Passport theft prompts Thai rethink on new passport database

[webfact]

Passport theft prompts Thai rethink on new passport database
By Digital Content



BANGKOK, March 10 - Caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has called her Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak to express condolences over the missing Malaysian flight.

Thailand is also prepared to make passport database changes to prevent the use of fake or stolen passports.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul made the remarks following reports that two passengers of MH370 flight used the passports stolen in Thailand. Electronic booking records also showed that one-way tickets were issued from a travel agency in the beach resort of Pattaya.

Earlier Italian and Austrian foreign ministries announced that the names of their two citizens matched with the flight's manifest but the two - Austrian Christian Kozel and the other Luigi Maraldi of Italy - did not board the flight and their passports were stolen and that the details have been entered into Interpol's database.

The Italian national, who is now in the resort island of Phuket, met with Thai police yesterday. He said that his passport was stolen when he left it as a deposit guarantee at a motorcycle rental company. Mr Maraldi said he has never been to Malaysia, and said that he filed a complaint with Thai police last July and went back to Italy with a temporary passport.

Mr Maraldi returned to Thailand early this month and is scheduled to leave the kingdom on March 15 but he pledged to cooperate with the Thai authorities for further investigation.

Region 8 Police Commissioner Pol Lt Gen Panya Mamen said he has formed a special committee to probe the issue.

Mr Surapong said he will ask the government to make an Interpol-linked passport database allowing police worldwide as well as airlines to verify the information and intercept those holding stolen or counterfeit passports.

Thailand is willing to assist Malaysia, he told the Malaysian foreign minister, but possible terrorism was not raised during the discussion.

National Security Council secretary-general Lt Gen Paradorn Pattanatabut said that more investigation will be conducted as it tarnished the country's image. (MCOT online news)


-- TNA 2014-03-10

[patjem]

Another idea where some graft could be applied? Such a database apparently already exists at Interpol, who I note stated yesterday, that it is not so effectively benefitted from by immigration offices as it could be.

[Blackmirage2013]

Yingluck is good at this.... she is good at calling and expressing her feelings... she should be a receptionist.

[webfact]

RELATED

Police investigate Pattaya links with missing Malaysian Flight

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/709908-police-investigate-pattaya-links-with-missing-malaysian-flight/

[Chang_paarp]

Caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has called her Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak to express condolences over the missing Malaysian flight.

This statement worries me more than the vacuous balance of the article.

[Jay Sata]

Anyone who entrusts someone else such as a hotel or bike/car rental company in Thailand to hold their passport deserves to lost it.

The odds are the rental company company will not return a passport if there is a dispute.

[Cricketnut]

Anyone who entrusts someone else such as a hotel or bike/car rental company in Thailand to hold their passport deserves to lost it.

The odds are the rental company company will not return a passport if there is a dispute.

All that is required by law is a copy of your passport. If not given back as in my case in Laos back in 2000, I simply went to the police who promptly visited the rental agency where I had rented a motorbike for a months tour of the country and that was that. Passport back in hand within literally 5 minutes. If one is stupid enough to handover your passport as I was all those years ago, and it is not returned go straight to the TP and or RTP straight away and get it sorted. Especially now IMO the TP and RTP will move quite quickly on it. Sorry to the possible cynics who will hit this post, but we were all in our early and naive 20s at one point in life and s.it happens occasionally. My dealings with the the RTP and TP have been great over the years, just get your licence and status in the country sorted, learn some simple PsandQs and they are a great bunch to bump into from time to time..

Sent from my i-mobile i-STYLE 8.2 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Cricketnut]

Caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has called her Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak to express condolences over the missing Malaysian flight.

This statement worries me more than the vacuous balance of the article.

Offering her Malay counterpart help worries me more!!!!

Sent from my i-mobile i-STYLE 8.2 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[clockman]

Shutting the door, after the horse has gone. Just because of the loss of face!

[impulse]

National Security Council secretary-general Lt Gen Paradorn Pattanatabut said that more investigation will be conducted as it tarnished the country's image.

