2 Chinese men arrested at Bangkok airport for fake Canadian passports

[webfact]

 

Officers from the Immigration Bureau arrested two Chinese men at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok for attempting to travel to Taiwan on fake Canadian passports.

 

EVA Air check-in staff reported to the immigration police that two Chinese nationals presented their Canadian passports at the counter for the flights to Taipei in Taiwan. According to the flight schedule, the two were to continue their journey at Taipei Airport on a transit flight to Vancouver, Canada.

 

EVA Air told police that the two Chinese passengers had no history of travelling to Canada and were unable to communicate in English.

Police rushed to catch the two Chinese men, later identified as 48 year old Jian Bo and 49 year old Pin Hua, at Gate E3 before they boarded the flight. They asked to see the Canadian passports and discovered they were fake. Police then checked their luggage and discovered their Chinese passports.

Officers found that they travelled from Colombo City in Sri Lanka to Suvarnabhumi Airport with their genuine Chinese passports. The two claimed that they were travelling from Bangkok to Vancouver in Canada in search of a better life.

 

They admitted to buying the fake Canadian passports in Sri Lanka and revealed to the police the seller’s contact information on the Chinese WeChat application. However, the seller declined to cooperate with the officers or furnish them with details regarding the fake passports.

 

The two Chinese men have been charged under Section 263/9 of the Criminal Law for possession and use of forged passports. The prescribed penalty includes imprisonment ranging from one to ten years and a fine ranging from 20,000 to 200,000 baht.

 

A similar case was reported in September last year when a Chinese woman, 44 year old Jian Qi, was arrested at Phuket International Airport for using another person’s passport which belonged to a 28 year old Chinese woman Yi Chih Han.

 

Jian Qi attempted to pass through immigration by claiming that she had undergone numerous plastic surgery procedures, resulting in her face not matching the airport’s online records. However, the officers were unconvinced by her explanation and continued to interrogate her until she confessed to the crime.

 

by Petch Petpailin

Photo via Facebook/ ToKo

 

Source: The Thaiger 2024-03-02

 

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[flyingtlger]

9 minutes ago, webfact said:

Officers found that they travelled from Colombo City in Sri Lanka to Suvarnabhumi Airport with their genuine Chinese passports.

Not the sharpest tools in shed...

[Pique Dard]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

...the two Chinese passengers had no history of travelling to Canada and were unable to communicate in English.

....to carry a canadian passport and travel to canada without speaking a word of english or french, i suppose, is to take immigration officials for jerks... 

[Jayaroi]

Something is strange. EVA air tried to catch these two just because they cannot speak English and have never travelled to Canada before? Tons of Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Indians, Bangladeshi speak no English and obviously they have to have a first time travelling to Canada! How were they picked based on it

[PETERTHEEATER]

The two Chinese men have been charged under Section 263/9 of the Criminal Law for possession and use of forged passports

 

Where did the use the Canadian PPs? It was pointless showing the Canadian PPs at the EVA Air check-in desk since their tickets would have been tied to their Chinese PASSPORTS.

They entered Thailand on their Chinese PPs and must have exited on their Chinese PPs. Stopped at the departure gate they were found to be carrying forged Canadian PPs 🤔

[Peabody]

4 minutes ago, PETERTHEEATER said:

Where did the use the Canadian PPs? It was pointless showing the Canadian PPs at the EVA Air check-in desk since their tickets would have been tied to their Chinese PASSPORTS.

They entered Thailand on their Chinese PPs and must have exited on their Chinese PPs. Stopped at the departure gate they were found to be carrying forged Canadian PPs 🤔

 

11 hours ago, webfact said:

EVA Air check-in staff reported to the immigration police that two Chinese nationals presented their Canadian passports at the counter for the flights to Taipei in Taiwan.

There.

[Srikcir]

59 minutes ago, Jayaroi said:

Something is strange. EVA air tried to catch these two just because they cannot speak English and have never travelled to Canada before? Tons of Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Indians, Bangladeshi speak no English and obviously they have to have a first time travelling to Canada! How were they picked based on it

Canada has been very open to Chinese immigration especially through political asylum (language & passport not required). Given Sri Lanka's close economic relationship with China, I can see using Chinese passports into and out of Sri Lanka to Thailand where they hoped to travel on the fake passports to Canada. Obviously, traveling from China to Taiwan to Canada would be the shortest route but perhaps monitored closely by the CCP. 

Why not just continue to use their valid Chinese passports through Thailand to Canada? Just one guess is that a Canadian visa would be required in advance that might not be approved or the CCP might learn what might be viewed as an escape from China and order their return. Thailand in the past has been "sensitive" to such requests.

[Mr Dome]

17 hours ago, flyingtlger said:

Not the sharpest tools in shed...

