Thai police chief asks PM Prayut to clean up the immigration police bureau

[webfact]

Police chief asks the prime minister to clean up the immigration police bureau



BANGKOK: -- Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha and Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan in charge of security affairs have been asked by the national police chief to clean up the immigration police bureau.

Informed sources said that Pol Gen Somyot Poompunmuang, the national police cbhief, submitted an urgent letter to Gen Prayut and Gen Prawit on Wednesday reporting on the alleged widespread abuses of authority among immigration police officers.

The alleged abuses by the immigration police officers are grouped into six categories among them providing service at a charge to enable foreigners to stay longer in the kingdom; taking bribes from illegal immigrants to enter the country; falsely certifying legal stay in the kingdom for foreigners who want to resettle in third countries and selling entrance and exit cards to Laotians and Vietnamese to enable them to enter the country to work.

The police chief said in the letter that immigration work was the frontline in the screening of foreigners into the country but their work had been compromised in a way that national security was at risk.

Meanwhile Pol Gen Somyot ordered the inspector-general, Pol Lt-Gen Nares Nanthachote, to conduct a fact-finding probe into the alleged abuses in the immigration police bureau and to report to him within September 23.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/police-chief-asks-the-prime-minister-to-clean-up-the-immigration-police-bureau


-- Thai PBS 2015-09-10

[baboon]

I know I am a bit of a cynic, so I wonder if the headline is in fact 'Police chief ordered to ask the prime minister to clean up the immigration police bureau'...

[ChrisY1]

This will be a big mess to clean up......took months for the lottery, but the value of fraudulent money that changes hands in Immigration is massive........... can't see any quick fix for this lot!

[wxpwzrd]

Come again? The police chief accusing other departments of corruption and abuse of authority? You just can't make this crap up!

[coulson]

This guy cracks me up.................fact finding probe..........

I would love to see a 'fact finding probe' shoved into that Casino scheme he kept harping on about.

[clockman]

The kettle calling the pot!

[Rhys]

Stroke it..

[webfact]

Police chief: Ratchaprasong bomber bribed immigration officials

BANGKOK, 10 September 2015 (NNT) – Royal Thai Police Commissioner-General Somyot Poompunmuang said on Wednesday Ratchaprasong bombing suspect Yusufu Mieraili was able to pass through the immigration point at the border in Sa Kaeo province 4-5 times by bribing the immigration police officials there.

According to Police General Somyot, he will be submitting a report about the officials' wrongdoing directly to Prime Minister and NCPO chief Prayut Chan-o-cha so the latter can proceed with 'overhauling' immigration points throughout the country. The outgoing police chief noted that he would be tackling the matter himself if his term was not coming to an end due to his reaching retirement age.

Pol. Gen. Somyot said officials at the Immigration Police Bureau have been warned to make improvements on many occasions but no changes have come about resulting in the Ratchaprasong bombing incident, which has made drastic measures necessary.


-- NNT 2015-09-10

[pinkpanther99]

DISGUSTING.

So basically Immigration has blood on its hands.

20 dead from the direct result of corruption!!

Utterly, utterly disgusting.

There should be a complete overhaul of Immigration from the chief right on down.

Jail time for the lot of them.

[ikke]

He is still the chief , isn't he... well he should sure get punishment if all what he accused the officers of is true .......

If not, its a precedent and also prime ministers can not be held responsible for happened behind their back.

So bring him in, after all he's responsible.

[ikke]

DISGUSTING.

So basically Immigration has blood on its hands.

20 dead from the direct result of corruption!!

Utterly, utterly disgusting.

There should be a complete overhaul of Immigration from the chief right on down.

Jail time for the lot of them.

"from the chief right on down"

Exactly !

[chainarong]

When you are the 11 million dollar man you probably can say what you like , however the RTP has along way to go if it wants to be taken seriously , there are quite a few departments that need a clean up not with standing the RTP.

[clockman]

The victims relatives, can sue the immigration police!

[SoFarAndNear]

Complains about extortions of billions of Baht in the last years of tourist and expats and no one cared. Congratulation But now they want to clean up. But anyway these people entered with false passports... I dont think that it was really Immigration blame if someone entered with good forged passport. Happens daily around the globe....

[speedtripler]

He is still the chief , isn't he... well he should sure get punishment if all what he accused the officers of is true .......

If not, its a precedent and also prime ministers can not be held responsible for happened behind their back.

So bring him in, after all he's responsible.

The way it usually works (at least in pathum thani) , is the bottom ladder guys will be be transferred or if anyone higher than mediocre it will be because someone is pissed off at them...

This is a complete damage limitation exercises as they know the fact the terrorists bribed their way through immigration will be thoroughly examined by everyone so a few heads should roll asap...

As if this doesn't happen everyday anyway... But this time the whole world is watching so they have to pretend they're not knuckle heads...... Good luck

[stickylies]

Nothing will change, trust me. Clean up. Replace. 6 months later: same same but different.

Falang no understand....

[sweatalot]

What about first cleaning up the national police chief's police bureau?

[zaphod reborn]

Complains about extortions of billions of Baht in the last years of tourist and expats and no one cared. Congratulation But now they want to clean up. But anyway these people entered with false passports... I dont think that it was really Immigration blame if someone entered with good forged passport. Happens daily around the globe....

That's not what happened. Uighur militants entered Thailand without any passport, by paying a bribe of about 18,000 baht for each entry. While in Thailand, they were able to obtain fake Turkish passports which had been provided by ISIL. It is estimated that 50,000 Uihgurs have passed through Thailand in this manner. Thailand was both a safe haven for terrorists, and a hub for ISIL's trafficking of its militants.

[Kannikapor88]

So the line to wash hands at the zink starts ...

