Forty Indians detained with forged papers

BANGKOK: Forty Indian people were detained just before departing for a third country, immigration police officials said yesterday.

The Indian nationals ranging in age from 20 to 30 were detained – 28 for overstaying their visas and 12 because they are considered persona non grata, Immigration Police Commissioner Chanwut Watcharapuk, and deputy immigration commissioners Pornpat Suyanan and Pongsapat Pongjaroen said at a news conference yesterday.

Seized were 40 passports, and seamen’s books for crewmen destined for Panama, of which 14 were found to be forgeries.

Chanwut said the detention was part of the immigration commission’s effort to crack down on an international forgery syndicate that smuggles people for settlement in third countries.

Seamen’s books were found concealed in clothing and shoes worn by the people detained, said Police LtColonel Supot Krungtanyapruek. They were detained as they were about to leave for Amman, Jordan, on Tuesday at 11.45pm. The 12 were outlawed under the immigration law of 1979 because they had entered the country illegally.

They were blacklisted and their reentry barred.

--The Nation 2004-02-18

Are they going to beat the Brits for illegal acts ?