Saved the gist for the last sentence.

[ChrisY1]

No Thai authority has any idea how to manage passport theft in Thailand...I doubt many reported thefts go further than the local cop shop.

As to follow up and investigation....never happens to my knowledge...I don't remember them ever returning a lost passport......until something such as the Malaysian plane mystery.....once the international agencies start to get involved, as they now have, then the back pedalling starts....simply smearing more egg on Thai faces!

[paz]

Another idea where some graft could be applied? Such a database apparently already exists at Interpol, who I note stated yesterday, that it is not so effectively benefitted from by immigration offices as it could be.

Lots of places for graft, database access, circuits, VPN, routers, maintenance, all these things have to be done by specialized technicians, can bid/oursoruce of form the knowledge internally, either way money is needed and someone can benefit.

Anyway, with that we got to know that as of today, Thailand just like Malaysa does not routinely check the interpol database. Probably they have one for terminals for access and cetrantralize requests from police, imigration office, etc, on a as-needed basis,

[RubbaJohnny]

National Security Council secretary-general Lt Gen Paradorn Pattanatabut said that more investigation will be conducted as it tarnished the country's image.

Saved the gist for the last sentence.

May be misinformed but verging on an oxymoron?

After the

"don't Thai me -Lie to me"

Welcome to the International home of Ladyboy scams,jetski scams,forged document scams,coups a veritable hub of dissimiltude with armed gangs unaccosted in the capital it is hard to imagine how one could lower the image any further.

They would really have to scrape the barrel.perhaps the chamber of commerce could orgainise an International showcase dragging police officers to their death across the globe.A wanted criminal too busy to attend murder charges,another in self imposed on the lam issued a new passport.

For anyone new to the land of lies a quick study of the rice pledge.flood scams the endangered wildlife the adulterated food the fake products,whoring ,fake goods fake degrees illegal casinos,airport mafias,and utter immunity impunity.

If I were to cite the almost endless list of igmony one of us would be dead before we could fit it all in.Fortunately such sordid behaviour is better concealed by old Etonians

[darrendsd]

No Thai authority has any idea how to manage passport theft in Thailand...I doubt many reported thefts go further than the local cop shop.

As to follow up and investigation....never happens to my knowledge...I don't remember them ever returning a lost passport......until something such as the Malaysian plane mystery.....once the international agencies start to get involved, as they now have, then the back pedalling starts....simply smearing more egg on Thai faces!

Well considering the Passports were on the Interpol stolen list it's obvious that it does go further than the local cop shop

Thailand's Police/Government/Immigration are not at fault here as the Passports theft was on the Interpol database

But hey let's not let the facts get in the way of a good old bit of Thai Bashing

[Gweiloman]

Yingluck is good at this.... she is good at calling and expressing her feelings... she should be a receptionist.

Disgusting post.

Over 200 persons have lost their lives and you are obsessed with Yingluck.

Shame on you.

[mrmazinkle]

No Thai authority has any idea how to manage passport theft in Thailand...I doubt many reported thefts go further than the local cop shop.

As to follow up and investigation....never happens to my knowledge...I don't remember them ever returning a lost passport......until something such as the Malaysian plane mystery.....once the international agencies start to get involved, as they now have, then the back pedalling starts....simply smearing more egg on Thai faces!

Well considering the Passports were on the Interpol stolen list it's obvious that it does go further than the local cop shop

Thailand's Police/Government/Immigration are not at fault here as the Passports theft was on the Interpol database

But hey let's not let the facts get in the way of a good old bit of Thai Bashing

I may be missing something here but if they booked flights with stolen passports,and then left Thailand with the same passport how long was the overstay?shouldn't it have raised a flag at immigration?

[kingalfred]

People who give their actual passport to these rental hawks are crazy.It should be made illegal to request a passport for rental security.The country is a "candy store" for identity theft.Call it Thai bashing if you want. They need some bashing.

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Edited March 10, 2014 by kingalfred

[3NUMBAS]

they need it -so many forged documents originate in LOS and its right out in the open too

[darrendsd]

No Thai authority has any idea how to manage passport theft in Thailand...I doubt many reported thefts go further than the local cop shop.

