Hundreds of foreigners/teachers arrested in nationwide operation X-Ray Outlaw Foreigner

[HHTel]

One thing that's glaringly obvious over the last few raids, western expats are obviously not the problem contrary to some of the things we read!

[buksida]

western expats are obviously not the problem

Sure? Want to ask 'big joke' about that?

[StevePIraq]

Good to see that authorities are implementing the law and detaining illegals. This should happen in all countries.

[Nereus]

Immigration officers dismissed for visa skullduggery

https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/genera ... recent_box

Two immigration officers at Suvarnabhumi airport have been dismissed from the force for colluding in forging visa stamps for foreigners entering the country illegally.

Their dismissal followed the arrest of a 22-year-old Cameroon man, Clinton Naseli, in Songkhla province on Feb 15, immigration chief Pol Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn told reporters on Tuesday.

Mr Naseli had been charged with using fake visa stamps and official documents to enter the country.
Investigators found that three people were involved in the scandal. All had been detained.

The trio are Pol Snr Sgt Maj Noppadon Booyawan, 38, Pol Sgt Maj Somyos Fumfongfu, 38, and Pannita Sruayngam, 37, the fixer. Ms Pannita confessed to charging foreigners 50,000 baht to arrange fake visa stamps.

The investigation was extended and three more Cameroon men apprehended.

Pol Lt Gen Surachate said the two police officers were dismissed from the immigration police force and also face charges.

Since taking over at the immigration bureau, he had arrested 5 immigration police and 37 brokers involved in providing fake visa stamps, he said. More than 200 foreigners involved had their visas revoked.

He said no immigration officer found involved in visa skullduggery would be let off. All would face drastic action.

[handdrummer]

Maybe things are changing, or to be cynical, is it because of the election?

[buksida]

More deadly visa over stayers and exploited Lao migrants arrested as they pose a threat to election security ... what a crock!

POLICE: 490 FOREIGNERS ARRESTED IN MARCH TO MAKE ELECTION SAFE
Immigration police said early Friday they had arrested almost 500 foreigners this month as part of an operation to improve election security.

Immigration deputy police chief Maj. Gen. Itthipol Itthisaronnachai said the 490 people paraded at 1am today in front of The Street Ratchada mall and apprehended mostly for visa-related offenses, were arrested with the security of Sunday’s general election in mind.

“As you know, this is the period right before the elections. The Royal Thai Police has been ordered to implement the [X-Ray Outlaw Foreigner],” Itthipol said, referring to an operation credited with taking more than 8,400 foreign nationals off the streets since 2017, making this the 46th raid.

Most of the arrested, 338, were charged with illegal entry into Thailand. Fourteen were arrested for overstaying their visa, including Indian, Vietnamese, Laotian, Cameroonian, Cambodian, Swiss and American nationals. The remaining 138 were arrested for various other suspected offenses.

http://www.khaosodenglish.com/featured/ ... tion-safe/

[Spitfire]

They will be hauling many more in if they clamp down on the TM30 rules, in the fashion that is being reported, in many places as it seems to be an ambiguous topic at the moment. Guess it depends where you are as rules are enforced to whatever extent depending on the view of the local immigration office but if it's clamped down to the letter then it's going to be a headache for many...especially those who have more than one residence that they may potentially stay at.

The screw tightens slowly again. Looks like there are changes coming on a few fronts soon, especially financial requirements. They are slowly clearing house.

[handdrummer]

An American friend, who owns a business, told me that quite a few people have come in to say goodbye and that they can't meet the new requirements for the retirement visa. It's hurt his business.
I'

[oakdale160]

If the trend of ex-pats returning home from Thai occurs it will add to a large wave as it appears that many UK ex-pats resident in Europe may have to return after Brexit.

[caller]

If the trend of ex-pats returning home from Thai occurs it will add to a large wave as it appears that many UK ex-pats resident in Europe may have to return after Brexit.

Not because of politics, they don't.

[Nereus]

western expats are obviously not the problem

Sure? Want to ask 'big joke' about that?

Hmm, "allo, allo what's going on 'ere here then"?

'Big Joke' transferred to police HQ

https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/genera ... -police-hq

Surachate “Big Joke” Hakparn, the country’s highest-profile policeman, has been transferred to the Royal Thai Police Operations Centre under an order signed by national police chief Chakthip Chaijinda. No reasons were given.

Pol Gen Chakthip, who signed the order on Friday night, police spokesmen and Pol Lt Gen Surachate could not be contacted by reporters on Saturday.

Pol Lt Gen Surachate’s Facebook page “Surachate Hakparn”, his Twitter account and the Immigration Bureau Facebook page were offline on Saturday.

Pol Lt Gen Surachate, who is known to be close to Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, has been a rising star on the force in recent years. He has rarely been out of the headlines, placing himself front and centre at the scene of high-profile cases involving everything from immigration violators to illegal motorcycle racers, as well as computer crime cases involving another unit that he heads.

The son of a policeman, Surachate was born in 1970 in Songkhla. After joining the force, he quickly rose through the ranks to command a local station and later moved to Bangkok to head the 191 task force. From there he moved to the tourist police before landing the top job at the Immigration Bureau last year.

Under his command, the bureau has been aggressively pursuing foreigners who are in the country illegally, visa overstayers and criminals alike, under the slogan “Good Guys In, Bad Guys Out”.

Arrests have been accompanied by elaborate media presentations, featuring large posters bearing details and images of the accused offenders as well as giant pictures of the officers handling the case.

Pol Lt Gen Surachate entered the international spotlight in January, when he reversed a deportation order against Rahaf al-Qunun, a young Saudi woman who arived in Thailand fleeing what she said was abuse by her family. The immigration chief said he would not “send someone to their death”, and she has now been resettled in Canada.

[hhinner]

He was Prawit's man. Hard to imagine Chakthip doing this off his own bat.

[HHTel]

You beat me with the news. It's all the talk locally. Big 'Joke' transferred to an inactive post. Nobody seems to know why. I'm sure it'll become clear.
It has to be something quite serious, I guess. He was their 'golden boy' and the the most photographed policeman.

[HHTel]

They said that Big Joke's Facebook page was taken down. It is a very well visited site where the public go to report crime and when the Lt-Gen posts news of his crime busting exploits.



The Thai Immigration Facebook page also appeared to have been taken down on Saturday.



Big Joke’s Twitter account also looks like it has been removed.

From Sanook

[handdrummer]

Maybe he was getting too much publicity?