Pakistani man arrested over forging passports, visa stamps in Bangkok

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Pakistani man arrested over forging passports, visa stamps in Bangkok

By The Nation

 

 

A Pakistani man has been arrested in Bangkok on charges of making and selling forged passports and Thailand visa stamps to various client groups, including supporters of the terrorist organisation ISIS.

 

Mohamed Ikbal was arrested at his condominium room on Kalapapruek road in Bangkok’s Phasi Charoen district on January 14, said Immigration Police Bureau commissioner Pol Lt-General Sutthipong Wongpin at a press confererence on Friday morning.

 

 

Sutthipong said the bureau had learned that Ikbal was about to deliver passports to his clients, so they staked out the condominium entrance and arrested him as he left the building.

 

Police found one fake Indian passport and three fake Singapore passports on him. The passports also had fake Canadian visa stamps on their pages.

 

Ikbal admitted that he made the passports to sell for about Bt7,000 to Bt8,000 each, said Sutthipong.

 

 

Police searched his room and found a computer, a printer, and other tools for forging passports.

 

Sutthipong alleged that Ikbal has been making and selling forged passports to various groups for over 10 years. Thai and international security groups have been monitoring him for six months.

 

Sutthipong said Ikbal made the fake passports from scratch, instead of altering real ones. He is an expert in making French and Italian passports, said Suttipong.

 

Ikbal received orders via email from multiple client groups, including ISIS supporters, Sutthipong added.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30336647

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-01-19

[sanemax]

Sounds like the guy who used to spam TV selling those kind of things

[USPatriot]

Now he is going to ne a pakafanie in jail

[DoctorG]

Good job in nabbing this guy but it would have been nice to have been able to grab the intended recipients as well. Maybe they deemed it too risky to do the bigger operation, and possibly lose the passports as well. I don't know; I wasn't there.

[Emster23]

" Ikbal received orders via email from multiple client groups, including ISIS supporters "

Not to defend the guy, but got me wondering about that "6 degrees of separation" theory (has there been any proof, or is it like butterfly effect?). Maybe all of us could be "linked to ISIS" if just followed the right threads...

[ebean001]

Folks, we may see forging passports have a not so large penalty but if we can find out who he is making this passports for then. either

 

1. small penalty because he is just trying to get good friends here from a tortuous situation in their country.

2. large penalty because really bad people with really bad intentions were trying to get into Thailand/elsewhere.

3. even the death penalty for a huge terrorist attack being planned 

[Jai Dee]

One troll post has been removed from this thread.

[Suradit69]

1 hour ago, DoctorG said:

Good job in nabbing this guy but it would have been nice to have been able to grab the intended recipients as well.

Depends on whether the guy is more frightened by the police or the "recipients." He may or may not be eager to tell the police who his clients were and where they can be found if it would mean a shorter sentence or other penalties for him. Since the police were aware of what he was doing they probably have a good idea of who some of his clients are.

[watcharacters]

3 minutes ago, Suradit69 said:

Depends on whether the guy is more frightened by the police or the "recipients." He may or may not be eager to tell the police who his clients were and where they can be found if it would mean a shorter sentence or other penalties for him. Since the police were aware of what he was doing they probably have a good idea of who some of his clients are.

 

 

 

 

Don't the Thai police have persuasive means  of extracting information from suspects?

 

 

 

 

[jorgenweihrauch]

out of the country after jail - and never allow him to come back 

[trianglechoke]

more proof that islam inspires only happiness

[chrisinth]

I don't know what the going price is for a forged passport is in today's black market, but 7,000 to 8,000 baht doesn't sound right.

 

Perhaps a typo and it should read USD? This apparently isn't a case of altering but making from scratch.

[RichardColeman]

Not a question of 'if' one day a huge bomb will be planted by this stone age religion in Pattaya of BKK aimed at westerners, it's a question of when. Anyone with any links to any of these Islamist groups should face the death penalty or life - meaning life - imprisonment

[Capt Rob]

16 minutes ago, jorgenweihrauch said:

out of the country after jail - and never allow him to come back 

Imagine not a problem for this gent - a new passport? No problem

 

[peterb17]

I’m mystified- I thought it was not so easy to fake a passport- there are security measures to prevent you just scanning and printing- the paper itself cannot be easy to obtain . Then these days you have the biometric chip. 

Are some passports lacking in these sorts of security measures? 

Or is that immigration simply does not have the time or expertise to check the validity.

At some stage maybe the Kingdom will move on from rubber stamps ? But those whole page sticky visas do rapidly take up your passport pages. 

[German farang]

7 minutes ago, chrisinth said:

I don't know what the going price is for a forged passport is in today's black market, but 7,000 to 8,000 baht doesn't sound right.

 

Perhaps a typo and it should read USD? This apparently isn't a case of altering but making from scratch.