They had entered Sri Lanka with their Chinese passports, they simply had no other choice.

 

Thinking they could pass as Canadian citizens was certainly very dumb. Makes you wonder how they would have survived over there, had they succeeded.

[Banana7]

Canada is a haven for Chinese, and get preferred treatment by Immigration Canada (IC). There are hundreds of thousands of Chinese in Canada, especially in the Vancouver area. No need to speak English or French, the official languages, in Canada, if you are Chinese, just stick/hide in the massive Chinese community. If they did arrive in Canada, the IC at entry may detect fake passport. If the receiving IC officer (IO) is in on the scam or inattentive, they would breeze through immigration and customs, and be free as a bird. Lots of corrupt Chinese or Chinese security agency personnel work for the federal government of Canada. The IC database may have been altered for their arrival, so no need for a corrupt IO at entry. Finally, if they were caught, they could remain in Canada and appeal their return. While awaiting their appeal case to be heard, they would be loose, not in a jail cell, they may even qualify government benefits. They could disappear into Canadian Chinese community and never be found again.

 

Thank goodness EVA airlines was smart enough to detect these criminals. I am surprised Thai immigration let them to the boarding gate and were unable or unwilling to detect the fake passports. There should been red flags at Thai immigration on exit for not showing their arrival using the fake passports. How can one exit on a foreign passport that never arrived and why was that not detected?

Edited March 2 by Banana7

[timendres]

8 hours ago, Jayaroi said:

Something is strange. EVA air tried to catch these two just because they cannot speak English and have never travelled to Canada before? Tons of Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Indians, Bangladeshi speak no English and obviously they have to have a first time travelling to Canada! How were they picked based on it

 

It was not the "travel" that caused suspicion. It was the passports.

[Banana7]

7 hours ago, Srikcir said:

Canada has been very open to Chinese immigration especially through political asylum (language & passport not required). Given Sri Lanka's close economic relationship with China, I can see using Chinese passports into and out of Sri Lanka to Thailand where they hoped to travel on the fake passports to Canada. Obviously, traveling from China to Taiwan to Canada would be the shortest route but perhaps monitored closely by the CCP. 

Why not just continue to use their valid Chinese passports through Thailand to Canada? Just one guess is that a Canadian visa would be required in advance that might not be approved or the CCP might learn what might be viewed as an escape from China and order their return. Thailand in the past has been "sensitive" to such requests.

Chinese do need a visa to enter Canada legally. Most visitors to Canada also need a electronic travel authorization (ETA).

 

 

[JeffersLos]

14 hours ago, Pique Dard said:

....to carry a canadian passport and travel to canada without speaking a word of english or french, i suppose, is to take immigration officials for jerks... 

 

Why?

 

My half Thai friend has a Thai passport, often travels to Thailand and doesn't speak a word of Thai. 

 

My English friend that was born and raised in Liverpool has a UK passport and doesn't speak a word of English. 

Edited March 2 by JeffersLos

[fallup88]

11 hours ago, Banana7 said:

Canada is a haven for Chinese, and get preferred treatment by Immigration Canada (IC). There are hundreds of thousands of Chinese in Canada, especially in the Vancouver area. No need to speak English or French, the official languages, in Canada, if you are Chinese, just stick/hide in the massive Chinese community. If they did arrive in Canada, the IC at entry may detect fake passport. If the receiving IC officer (IO) is in on the scam or inattentive, they would breeze through immigration and customs, and be free as a bird. Lots of corrupt Chinese or Chinese security agency personnel work for the federal government of Canada. The IC database may have been altered for their arrival, so no need for a corrupt IO at entry. Finally, if they were caught, they could remain in Canada and appeal their return. While awaiting their appeal case to be heard, they would be loose, not in a jail cell, they may even qualify government benefits. They could disappear into Canadian Chinese community and never be found again.

 

Thank goodness EVA airlines was smart enough to detect these criminals. I am surprised Thai immigration let them to the boarding gate and were unable or unwilling to detect the fake passports. There should been red flags at Thai immigration on exit for not showing their arrival using the fake passports. How can one exit on a foreign passport that never arrived and why was that not detected?

I believe immigration officers let the Chinese pass on purpose after they were informed by check in staff the passports were fake.

 

That’s where the charges would be stiffer and clear that they used a forge passport to exit. Or else the charge would be only be possession of fake passport but not “use”.

 

Thai immigration system is very up to date and complete. My wife who isn’t Thai once left Thailand with our kids, kids are Thai. On the way back to Thailand, she came without the kids - immigration officer even inquired her why kids aren’t with her. In their database they even recorded or at least her mug shot had kids in the background - hence the inquiry about kids.

 

The Chinese in this case weren’t the smartest.