Missing plane highlights Phuket's stolen passport trade

[Prbkk]

The tickets were paid for in Thai Baht....another link ( according to The Star, Malaysia)

Edited March 9, 2014 by Prbkk

[JoeThePoster]

When is the last time any good news at all came out of Thailand?

That would be tomorrow's honest cabbie story.

[marcusd]

I'm surprised there isn't an international system for national authorities to inform airlines about stolen passports and prevent people using them from buying tickets.

there is. Its called IMMIGRATION. At airports

Marcusd. Via tapatalk

[marcusd]

I'm surprised there isn't an international system for national authorities to inform airlines about stolen passports and prevent people using them from buying tickets.

This was my thought?... Any time you fly in or out af a modern airport (Like Kuala Lumpur) you have your passport number scanned or punched into a computer?... Or a photo taken to compare with the entry photo?... Wouldn't there be a international database of lost passports?...

There is one: it has 38,000,000 passports listed on it. One of the issues raised now is why that database was not accessed at KLIA...indeed, itis it used widely at all?

I know it is in the USA, AUSTRALIA and the UK. Everywhere else looking at these guys got on the plane it must be an option.

Did you know a mobile phone internet speed could access and process that number in seconds and as we know we always take ages at immigration whilst they check us out

Marcusd. Via tapatalk

[tonytigerbkk]

How can someone travel on a cancelled (because it was reported stolen) passport FROM A MAJOR AIRPORT?

[EvilDrSomkid]

When is the last time any good news at all came out of Thailand?

2008..thaksin left..never to return

Yeah, look how much Thailand improved after that...

[Artisi]

How can someone travel on a cancelled (because it was reported stolen) passport FROM A MAJOR AIRPORT?

Fairly easily, by the looks of it.

[watcharacters]

...Phuket...

.

NO Thailand!!!

[Basil B]

One good point raised was the Italian who phoned home, when he realized their was somebody on the flight with the same name.

Have you heard the news about the missing plane? Don’t worry, it wasn’t me who was listed as a passenger on board. I don’t know why my name is on the list, or what happened but I’m ok. I’m in Thailand.

Following the Tsunami back in 2004 it was days and weeks before families could establish that loved ones were OK because they did not think to phone home.

[watcharacters]

I'm surprised there isn't an international system for national authorities to inform airlines about stolen passports and prevent people using them from buying tickets.

This was my thought?... Any time you fly in or out af a modern airport (Like Kuala Lumpur) you have your passport number scanned or punched into a computer?... Or a photo taken to compare with the entry photo?... Wouldn't there be a international database of lost passports?...

There is one: it has 38,000,000 passports listed on it. One of the issues raised now is why that database was not accessed at KLIA...indeed, itis it used widely at all?

38 million or 38 billion...

What's your point?

[losworld]

another reason not to give anyone your passport for a motorbike rental... if they don't steal it they can easily copy it...

[mojorison]

My new electronic passport was stolen, I believe by my BIL who had left for BKK in the 3 day gap between when I last used it to buy an airfare and when it was noted missing. I reported it as stolen to Samui police, that it had been taken from my well-secured house, and my suspicions as to had taken it. Their only action was to issue a report, and give me erroneous directions as to what further steps were now necessary.

For the next 12 months, every time I left or re-entered Thailand there were minor delays, nothing serious. No problems experienced entering Malaysia, Cambodia, or Australia (passport issuer).

It's great that you've got honest, upstanding relatives... must be awesome to know that you've got them behind you in times of need...

[metisdead]

An inflammatory post has been removed.

[bigbamboo]

Make some arrests and charge them with conspiracy and terrorism... then they may understand the gravity of their crimes.

yes, agree. This crime is not taken seriously enough in many countries. I would hand out very hefty jail time for anyone stealing a passport..and for those who think it is clever to sell their own and claim it has been stolen. 10 years jail.

And/or a 5000 baht fine.

