Police Seize Fake Passports

[Farma]

Police seize fake passports

From correspondents in Bangkok

April 27, 2008 08:20pm

THAI authorities have seized more than one thousand fake Asian and Western passports and arrested a man in one of the biggest anti-counterfeiting operations in recent years, police said.

Mohammed Karim, 56, from Bangladesh was found with more than 1000 finished and unfinished passports in Bangkok yesterday, Police Major-General Chaktip Chaichinda said.

"He admitted that he made fake passports," Mr Chaktip said.

The passports were for several countries including the United States, New Zealand, France, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Malta.

Police seized two computers, a scanner, three printers and rubber stamps for several countries.

"This guy is rich. He has a BMW. He said he made about 300,000-400,000 baht per month ( $10,000)," Mr Chaktip said.

Continued here http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0...5003402,00.html

[LaoPo]

Thai police seize more than 1,000 fake passports in raid

27 Apr 2008 10:02:32 GMT

BANGKOK, April 27 (Reuters) - Thai authorities have seized more than a thousand fake Asian and Western passports and arrested a man in one of the biggest anti-counterfeiting operations in recent years, police said on Sunday.

Mohammed Karim, a 56-year-old from Bangladesh, was nabbed in a Bangkok townhouse late on Saturday where they found a sophisticated passport making operation and more than 1,000 finished and unfinished documents, Police Major-General Chaktip Chaichinda said.

"He admitted that he made fake passports," Chaktip told Reuters, adding that his partner, a Myanmar national, escaped arrest.

The passports were for several countries including the United States, New Zealand, France, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Malta. Police seized two computers, a scanner, three printers and rubber stamps for several countries.

"This guy is rich. He has a BMW. He said he made about 300,000-400,000 baht per month (around $10,000)," Chaktip said.

The passports were sold to a group of Thai and Burmese middlemen who then sold them to gangs engaged in prostitution, terrorism and smuggling, he said.

If convicted, Karim faces up to 20 years in jail.

"It's the biggest fake passport case in the past four to five years," Chaktip said.

Passport fraud is a common problem in Thailand, where police seized 100 fake documents last year. ($1=31.69 Baht) (Reporting by Pracha Hariraksapitak; Writing by Viparat Jantraprap; Editing by David Fox)

---Reuters

LaoPo

[YoungFarang13]

i kind of feel like this is a fake story to trick people into trying to illegally enter with a fake passport so they can be arrested.

i refuse to believe that he was able to hack the US Passport system. They even have finger printing now. It just seems highly unlikely. When they scan your passport, it has to connect with the system. Does he have inside men?

[Tomkagai]

i kind of feel like this is a fake story to trick people into trying to illegally enter with a fake passport so they can be arrested.

i refuse to believe that he was able to hack the US Passport system. They even have finger printing now. It just seems highly unlikely. When they scan your passport, it has to connect with the system. Does he have inside men?

None of the articles I have read say anything about him hacking into the US passport system or about having inside men ????

[meom]

Maybe the fake passport doesn't hold up at US customs but why should Karim care about that? I don't think his customers will come back to him to complain after they've been caught.

Besides that a fake passport can be used for other things such as opening a bank account or whatever.

[YoungFarang13]

i think international banks (the ones i have been too), check that too. in Singapore, they need your ss# right off the bat for you to open an account.

"None of the articles I have read say anything about him hacking into the US passport system or about having inside men ????"

so he is selling gangsters fake passports that wont get them into these countries?? it doesn't seem like he would be living too long or get many recommendations.

[jstumbo]

Who says that the people that are buying the passports want to go to the US or any country where they are supposed to be from. That is the last place I would use a fake passport because they would be the ones that have it connected to their systems and would the be people most likely to detect a fake one.

Do you think that when they swipe your passport at immigration in Thailand that it connects to a database in the US? I don't think so. It just needs to look good, and have the right codes on it.

You could use a US, UK or Japan passport for travel around SE Asia and never go out of the Area. It would never have to prove valid back in its country of issue because you would not be going to that country.

[Spee]

If I recall correctly, this is the second "big" passport counterfeiting bust this year. Wasn't there another similar thread a couple of months ago?

[YoungFarang13]

Do you think that when they swipe your passport at immigration in Thailand that it connects to a database in the US? I don't think so. It just needs to look good, and have the right codes on it.

i did think that. it seems like such a system would be very easy to implement.

[Huey]

i think international banks (the ones i have been too), check that too. in Singapore, they need your ss# right off the bat for you to open an account.

"None of the articles I have read say anything about him hacking into the US passport system or about having inside men ????"

so he is selling gangsters fake passports that wont get them into these countries?? it doesn't seem like he would be living too long or get many recommendations.

Be careful with that, better banks that respect your privacy don't ask you for any of that junk. Emirates Bank in Dubai is worth the trip, no SS# required and online international transfers of up to around $27,000 a day.

[Naam]

i think international banks (the ones i have been too), check that too. in Singapore, they need your ss# right off the bat for you to open an account.

applies to U.S. citizens only. i don't know of any other country with a similar system SSN = Tax ID.

[Prakanong]

i think international banks (the ones i have been too), check that too. in Singapore, they need your ss# right off the bat for you to open an account.

applies to U.S. citizens only. i don't know of any other country with a similar system SSN = Tax ID.

True - I had to provide nothing from back home to my Singapore Bank - my Singapore details only as I was opening a residents account

[sriracha john]

He had loads of real passports as well....

