Authorities Arrest 36 Foreigners in Raids at Over a Hundred Locations Across Thailand

 

BANGKOK – Thailand’s Tourist Police Bureau deputy chief Pol Maj Gen Surachate Hakparn and his team of police, soldiers and immigration officers have detained 36 foreigners after searches were conducted at 104 locations across the Country.

Teams of police, soldiers and officers from several other agencies searched per-selected places in Bangkok and popular tourist spots like Phuket, Pattaya in Chon Buri, Hat Yai in Songkhla, Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai.

They targeted people at 12 international schools, 9 language schools, 27 secondary schools, and 56 other places.

Tourist Police Bureau deputy chief Pol Maj Gen Surachate Hakparn said 36 foreigners and one Thai national were detained.

Six of the suspects (from Switzerland, Russia, Senegal, India, Vietnam and Cote d’Ivoire) were charged with overstaying their visas, 27 (one from Algeria, six from India, 7 from Myanmar, 9 from Laos and 4 from Cambodia), were charged with illegal entry, and the four others (2 from Myanmar and one each from India and Thailand ) were charged with other offences, according to the Tourist Police Bureau’s Facebook page.

Pol Maj Gen Surachate said the raids were the 11th phase of operation X-Ray Outlaw Foreigner, which was intended to sweep out foreign criminals who entered the country to commit crime.

There were at present several sophisticated methods for foreigners to enter the country to avoid arrest overseas. These included getting married to a Thai, and getting a student visa to attend international schools.

The tourist police deputy chief said the immigration law would be enforced against undesirable foreigners. Their visas would be revoked and they would be put on a police blacklist before being deported back to their home country.

X-Ray Outlaw Foreigner involves the Narcotics Suppression Bureau, the Central Investigation Bureau, the Immigration Bureau, the Tourist Police Bureau, the Patrol and Special Operation Division and local police.

To date, 1,161 foreign suspects have been arrested at 3,474 locations across the country.