Nah, a time ago I've done some investigations about that & learned that here in bkk this prices in thb is real. I suggest btw NOT to try any search or purchase coz such human trash deserves to be jailed for very long time!

[trianglechoke]

I wonder what religion called Islam inspired him

[SupermarineS6B]

Been going on for years, all the passports for the 9/11 lot came from a little shop in Lumpini then onto Malaysia...... I believe the guy's still in business.......

[Old Croc]

23 minutes ago, peterb17 said:

I’m mystified- I thought it was not so easy to fake a passport- there are security measures to prevent you just scanning and printing- the paper itself cannot be easy to obtain . Then these days you have the biometric chip. 

Are some passports lacking in these sorts of security measures? 

Or is that immigration simply does not have the time or expertise to check the validity.

At some stage maybe the Kingdom will move on from rubber stamps ? But those whole page sticky visas do rapidly take up your passport pages. 

The Singapore passport is very popular for forgers as it is the second best in the world for visa free access to other countries and holders are generally accepted without close scrutiny.. They do however, have biometric versions and special security features. A forged document wouldn't pass inspection at most modern airports and countries.

[Just Weird]

3 hours ago, DoctorG said:

Good job in nabbing this guy but it would have been nice to have been able to grab the intended recipients as well. Maybe they deemed it too risky to do the bigger operation, and possibly lose the passports as well. I don't know; I wasn't there.

Would it be illegal to possess a non-genuine passport (or have one delivered) if it was not actually being used as a real one? 

Edited January 20, 2018 by Just Weird

[peterrabbit]

3 hours ago, DoctorG said:

Good job in nabbing this guy but it would have been nice to have been able to grab the intended recipients as well. Maybe they deemed it too risky to do the bigger operation, and possibly lose the passports as well. I don't know; I wasn't there.

They are going to have photos of their faces and their fake names in the new passports they seized.

[Just Weird]

48 minutes ago, peterb17 said:

 

At some stage maybe the Kingdom will move on from rubber stamps ? But those whole page sticky visas do rapidly take up your passport pages. 

You make it sound as though no other countries use rubber stamps!

[Just Weird]

37 minutes ago, SupermarineS6B said:

Been going on for years, all the passports for the 9/11 lot came from a little shop in Lumpini then onto Malaysia...... I believe the guy's still in business.......

Bearing in mind that all but one of the terrorists' passports were destroyed, where did you get that gem of information from and how do you know as much about it as you claim?

Edited January 20, 2018 by Just Weird

[user4654364]

1 hour ago, RichardColeman said:

Not a question of 'if' one day a huge bomb will be planted by this stone age religion in Pattaya of BKK aimed at westerners, it's a question of when. Anyone with any links to any of these Islamist groups should face the death penalty or life - meaning life - imprisonment

I've thought the same thing for a long time. My guess would probably be Soi 6 or Walking Street. I don't go anywhere near Walking St as it is a cess pit but I have a mate with a bar in Soi 6 so I drink there a bit and it's always in the back of my mind.

[jobwolf]

21 hours ago, sanemax said:

Sounds like the guy who used to spam TV selling those kind of things

He must also be braindead to make them for this kind of money. The passports look good but this seems to be all he knows. What a waste of talent.

 

[tryasimight]

41 minutes ago, sgoodes said:

I've thought the same thing for a long time. My guess would probably be Soi 6 or Walking Street. I don't go anywhere near Walking St as it is a cess pit but I have a mate with a bar in Soi 6 so I drink there a bit and it's always in the back of my mind.

Nana plaza for a suicide bomber.  Practically enclosed on all four sides and three storeys high.  The carnage would horrific in such an environment. 

[PETERTHEEATER]

It's uncanny. He disguised himself as a Thai policeman. It's so realistic it had me fooled!

[watcharacters]

2 hours ago, chrisinth said:

I don't know what the going price is for a forged passport is in today's black market, but 7,000 to 8,000 baht doesn't sound right.

 

Perhaps a typo and it should read USD? This apparently isn't a case of altering but making from scratch.

 

 

 

I'd think that'd involve a bit of skill to manage a decent forgery..

 

 

 

 

[elektrified]

2 hours ago, chrisinth said:

I don't know what the going price is for a forged passport is in today's black market, but 7,000 to 8,000 baht doesn't sound right.

 

Perhaps a typo and it should read USD? This apparently isn't a case of altering but making from scratch.

I agree. The Iranian they caught last year "the Doctor" who was a famous forger of passports had something like 30 million Baht in  various banks. He was charging a lot more than 7-8K for a passport.    

[watcharacters]

1 hour ago, sgoodes said:

I've thought the same thing for a long time. My guess would probably be Soi 6 or Walking Street. I don't go anywhere near Walking St as it is a cess pit but I have a mate with a bar in Soi 6 so I drink there a bit and it's always in the back of my mind.

 

 

I very  rarely visit either location you mention but I do find humor in your comparison of the two.