As to follow up and investigation....never happens to my knowledge...I don't remember them ever returning a lost passport......until something such as the Malaysian plane mystery.....once the international agencies start to get involved, as they now have, then the back pedalling starts....simply smearing more egg on Thai faces!

Well considering the Passports were on the Interpol stolen list it's obvious that it does go further than the local cop shop

Thailand's Police/Government/Immigration are not at fault here as the Passports theft was on the Interpol database

But hey let's not let the facts get in the way of a good old bit of Thai Bashing

I may be missing something here but if they booked flights with stolen passports,and then left Thailand with the same passport how long was the overstay?shouldn't it have raised a flag at immigration?

I haven't seen any reports that say the passports were used to leave Thailand only to book the tickets for the flight from KL

While it's a possibility that they were used to leave here it has not been confirmed yet

[petedk]

There is a short extract of an interview she gave to CNN. I haven't seen the full interview.

http://amanpour.blogs.cnn.com/2014/03/10/exclusive-thai-prime-minister-comments-on-flight-370/?iref=allsearch

[animatic]

Yingluck is good at this.... she is good at calling and expressing her feelings... she should be a receptionist.

She is close to qualified,

being a deceptionist already!

[george]

Thailand grapples with 'massive' fake passport racket
Mon, Mar 10 07:49 AM EDT
By Amy Sawitta Lefevre

BANGKOK (Reuters) - With huge numbers of visitors and patchy law enforcement, Thailand has a booming black market for fake identity documents, and it was here that two passengers on a missing Malaysia Airlines jet were apparently able to get hold of stolen passports.

Thai authorities struggle to track thousands of lost or stolen passports each year. Some are known to be sold on through syndicates to drug traffickers. Others are suspected to have ended up in the hands of Islamist militants.

"Fake passports and identity fraud in general is a massive problem in Thailand," police commander and Thailand's Interpol director Apichart Suriboonya told Reuters.

Sometimes documents are sold by their owners to cover travel costs, Apichart said.

They are passed on to middlemen, Thai or foreign, who work with criminal networks, he said. The passports may be altered, for example with a new photograph, but sometimes the fraudulent user hopes to pass as the real owner.

The passenger manifest issued by Malaysia Airlines included the names of two Europeans - Austrian Christian Kozel and Italian Luigi Maraldi - who were not on the plane. Both had passports stolen on the Thai holiday island of Phuket.

The passports were used to buy tickets from travel agents in the resort town of Pattaya, to Beijing and on to Europe. Thai and foreign investigators were questioning staff at one travel agent on Monday.

There is no evidence the plane's disappearance is linked to the two passengers travelling under the stolen passports.

Police showed Reuters a copy of Maraldi's passport used to make the travel booking with what was apparently the original photograph of Maraldi in it. It was not immediately clear if the tickets were bought online or collected.

Thailand's fake document business has been flourishing for years.

In 2010, Thai and Spanish authorities arrested suspected members of an international ring providing forged passports to militants. Thai authorities say the ring may have passed fake documents to those behind the Madrid train bombings in 2004.

Pockets of Bangkok are notorious counterfeit goods emporiums with fake drivers' licenses, press cards and airline cabin crew identity cards on display. The Thai capital also boasts experts in forging visas.

"Thailand is fertile territory for people looking to steal European passports, there are lots of foreigners and many foreigners visit," a European diplomat said.

"UNSAVOURY CHARACTERS"

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said more than 60,000 passports - both Thai and foreign - were reported missing or stolen in Thailand between January 2012 and June 2013.

Police in Phuket said Maraldi reported his passport stolen in June last year, while Kozel's passport was reported stolen in March 2012. Police said they get reports of up to 10 lost passports a month in the province.

Phuket police officer Angkarn Yasanop said foreigners can earn $200 to sell their passport and then report it stolen. Many lost or stolen passports end up with Thais and other Southeast Asians trying to migrate for work, he said.

