Bangkok raid nets illegal workers, Bt12m in contraband

[webfact]

Bangkok raid nets illegal workers, Bt12m in contraband

By The Nation

 

 

More than 50 policemen and customs officials raided Sua Pa Plaza in Bangkok’s Pom Prab district early Sunday in response to a tip-off that illegal immigrants were working there amid possible violations of laws protecting intellectual property rights.
 

The raid uncovered 22 allegedly illegal immigrants – seven Chinese, 12 Cambodians, two Myanmar nationals and one person described as stateless. 

 

Immigration Bureau acting chief Pol Maj General Surachate Hakparn led the raid, which also uncovered 60,000 smuggled or contraband phones and accessories together worth more than Bt12 million.

 

“Another suspect, Ekawit Lakpetch, is a Thai, and he has identified himself as the owner of one of the shops,” Surachate said. 

 

He said Ekawit’s shop was full of items violating laws on trademark, customs and other areas. 

 

Ekawit and Zheng Yihong, a Chinese national found working at the shop, face at least six charges, he said. Since violations of intellectual property rights are also crimes under anti-money laundering statutes, their assets could also be seized. 

 

Illegal workers found working at 17 other shops at Sua Pa Plaza face charges of working without permits and their employers will be summoned to face charges too.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30357837

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-11-05

[YetAnother]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

tip-off that illegal immigrants were working there amid possible violations of laws protecting intellectual property rights.

in some ways the police here have the easiest job, there seems more illegality than legality

[George Bowman]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

The raid uncovered 22 allegedly illegal immigrants – seven Chinese, 12 Cambodians, two Myanmar nationals and one person described as stateless. 

About a year ago, I was invited to spend a weekend in Bangkok with my university daughter.  As a loving father, I reluctantly agreed even though the Big Mango is not my cup of tea.  My daughter was shopping for a specific type of fabric to be used in an art project so we began our journey. The BTS has greatly expanded throughout the years and I soon found myself lost in the endless maze of shopping malls. We walked and walked.

 

I noticed many and even talked to illegal immigrants over that weekend and it was fantastic.  Here is why.

 

My daughter does not look Thai so when we travel together many people assume that we are tourists and can only speak English. As we walked and shopped I noticed that at many of the fabric stalls the conversation was in English. At more than one stop, the vendor could not even speak Thai. One lady from Nepal said she knew enough Thai to pay B7,000 a month for rent which she had done for the last three years. I had many guys trying to sell me a hat or a belt and none of them were Thai. My daughter said that it was pretty common in most shopping centers. I had not wandered around Bangkok for years and was rather amazed at the number of illegal immigrants working.

 

We ate Mexican food and the waiter spoke English and even understood what was on the menu.  

 

It has been reported that illegal immigrants take away jobs from the Thais. However, if one of the job requirements is speaking English, then they have not taken a job away from a Thai, but merely filled an open position.

 

We never found the correct fabric...

 

 

Edited November 5, 2018 by missoura

[grego49]

Recently in Pattaya the guys selling fake watches and sun glasses were definitely not thai,my guess was they were indian,

[finnishmen]

internet working NOT have illegal work and NO need work permit in thailand. law you not have working in thailand. and what thai police need know were you work in internety nothing. go to hell and learn first normal human 

 

Edited November 5, 2018 by finnishmen

[RichardColeman]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

early Sunday in response to a tip-off

I'm guessing that's a thai losing business