Mohammed Karim

Hundreds of fake passports seized in Thailand, man arrested: police

BANGKOK (AFP - today) — Thai police arrested and charged a man from Bangladesh found in possession of hundreds of fake passports and visas, a senior police official said Sunday.

Mohammed Karim, 56, was arrested in a rented house in Bangkok by police investigating a gang of foreign counterfeiters.

They found 90 real passports, 577 fake US and European passports, 680 counterfeit visas and 1,680 fake passport photo pages, mostly for American passports, said police Lieutenant Colonel Sophon Sarapat.

"Karim confessed and he was charged with conspiring to make counterfeit passports for sale, and making fake visas," he said after Saturday's arrest.

One Thai and one Myanmar citizen also alleged to be involved in the global counterfeiting ring escaped, Sophon added.

Karim could face a maximum of 20 years in jail if convicted.

Passport fraud is a common problem in Thailand. At the end of 2006, Thai and US police launched a joint sting operation which netted 500 fake US passports. A Thai man and a Pakistani man were arrested on that occasion.

=======================================

* move to News Clipping Forum? *

[sriracha john]

Criminal documents

Police have arrested a Bangladesh man caught red-handed with hundreds of fake Thai and foreign passports, in the largest counterfeit documents bust in five years. Police seized the passports and computer gear, and arrested Mohammed Karim, 56, in a raid on his home in Bang Kae district of Bangkok on Saturday. "Karim confessed and he was charged with conspiring to make counterfeit passports for sale, and making fake visas," said a police spokesman after Saturday's arrest. The charge carries a possible penalty of 20 years in prison. Police Special Operations Police chief Chaktip Chaichinda said on Sunday that the operation was one of the largest of its kind ever uncovered in Thailand. A police raid found more than 1,000 finished and unfinished documents, fake visa seals and two computers. The Bangladeshi said he had a Burmese partner, Tin Oo, who rented the house on Soi Phetkasem 62 and turned it into a fake-passport factory. They sold the passports to a group of Thai and Burmese men who in turn sold them to gangs involved in terrorism, prostitution and smuggling, said Pol Maj-Gen Chaktip.

Continued here:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/tops...s.php?id=127347

[jstumbo]

Do you think that when they swipe your passport at immigration in Thailand that it connects to a database in the US? I don't think so. It just needs to look good, and have the right codes on it.

i did think that. it seems like such a system would be very easy to implement.

It would be a nightmare. How many countries are there in the world. Think of the number of combinations there would be. Not to mention the security and privacy implications.

[Tomkagai]

i think international banks (the ones i have been too), check that too. in Singapore, they need your ss# right off the bat for you to open an account.

applies to U.S. citizens only. i don't know of any other country with a similar system SSN = Tax ID.

100% correct...US citizens only...you can run but ya can't hide from your IRS

[jstumbo]

i think international banks (the ones i have been too), check that too. in Singapore, they need your ss# right off the bat for you to open an account.

applies to U.S. citizens only. i don't know of any other country with a similar system SSN = Tax ID.

100% correct...US citizens only...you can run but ya can't hide from your IRS

It is essentially our national id number. Many other countries have national id numbers.

[jstumbo]

It probably does not help that all the real US passports pass through Thailand during their manufacturing process to have the RF antennas installed at a factory here that already has been the victim of Chinese espionage.

[geriatrickid]

i think international banks (the ones i have been too), check that too. in Singapore, they need your ss# right off the bat for you to open an account.

applies to U.S. citizens only. i don't know of any other country with a similar system SSN = Tax ID.

Canada. Social Insurance Number appears on tax returns and is required to open a bank account.

US and Canadian passport systems indirectly linked. New agreement signed last month between US border states and Canadian provinces means that information obtained at border crossings is now shared with respective provincial and state police departments. Both Canada & USA have moved to e passport system using the same technology and tehre is no way the passports could pass. What the passports are good for is just gaining access to a plane that gets the carrier into the country where they can claim refugee status and be on the gravy train fast.

[farangster247]

So just to understand this correctly, the passports that were caught coudnt be used to enter, for example the us, only untill the airport were the carrier would claim asylum. So 'bad' people, like terrorists and other varieties of freedom fighters would have no use whatsoever for these documents. Except for opening bank accounts and travelling within asia. Now if this is correct I wander why the us makes such a big issue about these documents. Previously these documents were mostly used for people who want a better life for themselves and choose not to abide by the rules that keep them in place, down at the bottom. I dont understand were the terrorism threat comes from, perhaps more from foreign policy then these 'forgers'?

[Priceless]

i think international banks (the ones i have been too), check that too. in Singapore, they need your ss# right off the bat for you to open an account.

applies to U.S. citizens only. i don't know of any other country with a similar system SSN = Tax ID.

Canada. Social Insurance Number appears on tax returns and is required to open a bank account.

US and Canadian passport systems indirectly linked. New agreement signed last month between US border states and Canadian provinces means that information obtained at border crossings is now shared with respective provincial and state police departments. Both Canada & USA have moved to e passport system using the same technology and tehre is no way the passports could pass. What the passports are good for is just gaining access to a plane that gets the carrier into the country where they can claim refugee status and be on the gravy train fast.

Sweden! There you have a Personal ID# that looks like this: yymmdd-xxsc where yymmdd is your birthdate, xxs is a unique number where s being odd indicates that you're male, it being even indicates (you guessed it) you're female and c is a check digit. This Personal ID# is your Social Security #, your Tax ID, necessary to visit a hospital/clinic, marry/divorce, buy insurance...

Who mentioned Big Brother

/ Priceless