Thailand's Counterfeit Culture Is World Problem

[george]

Passports for sale: Thailand's counterfeit culture is world problem

BANGKOK: -- Anything is available in Bangkok for a price: women, men, children, endangered species, drugs, counterfeit drugs, DVDs -- and passports, ready in two hours for just 10,000 baht (245 dollars).

Forged travel documents are readily and affordable available on Bangkok streets, according to one man who sells forged student identity cards in the city's bustling tourist district.

And security analysts say that for higher sums, much better counterfeits can be obtained.

The attention of the world's intelligence services is again on Thailand after British police announced they had begun extradition proceedings for an Algerian man arrested in Bangkok in late August with 180 fake passports.

Thai police, who charged Atamnia Yachine, 33, with overstaying his visa and possessing the false passports, say he is being sought by Britain in connection with the deadly July 7 London subway attacks.

But Britain's Scotland Yard and the Foreign Office have not confirmed any link, saying Yachine's extradition is being sought and an arrest warrant has been issued on suspicion of conspiracy to make and distribute false passports and money-laundering offenses.

"Thailand is recognised as a centre for forgery, but false documents are produced throughout the world, including in Albania, Dubai (and) Singapore," Britain's National Criminal Intelligence Service said in its latest threat assessment from serious and organised crime.

Between February 2004 and August 2005, some 1,275 counterfeit passports had been seized and 12 foreigners arrested in separate incidents in Thailand. Most arrests occurred in Bangkok. In June, a French woman was arrested on Thailand's resort island of Samui for selling stolen French passports on Bangkok streets for 40,000 to 50,000 baht (1,000 to 1,250 dollars) each.

Punishment for possession of a fake Thai passport, by either a vendor or a customer, is up to 10 years in prison. Possession of a fake passport from another country is punishable by up to five years, and both offenses carry up to a 50,000 baht (about 1,200 dollar) fine.

The year's other high-profile arrest came in January, when Thai police reportedly arrested a Bangladeshi man accused of selling a fake passport to Asia's most wanted terror suspect Hambali, who was captured in Thailand in August 2003 and is being held by the United States at an undisclosed location.

"Several groups are thought to have exploited this underground business including Al-Qaeda, Jemaah Islamiah and especially (Sri Lanka's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) LTTE," Rand Corporation terrorism analyst Peter Chalk told AFP.

"Illegal migrants and crime syndicates are also significant customers."

-- 'You get what you pay for' --

On Khao San Road, the Thai capital's heaving backpacker strip, a young Thai man who sells fake student and press cards claimed he could get a fake passport for 10,000 baht (about 245 dollars).

"Any," the short-haired man in a t-shirt said, when asked which countries he had passports for. He claimed he only needed two hours.

A police officer attached to a Western embassy in Bangkok, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the man could be telling the truth, but cautioned the quality may be poor as a passport needed for international travel was likely to be more expensive.

"The quality of the documentation depends on how much money an individual is prepared to pay, but at the high end it is generally considered to be very good," Rand Corporation's Chalk said.

"A lot of use is made of genuine passports that are doctored for the client. Most are either sold by backpackers who have run into financial difficulties or simply stolen."

Features that reveal a fake passport include the quality of paper and ink used, peeling laminate, spelling mistakes or variations in print details, and missing pages, the Western police officer said.

"You get what you pay for," the officer added.

If the passport was being used to travel internationally for immigration, complete with visa seals and biometric data, it would cost "a lot more than 10,000 baht," the officer said.

Other forms of identification are much cheaper. A man sporting jeans, a black T-shirt and a short pony tail sells fake student cards on Khao San Road that sell for 250 baht (6.10 dollars).

He leaned against a wall near a display of fake press cards and international student cards featuring a picture of Manchester United's Dutch hitman, Ruud van Nistelrooy.

He makes the cards in a small shop down a back lane, where he works beside a large fridge stocked with Thai beer and soft drinks.

Sitting beneath photographs of the Thai king and queen, he taps on a type writer a customer's name, university and date of birth, and offered to extend the validity to two years, saying it would not cost extra.

He stuck a photograph onto the card then covered it with a plastic wrap containing a student organisation's metallic logo decal.

He handed over a blue plastic bag full of dozens of fake drivers licenses and identity cards of various quality and organisations including Interpol, the United Nations and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

One read "Interpol department of terrorism" (sic), while the FBI card included a fake thumb print on the reverse and the words "licensed to carry fire arm" in red type.

A fake Fire Department of New York identity card read "this person is not a FDNY employee" in red type along its bottom.

Several drivers licenses were from Malaysia, Singapore, Canadian provinces and Australian states, but lacked obvious marks of the genuine article.

In a few minutes, the man returned the card and offered discounts for large quantities and for scuba diving licenses. He said cards were sealed with a hot iron.

Asked if he could make a fake passport, he shook his head, gripped one wrist with the other hand like handcuffs, made the noise of handcuffs snapping shut, and laughed.

--AFP 2005-10-05

[dr_Pat_Pong]

A centre for forgery. Why not a HUB ?

[ovenman]

A centre for forgery. Why not a HUB ?

A hub by any other name...

[dr_Pat_Pong]

A centre for forgery. Why not a HUB ?

A hub by any other name...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There'll be another crackdown

[rainman]

I used to walk around in Bangkok with ID cards from multiple countries in my pocket, all of them legal however. Makes me wonder if Thai police could tell the difference between true IDs and fake IDs or if that could get someone into trouble.

[johnh101]

Not a crackdown on a hub................ !!!!

[Bull]

And...why not turning BKK into the crackdown hub of Asia??

Bull

[dr_Pat_Pong]

And...why not turning BKK into the crackdown hub of Asia??

Bull

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I thought it already was

[Sphere]

...spelling mistakes or variations in print details...

as in PASSPORK??

sells fake student cards on Khao San Road that sell for 250 baht (6.10 dollars).

How many years do you need to carry a fake student card, until you can buy a fake degree?

[mrbojangles]

And...why not turning BKK into the crackdown hub of Asia??

Bull

I thought it already was

I think they should take it slowly and concentrate on just being the Shakedown Hub first. Then they can move onto Clampdown Hub and finally the Crackdown Hub. Walk before you can run

Edited October 5, 2005 by mrbojangles