During a news conference on Thursday, Immigration Bureau deputy commissioner Pol Maj Gen Pantana Nuchanart revealed that six foreign people, including four Pakistanis, one Italian, and one Russian, had been arrested in three different cases over the course of the previous week.
In the first instance, a raid on a flat in Bangkok’s Bang Kapi district’s Khlong Chan neighbourhood resulted in the arrest of four Pakistani men: Ammad Hussain, 31, Muhammade Yaseen, 49, Shakeel Liaqat, 33, and Irfan Hussain, 28.
The raid happened in response to an allegation that some persons from Pakistan had given fictitious visas to visitors wishing to visit the Schengen Area, which is made up of 27 European nations. An undercover immigration police agent named Rohit, who is from India, was dispatched to get in touch with the gang in order to obtain a Schengen visa. The agent signed an application for a Schengen visa and gave the group his passport. He then paid the gang 7,000 Euros (about 267,000 baht) and retrieved the passport stamped with a Schengen visa.
The immigration police brought the passport to the Italian embassy, where they verified the fake visa. This resulted in the four suspects being taken into custody following a raid on an apartment in Soi Lat Phrao 148.
In the second case, 63-year-old Italian Adriano Corrado was taken into custody at a condominium in the Nong Prue neighbourhood of the Bang Lamung district of Chon Buri.
The arrest occurred as a result of a request from the Rome-based Interpol office for the Foreign Affairs Division of the Royal Thai Police to detain and return Mr. Corrado to Italy in order to pursue legal proceedings. The individual was reported to have gone to Thailand and was wanted for robbery under a Red Notice.
Interpol claims that Mr. Corrado and his cronies broke into the home of an old couple, a blind man and a crippled woman, and stole 28,000 Euros (about 1 million baht), along with jewellery, watches, bracelets, and bank accounts. On February 8, 2020, Mr. Corrado came in Thailand and acquired an elderly visa that allowed him to stay until January 30, 2023.
In the third case, 32-year-old Russian national Nikolai Shtanko was stopped by authorities at a border post in Satun province’s Khuan Don district while he was travelling to Malaysia. It was discovered that he had overstayed his visa.
After consulting the Immigration Bureau database, it was discovered that the individual was subject to an Interpol Red Notice warrant.
According to the database, the man belonged to a criminal organisation that conducted unauthorised electronic money transfers in Moscow from October 2008 to July 2023.
Mr. Shtanko was scheduled for repatriation after being accused of overstaying his visa.
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An immigration police officer tells the press about the arrests of four Pakistani men who were members of a Schengen visa forgery gang. (Photo: police) bangkok post
