with fake passports and visa stamps at Suvarnabhumi airport through November. 

Several of the cases showed that the fake documents were not picked up on in several other countries including Europe, notes Thaivisa. 

But they were spotted in Thailand. 

Here are the cases all of which happened at Bangkok’s main airport:

1. On November 5th a Mexican man was found to be travelling on a group tour with 11 others. He had already travelled from Mexico via Paris then Barcelona and was planning on a five day trip to Thailand. His passport photo was only a 20% match to his face. He admitted using someone else’s and was arrested. 

2. On November 7th a Chinese man whose face only had a 20% match to his passport picture was stopped after arriving from Morocco where he worked. He admitted using a relative’s passport and was arrested.

3. A man of unknown real name and nationality was arrested while checking in at counter B10 for the British Airways flight to London on November 13th. He was due to transit to Madrid and was found to be in possession of a fake Israeli passport. 

4. On the 22nd a Bangladeshi man was found to be travelling on a fake Canadian passport while in transit from China. He said he had bought the fake from a Pakistani man called Mohamed for the equivalent in Bangladeshi money of 426,000 baht. 

5/6. On the 22nd two Moroccans were stopped on their way to work in Spain with fake visas. They were about to board Qatar Airways on Canadian passports. They said relatives in Spain had organised the fake stamps so they could work in the country. They paid 133,000 baht equivalent. 

7. A Taiwanese national was stopped with a fake passport on his way to Jakarta, Indonesia on the 24th.

8. A Chinese man was stopped with a fake Chinese passport on the 26th.

9. On the 27th a man of unknown name and nationality was stopped with a fake Philippines passport. He had travelled to Thailand from Brazil via Ethiopia. 

Thai Visa / Naew Na

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