Overstay Crackdown

[george]

Thai police arrest six visa-overstayers in tourism crackdown

BANGKOK: Six foreign tourists staying on Thailand's backpacker mecca Khao San Road were arrested Sunday for overstaying their visas in a crackdown that also saw 13 Thai guesthouse owners fined, police said.

Deputy immigration commissioner Pongsapat Pongcharoen told AFP the tourists, including at least four Nigerians, would be fined and faced deportation after spot checks by police at the scores of guesthouses along the famed road.

He could not immediately confirm where the other nationals were from.

As part of the crackdown, which Pongsapat said would be expanded to other tourist spots across the country, police also fined 13 guesthouse owners for failing to report the names and numbers of foreign guests staying with them.

"If we didn't have this law, we would not be able to know where tourists were after they entered the country," he told AFP. "How could we find them if something happened?"

The maximum penalty operators face is the closure of their business, he added. Tourism is a major revenue earner for Thailand, with 10.8 million arrivals in the kingdom in 2002.

--Agencies 2004-01-12

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Six nabbed for overstaying