Immigration to expel foreign criminals living in Thailand
Bangkok Post: 21 Feb 2010
New drive to expel foreign undesirables
IMMIGRATION VOWS END TO SAFE HAVENThe Immigration Bureau has launched a campaign to drive out hundreds of foreign criminals living in Thailand.
Bureau commissioner Wuthi Liptapallop said Thailand was known worldwide as a haven for criminals because of its relatively easy-going visa policies.
''I don't want Thailand to be known as a place where foreign criminals hide and conduct illegal activities _ but they do, especially in Chiang Mai, Pattaya, Koh Samui and Phuket,'' Pol Lt Gen Wuthi said in an exclusive interview with the Bangkok Post Sunday.
''We want these and other places in Thailand to be tourist destinations, not places for foreign criminals and gangs.''
A new National Criminal Centre, to be based at the immigration office in Soi Suan Phlu, will open next month to handle police requests from abroad to track down foreign criminals, Pol Lt Gen Wuthi said.
The crackdown will target both foreign nationals who have an outstanding international arrest warrant against them and those who have committed offences while residing in Thailand.
Pol Lt Gen Wuthi, who also heads the Transnational Crime Coordination Unit within the bureau, said they had the names of the ''most wanted'' people sought by the the US's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Interpol.
The National Criminal Centre would have an advantage.
''We have so much information and data, starting with the entry of people into the country until their departure.
''This is an advantage that has never really been fully exploited.''
He said they also had a list of about 1,000 foreign nationals with arrest warrants issued by Thai courts.
''We will try to classify the various warrants and arrange them into categories such as human trafficking, robbery, terrorism, drugs and so on.
''I will launch a battle against all the criminals _ to find and arrest them.
''I estimate that at least half of these wanted people are still in Thailand,'' he said.
Pol Lt Gen Wuthi, who served as commissioner of the Narcotic Suppression Bureau (NSB), deputy commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) and commander of the Tourist Police (TP), took over as immigration chief in November.
He said his previous experience had shown him there was a lack of coordination between local law enforcement agencies working on rooting out transnational crime in Thailand.
''When the NSB receives information about foreign drug traffickers, we would like to receive the same information here. We want to be linked to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Interpol and to other foreign law enforcement organisations,'' he said.
As proof of this new direction, Pol Lt Gen Wuthi pointed to the arrest last week of Anai Kenichi, accused of murdering a rival Yakuza member in Japan last June.
About the author
Writer: Maxmilian Wechsler
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/33241/new-drive-to-expel-foreign-undesirables
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