[mojorison]

I'm surprised there isn't an international system for national authorities to inform airlines about stolen passports and prevent people using them from buying tickets.

This was my thought?... Any time you fly in or out af a modern airport (Like Kuala Lumpur) you have your passport number scanned or punched into a computer?... Or a photo taken to compare with the entry photo?... Wouldn't there be a international database of lost passports?...

There is one: it has 38,000,000 passports listed on it. One of the issues raised now is why that database was not accessed at KLIA...indeed, itis it used widely at all?

38 million or 38 billion...

What's your point?

Read it again, you'll get it.

[watcharacters]

My new electronic passport was stolen, I believe by my BIL who had left for BKK in the 3 day gap between when I last used it to buy an airfare and when it was noted missing. I reported it as stolen to Samui police, that it had been taken from my well-secured house, and my suspicions as to had taken it. Their only action was to issue a report, and give me erroneous directions as to what further steps were now necessary.

For the next 12 months, every time I left or re-entered Thailand there were minor delays, nothing serious. No problems experienced entering Malaysia, Cambodia, or Australia (passport issuer).

It's great that you've got honest, upstanding relatives... must be awesome to know that you've got them behind you in times of need...

.

"

"For the next 12 months, every time I left or re-entered Thailand there were minor delays, nothing serious."

Good it all worked out for you. That's great!

[h90]

Apparently the two men who acquired the passports booked their flights together so it would appear to be an organised operation in Thailand.

Regarding the flight latest reports say that five people who checked in did not board the aircraft and their luggage was later removed.

Or as they tell hundreds are stolen in Phuket every year (so over Asia it must be thousands), that there are on some flights to destinations good for such bad guys are always several stolen passports?

[quagmirefg]

Passport Scams are a normal occurance in All of Thailand. Not just Phuket or other Tourist destinations and cities.

Local Police do little if anything at all to resolve these Passport Scams.

Car and Motorcycle Rental Agents many times "Require" you to leave your passport to give them what they deem as a Security Insurance for the Rental and Refuse to accept a photocopy. If you ask the local Police for help, they will tell you to "Either Leave Your Passport with the Agency, or Not Rent the Car or Motorcycle". So enforcement of your rights to retain possession of your Passport are ignored by the Thai Police, thus letting Passport Scams to continue unabated. Not to say most or all Rental Agents are Scammers, but this non-enforcement and practice lets Scammers Steal Passports at will for the Black Market or other purposes.

By leaving your Passport as "Security" you are in danger of your Passport being Compromised and/or Lost or Stolen.

The Agency then just tells the Passport holder that their Passport was either Lost or Stolen while in their care.

As is the case in at least one of the persons whose Passport was used by an unidentified person on this Missing Plane.

The Original Post says that that person had his Passport Stolen at a Car Rental Agency and the other person had his stolen in the same area of Phuket (no details given in the OP other than these comments).

Foreign Passports are of Value on the Black Market and for other purposes. A few years back, I witnessed a proclaimed local Tour Agent attempt to Steal the Passport of a person from the EU by pickpocketing the foreigner while the foreigner was intoxicated.

Always protect your Passport and Never Surrender it as a Guarantee. Pay a Security deposit instead, or not do business with Agents that Require you to surrender your Passport. Hopefully there will be a day in the future when the Police will Enforce the Law that another person can not detain your Passport.

[Boycie]

The passports were stolen from Phuket but the tickets for the flight were recently bought from a travel agency in Pattaya.

That is why Thailand is being connected to the missing plane.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/malaysia-airlines-plane-no-sign-abnormality-022614993.html?vp=1#A7lARAE

[BillyBobThai]

When the new Thai government takes office, a new law will be enacted on stealing and selling passports.

The sentance will be 10 year prison and or 500 baht fine. TIT

[kratiam]

I'm surprised there isn't an international system for national authorities to inform airlines about stolen passports and prevent people using them from buying tickets.