Larry Cunningham, who recently retired as Australia's honorary consul in Phuket, said a huge problem was tourists leaving passports as a deposit when renting jet-skis or motorbikes.

Crooked operators then make a false allegation of damage. The tourist, unwilling to pay, reports the passport stolen at an embassy on consulate and gets a new one. The old passport is sold on into the underworld.

"Phuket has some very, very unsavory characters and they're not all Thais," Cunningham said. "Nothing would surprise me about Phuket."

Interpol's stolen and lost travel documents (SLTD) database contains 40 million records from 167 countries but its secretary general, Ronald Noble, says not enough countries are using it.

"The bad news is that, despite being incredibly cost effective and deployable to virtually anywhere in the world, only a handful of countries are systematically using SLTD to screen travelers," Noble told a conference last month.

Apichart said Thai databases were not properly linked to Interpol data.

"The technology we use in Thailand to check fraudulent identity cards is outdated at many points of entry," he said.

-- Reuters 2014-03-10

[Jay Sata]

Larry Cunningham, who recently retired as Australia's honorary consul in Phuket, said a huge problem was tourists leaving passports as a deposit when renting jet-skis or motorbikes.

Crooked operators then make a false allegation of damage. The tourist, unwilling to pay, reports the passport stolen at an embassy on consulate and gets a new one. The old passport is sold on into the underworld.

"Phuket has some very, very unsavory characters and they're not all Thais," Cunningham said. "Nothing would surprise me about Phuket."

It only takes a quick google search with a few words like scam and Thailand and a lot of non Thai names emerge.

The Thai police choose to turn a blind eye to a lot of what goes on

[Basil B]

Hotel make copies of passports, I have never had any hotel in Thailand hold my passport, maybe time to make it illegal for anyone to hold a passport as security.

[lungmi]

All my documents I never give to someone. I rent a car, I give a copy of my passport and of my Thai driver card.

[Basil B]

"Interpol's stolen and lost travel documents (SLTD) database contains 40 million records from 167 countries but its secretary general, Ronald Noble, says not enough countries are using it.

"The bad news is that, despite being incredibly cost effective and deployable to virtually anywhere in the world, only a handful of countries are systematically using SLTD to screen travelers," Noble told a conference last month."

Problem as I see it is it being misused, "an American company receiving a brown envelope containing list of countries visited by executives and sales teem of their European competitors"

[dinom]

Thai authorities struggle to track thousands of lost or stolen passports each year

Lost my passport also once, had a hard time to convince the local police to make a report for me. So actually I was "struggling", I doubt the police report ever left that station. And I don't believe I am the only case.

[Prbkk]

Yingluck was on Ammanpour on CNN, speaking on the issue of passports. Very impressive I must say. Spoke in Thai with an interpreter and spoke very well.

[Prbkk]

Thai authorities struggle to track thousands of lost or stolen passports each year

Lost my passport also once, had a hard time to convince the local police to make a report for me. So actually I was "struggling", I doubt the police report ever left that station. And I don't believe I am the only case.

I lost mine somewhere in Sukhumvit. Someone handed it in and the police went to great trouble to get it back to me. I was very, very impressed with their efforts. Getting a new passport is, not unreasonably, a major pain. The only time I have lost one in 50 years.

[marcusd]

No Thai authority has any idea how to manage passport theft in Thailand...I doubt many reported thefts go further than the local cop shop.

As to follow up and investigation....never happens to my knowledge...I don't remember them ever returning a lost passport......until something such as the Malaysian plane mystery.....once the international agencies start to get involved, as they now have, then the back pedalling starts....simply smearing more egg on Thai faces!

Well considering the Passports were on the Interpol stolen list it's obvious that it does go further than the local cop shop

Thailand's Police/Government/Immigration are not at fault here as the Passports theft was on the Interpol database

But hey let's not let the facts get in the way of a good old bit of Thai Bashing

folks... It was Malaysian immigration who let this Terrible event escalate. They allowed stolen passports with their holders nothing like the original holders as Malaysian authority said. So not just Thai fault here

Marcusd. Via tapatalk