If they really want to clean up something in Immigration Police they can come to Chiang Mai and start cleaning up all the dirt here - there should be Work for some months and dozens of Officers to transfer since I dont expect that these criminals will be fired and charged for their corruption ...

[trogers]

Recalling the arrogance of some official in an airport delaying a flight of a national airline...

Such arrogance probably comes from the sense of being untouchable...

How much more about corruption from squeezing the pockets of foreigners?

[worgeordie]

First stop Chiang Mai I hope,thought it would be an improvement

when they opened the new office,but its a right mess,with everything

pushing you to use agents.

regards worgeordie

[MobileContent]

The Immigrant Department is directly run under the police. Sorry to say but this is a farce and a blame game.

The Thai Immigration Bureau is under the command of the Royal Thai Police with the head of it been Pol Gen Somyot Poompanmuang. I just wonder how Somyot got that rich but for the moment he is well protected. Somyot accuses the Sakda Choenpakdee that the immigration officials are taking in daily bribes of around 1.8 million Baht.

This amount might be high to some but it is peanuts compared to what the Police chiefs of each station are taking in such as Thonglor (Soi Cowboy) and Lumpini (Soi Nana and Patpong) and lets not even talk about Pattaya. Every day a delivery of 10 million Baht is send from Pattaya police to Bangkok police HQ not far from the Erawan bombing. They now use GPS tracking as two cops decided 1 1/2 years ago to run with the money to Cambodia. I know the American guy that sold them the GPS devices.

I think it is high time for Somyot to show where his wealth came from and how much did be bribed himself up. For the time he is on the save side but once a new government is installed he will ahve to do some explaining to do.

Edited September 10, 2015 by MobileContent

[trainman34014]

Making the Immigration Police a completely autonomous department would go a long way toward a start of a clean up. Put one (clean) man in charge of it who has total control and make him responsible for everything and anything that happens in the future.

[coulson]

The outgoing police chief noted that he would be tackling the matter himself if his term was not coming to an end due to his reaching retirement age.

Why the need to continuously refer to his own retirement?

Just retire now and give everyone a break, the rank-stripping incident is off your desk!

[speedtripler]

The Immigrant Department is directly run under the police. Sorry to say but this is a farce and a blame game.

The Thai Immigration Bureau is under the command of the Royal Thai Police with the head of it been Pol Gen Somyot Poompanmuang. I just wonder how Somyot got that rich but for the moment he is well protected. Somyot accuses the Sakda Choenpakdee that the immigration officials are taking in daily bribes of around 1.8 million Baht.

This amount might be high to some but it is peanuts compared to what the Police chiefs of each station are taking in such as Thonglor (Soi Cowboy) and Lumpini (Soi Nana and Patpong) and lets not even talk about Pattaya. Every day a delivery of 10 million Baht is send from Pattaya police to Bangkok police HQ not far from the Erawan bombing. They now use GPS tracking as two cops decided 1 1/2 years ago to run with the money to Cambodia. I know the American guy that sold them the GPS devices.

I think it is high time for Somyot to show where his wealth came from and how much did be bribed himself up. For the time he is on the save side but once a new government is installed he will ahve to do some explaining to do.

Somyot was "installed" under prayut,

They both are extremely wealthy, coincidence I know

Some counts place their 'declared" assets to be not far from a billion thb

Upwards of 700,000,000+ thb anyway

Police and army starting salary is 8500-12,000

Unlikely they are in the same league as mr T and his billions fortune but does it really matter?

Of course Thaksin corruption is on a Completely different level but the way I see it we should hang all crooked officials... people like Thaksin who have only "stolen" several billion $ are as guilty as anyone else who takes 10. 50,100k bribes..

[ldiablo]

How long was this guy the police chief? Now with only 2 weeks left before forced retirement he suddenly is stating to clean up the Immigration police. Why didn't you do it on your own clock there Mr. P?

[speedtripler]

The Immigrant Department is directly run under the police. Sorry to say but this is a farce and a blame game.

The Thai Immigration Bureau is under the command of the Royal Thai Police with the head of it been Pol Gen Somyot Poompanmuang. I just wonder how Somyot got that rich but for the moment he is well protected. Somyot accuses the Sakda Choenpakdee that the immigration officials are taking in daily bribes of around 1.8 million Baht.

This amount might be high to some but it is peanuts compared to what the Police chiefs of each station are taking in such as Thonglor (Soi Cowboy) and Lumpini (Soi Nana and Patpong) and lets not even talk about Pattaya. Every day a delivery of 10 million Baht is send from Pattaya police to Bangkok police HQ not far from the Erawan bombing. They now use GPS tracking as two cops decided 1 1/2 years ago to run with the money to Cambodia. I know the American guy that sold them the GPS devices.

I think it is high time for Somyot to show where his wealth came from and how much did be bribed himself up. For the time he is on the save side but once a new government is installed he will ahve to do some explaining to do.

Insane a public servant in a third world country can have over 700m thb in his bank account

Same goes for the general, take an audit if your money is legit.... Will never happen

.

[phoenixdoglover]

I dunno. Maybe you could arrest the police officers who are breaking the law.

I know. Crazy idea.

Maybe pick one border crossing. Do a little sting. Arrest the bribe takers. Get them to confess. Have them reenact the crime. Invite the media. Point at the money as it changes hands.

Then broadcast this type of thing every Friday evening, and bring Happiness to the Thai People.

[nong38]

I want to see the job description for an Immigration Policeman before making a judgement, anyone like to comment on what might on the list? Apart from making the tea, how to make sure tea money does not run out, changing the date on the stamp with out error, wearing the correct uniform on the right day.

[lildragon]

Wait....isn't it HIS job?

Doesn't matter, a crack down or two, a few moves to inactive posts then everything will be back to back handkng normal.