This was my thought?... Any time you fly in or out af a modern airport (Like Kuala Lumpur) you have your passport number scanned or punched into a computer?... Or a photo taken to compare with the entry photo?... Wouldn't there be a international database of lost passports?...

There is one: it has 38,000,000 passports listed on it. One of the issues raised now is why that database was not accessed at KLIA...indeed, itis it used widely at all?

38 million or 38 billion...

What's your point?

Obvious, I would have thought....

[moe666]

If you want to rent a car in Chiang Mai try Top North you do not have to leave passport very professional.

[noitom]

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When is the last time any good news at all came out of Thailand?

The Hub announcements, but we haven't had many of those of late either

This is it - Pukhet - the hub of stolen passports.

[Thai at Heart]

For a country that demands a photocopy of your passport to do the most basic thing....

I was told that technically photocopying a passport is illegal and can be refused.

[mojorison]

The passports were stolen from Phuket but the tickets for the flight were recently bought from a travel agency in Pattaya.

That is why Thailand is being connected to the missing plane.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/malaysia-airlines-plane-no-sign-abnormality-022614993.html?vp=1#A7lARAE

That's a dramatic article. It says "the vast waters of the Gulf of Thailand"... in actuality, the gulf is neither wide nor deep. If the plane was lost in the Pacific Ocean, it could sink several thousand meters, the Gulf at this point however would be several hundred meters at most, (being a depression in the land mass). This more specifically highlights a poor level of tracking. In fact, it's hard to believe they haven't found it yet.

[Maestro]

...

I was told that technically photocopying a passport is illegal and can be refused.

What you were told is wrong.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[lemonjelly]

The stolen passports were on the Interpol database, would have had red lights flashing at the KL immigration...... officer ignored it?..... in on a people smuggling racket perhaps.....

[Basil B]

For a country that demands a photocopy of your passport to do the most basic thing....

I was told that technically photocopying a passport is illegal and can be refused.

I thought the American Passport said do not "Photocopy".

But defiantly an Urban "HillBilly" Myth:

Urban legend says that photocopying your passport, as an official government document, is illegal -- yet the government recommends that you make one or more copies of your passport in certain situations. Having a copy of your passport when you travel abroad is helpful if you lose the document.

http://traveltips.usatoday.com/photocopying-passports-106739.html

[Dumu Ali]

The terrorist passports stolen in Phuket and Terrorist airline tickets bought with consecutive ticket numbers using fake passports in Pattaya suggests that it might be the Bangkok Al Queerda branch, the US caught Bin Laden hotshot Hambali in Ayoutaya revealing the terror hubs

Phuket and Pattaya are very dangerous places with many hidden dangers both are littered with British, Nigerian and Russian lowlife mafia - most other Thai resorts like Hua Hin and Pranburi are very clean and civilized.

There are gangs with sleeping tablets and other drugs doping tourists to steal money and passport because Phuket mafia sell them

If Phuket mafia did not sell passports then terrorists would not have those Phuket origin passports to board plane in KL

Immigration are poorly trained or corrupt or both

Jet Ski mafia shows police apathy in general and mafia culture on Phuket, then there is the UK Timeshare Mafia, The Ladyboy Mafia, The Fake Rolex Mafia, Phuket Drug Barons and of course the Airport Taxi Mafia oh my God it is like Mafia Island or maybe because Phuket is South Thailand Hub of Mafias and Pattaya the Eastern Hub of Mafias

Now we know nobody is checking stolen and lost passports, not Travel Agents, not Immigration and not Airlines and so I am taking the train it is much safer

[daboyz1]

I'm surprised there isn't an international system for national authorities to inform airlines about stolen passports and prevent people using them from buying tickets.

I was thinking the same thing. I guess there's no way to turn a profit doing it, so there was no incentive prior to this incident. I suspect we'll see something like this in the near future.