#Thailand - Round ’em up, ship ’em out – another 500 foreigners arrested in crackdown

Authorities rounded up 503 foreigners for overstaying their visas, illegally entering Thailand and other crimes during simultaneous searches at 217 locations around the country early Friday.  

 Immigration Police Bureau deputy chief Pol Maj-General Itthipol Itthisarnronnachai says the raids are part of the government’s crackdown on transnational scammers, card skimmers and drug traffickers, as well as foreigners breaking immigration laws.

The searches took place at locations including four schools, 73 private firms and shops, six service establishments and 50 hotels and hostels, he said.4 Iranians,3 Lao, two Russians and an American, an Indian, a Chinese and a Mongolian were charged with overstaying their visas.

94 Lao, 86 Burmese, 68 Cambodians, 2 Vietnamese and an Indian and South Korean were charged with entering the country illegally.

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There was an additional 121 Thais, 50 Cambodians, 40 Burmese, 6 Lao, 6 Vietnamese, 3 Indians, 2 Filipinos, 2 Chinese, 2 Australians, 2 Russians and a Briton, a South Korean, a Greek and a German who were detained on numerous other charges.

He said 43 separate operations were included in the clampdown and resulted in the arrest of 6,971 foreigners.

Last year in October, following a deadline set by the Thai PM to seek out, arrest and deport overstayers and criminals, it was declared there were no more illegal foreigners living in Thailand.

Source - TheNation 

#Thailand's infamous 'jet-set monk' convicted of raping a minor

Thailand's infamous "jet-set monk" was convicted of raping an underage girl Wednesday, a court official said, in a case that has rocked an already scandal-mired Buddhist clergy.

Wiraphon Sukphon, 39, earned his evocative moniker after footage emerged of him wearing designer sunglasses with a Louis Vuitton bag on a private jet.

He was extradited back to Thailand from the US last year, accused of the rape and duping donors who had given him money to build what he said would be the world's largest emerald image of Buddha.

The girl was under the age of 15 and Wiraphon is said to have later fathered a child with her.

In Wednesday's ruling, which found him guilty of rape and separating the girl from her parents, the court said he had given the Buddhist faith a "bad reputation".

"He used his monkhood, which Thai people respect," the court official told AFP.

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 Wiraphon's 16-year custodial sentence punishment will be added to the 20-year prison term he received in August after being found guilty of multiple counts of fraud.

The military junta that seized power in 2014 has taken a hardline against monks acting outside the law and authorities have considered introducing digitised ID cards that could track members of the community with criminal histories.

Thailand is mostly Buddhist and the religion is woven into everyday life, but drug, sex and financial scandals have weighed on the Buddhist leadership and forced some high-profile collisions with law enforcement.

In May the abbot of the tourist-heavy "Golden Mount" temple in Bangkok was arrested after $4 million was found in bank accounts in his name. 

Police are also investigating allegations of financial wrongdoing within the National Office of Buddhism.

And early last year, soldiers raided the temple of the mega-rich Dhammakaya sect on the outskirts of Bangkok to detain its controversial abbot on accusations of massive fraud. He eluded capture and remains at large.

Source - TheJakartaPost

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#Thailand - Pha-Ngan Full Moon party still popular

More than 10,000 foreign tourists joined the popular Full Moon Party on Koh Pha-Ngan late Sunday night and the early hours of Monday under the watchful eye of security officials, the Pha-Ngan district chief said.

Pha-Ngan district chief Krirkkrai Songthani dispatched 120 troops, police and Interior Ministry officials to the designated area on the island’s Haad Rin Beach to maintain security during the party.

Krirkkrai said the beach was crowed with partygoers and he had deployed the officials to prevent crime and drug abuse.

Haad Rin has been famed for its Full Moon Party celebrations for decades but the parties had become notorious for drug and alcohol abuse. Tourists reportedly liked to eat “magic mushrooms”, a kind of fungus with hallucinatory effects, and regularly drank all night before passing out on the beach. Clinics and hospitals were often full of exhausted and hung-over tourists the following day.

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Tourists danced to the blaring music as security officers patrolled the beach.

Krirkkrai said the large turnout showed that foreign tourists had regained confidence and were returning to both Koh Pha-Ngan and Koh Tao. He said officials have measures in place to ensure the safety of visitors and hoped they would return to visit the two islands.

Source - TheNation

 

Thailand: ‘Intrusive’ immigration form now mandatory for foreigners

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IF you are planning to visit Thailand’s resort province of Phuket, you will now be required to furnish a host of personal information, including banking account and social media details to the nation’s Immigration bureau.

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Otherwise, failure to submit applications when entering the province will result in consequences, a Immigration official has warned.

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Immigration Bureau’s crime suppression unit Deputy Commissioner Maj Gen Chachaval Vachirapaneegul said the details to be filled in the “Foreign National Information Form”, released last Monday, was now a mandatory requirement.

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“If a foreigner doesn’t want to fill in their information by themselves, they will be questioned for our records anyway. If they don’t fill in the form, we will suspect their reason,” Chachaval was quoted as saying in Phuket News.

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SEE ALSO: Thailand asking foreigners for bank account, social media, and hangout details

Apart from social media and account details, the three-page form asks for foreigners’ contact numbers and email addresses, vehicle registration, and places frequented by the foreigner.

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In the form, visitors were warned that: “Providing false information to an officer, shall be punishable under the Penal Code.”

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According to the paper, the form covers most types of applications for foreigners.

“This form shall be used for making record of information of every alien entering and staying in the Kingdom of Thailand and shall be submit with Notification of residences for Aliens (section 37, 38 of Immigration Act, BE, 2522), or 90-days notification, or Extension of Stays (all purposes), or Re-entry Permits, or in all cases involving alien labors,” the header reads.

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SEE ALSO: Thailand: Foreigners vexed by ‘intrusive’ immigration forms

However, Chachaval did not confirm whether failure to provide certain information would form a basis for applications to be rejected and clarified that the social media account details was optional. He said all other sections were mandatory.

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“We will not force people to provide their social media details,” he said.
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Source: Asiancorrespondent.com/

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Thailand - Metropolitan police chief tells foreigners to carry passports at all times

BANGKOK:-- Police have called on foreigners to carry their passports with them at all times in order to help officers crackdown on transnational crime.

On Friday evening, officers from Lumpini and Thonglor police raided entertainment venues and set up two police checkpoints in order to ensure that foreigners were carrying either their original passport or a photocopy with them.

The operation led by Pol. Lt. Gen Sanit Mahathavorn, Metropolitan Police Commander, saw raids on 15 entertainment venues.

Pol. Lt. Gen Sanit also revealed that passport control checkpoints were set up outside the Grace Hotel, Soi Nana and the Asoke Montri intersection.

The police commander, told reporters that the operation had been to focus on foreigners who may be involved in crime.

He added that following the raids and passport checks, everything went smoothly and no one was found to be breaking the rules.

“The reason I decided to do the mission tonight is because many entertainment venues which attract foreign tourists are located in these areas. And since many foreigners visit these areas I’m afraid some of them might have ill-intentions to be involved in dark business, or even crimes, especially trans-national crime.

“This operation also helps to boost confidence between tourists and the security forces”, he added.

“I also want to ask for cooperation from all tourists to carry their passports or a photocopy every time when they go out.”