Three Vietnamese men, with alleged links to a passport-forging gang that caters to those wishing to travel to the United Kingdom, and their Thai male accomplice were arrested in Bangkok at the weekend, Immigration Bureau chief Pol Lt-General Surachet Hakpal told a press conference on Tuesday.
Thirty-year-old Dang Trien Trung (not official spelling) has been charged with using a forged South Korean passport, while his two compatriots – Pham Wan Houng, 28, and 22-year-old Le Viet Lian (also not official spellings) – and Thai accomplice Wichit Art-kaew, 36, have been charged with forging visa stamps in passports for other persons’ use, Surachet said.
The three Vietnamese were arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport on Saturday, and subsequent searches at several related locations yielded more than 20 forged passports – most of which were “reported stolen” passports that carried doctored information to fit each customer’s personal details – and some fake visa stamps.
At a location in the Khao San Road area, police arrested Wichit as the gang’s alleged accomplice in selling the passports, and seized Bt56,000 in ill-gotten cash, the Immigration Bureau chief added.
