Hundreds of Foreigners Rounded Up in “X-Ray Outlaw Foreigner” Sweep

 

BANGKOK – Pol Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn, commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, has told a press briefing that a total of 375 people were arrested for immigration offences in the latest “Outlaw Foreigners” raids, which targeted 239 locations across the country early Friday morning.

Officers involved in the raids also arrested 115 Thais for separate offences, Pol Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn, commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, said during a media briefing.

Of the 490 foreign and Thai suspects, 21 (four each from India, Laos, and Myanmar, two each from Germany, Sweden and Vietnam and one each from the USA, Russia and Italy) were charged with overstaying their visas.

Another 249 foreigners ( 113 from Myanmar, 71 from Laos, 64 from Cambodia and one from Pakistan) were charged with illegal entry.

The remaining 220 (115 Thais, 42 from Cambodia, 33 from Myanmar, 16 from China, 7 from Laos, 2 each from India and Japan, one each from Italy, the USA and England) were charged with other offences, Pol Maj Gen Surachate said.

The raids were the 28th phase of the ongoing crackdown dubbed “ X-Ray Outlaw Foreigner, aimed at sweeping out foreign criminals entering the country to commit crime, such as romance scams, credit card skimming and drug trafficking, and those who overstayed their visas, he said.

Officers from several agencies, including the Patrol and Special Operation Division, the Arinyarat 261 task force, the Narcotics Suppression Bureau’s Sayop Pairee special task force, the Tourist Police Bureau, the Immigration Bureau and Bang Rak police station were involved in the operations.

The teams targeted 239 locations — 3 language schools, 60 shops, 10 nightspots, 74 hotels and dormitories and 92 other places.

To date, a total of 6,468 people had been arrested during raids at 6,252 locations across the country, Pol Lt Gen Surachate said.

By Wassayos Ngamkham