Fake Passports Made In Bangkok A Hit In London

[george]

Fake passports made here a hit in London

BANGKOK: -- London is a major centre for Asian and African gangs based in Thailand to sell counterfeit European passports, mostly to people from the Middle East, immigration police chief Pol Lt-Gen Suwat Thamrongsrisakul says. Immigration police last year seized 572 fake passports, of which 184 were Belgian, 155 Portuguese, 139 Spanish and 94 French, he said yesterday.

All the counterfeits were printed in Bangkok, taken to London and sold for about 1,000 (about 68,000 baht) each by brokers who made about 20% profit on them, he said.

London was a big market for fake passports from Thailand as it was a major destination of those wanting to enter European countries, especially among people from the Middle East who look European.

It was difficult for police to catch them because the gangs printed the fake passports at night in rented publishing houses in the city. Chinese and Pakistani counterfeit gangs operated in Bang Rak; Indian, Bangladeshi and Sri Lankans in the Pahurat area, and Africans (especially Nigerians) in the Nana and Thong Lo areas.

These gangs used the latest technology to produce passports which were close to flawless, he said.

Other gangs operating on Khao San road were selling counterfeit passports for roughly 8,000 baht each to tourists wanting to rent vehicles and rooms and commit credit card fraud and to illegal Shan and Karen workers in need of Burmese passports.

The immigration chief said he expected passport forgery would decline as more countries introduced e-passports, making the production of counterfeit ones expensive.

He said Thailand had also become a gateway for foreign tourists fleeing to third countries.

Tens of thousands of them, especially from China and India, came here and never reported their departure.

--Bangkok Post 2006-02-13

[kurgen]

Thailand , passport hub of the world