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Kap Chong R Us Member
Visas 'missing' from Thai embassy
Published: 22 Aug 2013 at 12.41Online news:
A total of 300 visa stickers were recently found to be missing from the Thai embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and 259 have been used by foreigners, many of them on the immigration police watch list and not eligible for entry or re-entry to Thailand, according to an online report on Khaosod newspaper website Thursday morning.
The report said the disappearance of the visa stamps was revealed after the immigration police manning the Songkhla Immigration Office in Sadao district on the Thai-Malaysian border on Wednesday morning arrested Naemeka Sunday Edwin (spelling based on Thai script), 35, a Nigerian national, as he was leaving the country. He was on the immigration police watch list.
After checking with the office of Immigration Police Sub-division 1, they obtained additional information that Naemeka was considered by the Thai embassy in Kuala Lumpur as a possible threat to national security because the visa sticker on page 6 of his passport might have been obtained through illegal means or might be a fake.
A source said the immigration police at Mukdahan province bordering with Laos earlier arrested a Cameroon national who was entering the country from Savannakhet. In his passport, the immigration police found a visa stamp issued by the Thai embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
From a subsequent check, the Thai embassy said the visa stamp was genuine but what was unusual was that the man had never travelled to Malaysia. He confessed to have paid 3,000 Malaysian ringgit, or about 30,000 baht, for the visa.
The Immigration Police Bureau also learned that the Thai embassy in Kuala Lumpur originally received 3,000 visa stickers from the Foreign Ministry and 300 of them - 100 with the running numbers A4049901-A405000, 100 with numbers A4055501-A4056000, and another 100 with numbers A5801901-A5802000 - had gone missing.
Of the 300, 259 had been used by 35 Iranian, one Camaroon, 20 Nigerian, four Pakistani, four Indian nationals and the rest by other nationals from the Middle East.
These people had used the visas for entering and leaving the country, and 55 of them were still in Thailand.
It was found from further investigation that these foreign nationals bought the visas from a Thai woman known as "Mama", whose address was in Soi Pattanakarn 64 in Bangkok. To get the visa, they went to see the woman and gave her their passport, a photo, and 10,000 baht. A few days later they were required to pay another 20,000 baht to get the passport with a visa stamp in it.
The visa office at the Thai embassy in Kuala Lumpur has five officials - three Thais and two Malaysians.
The report said that on Tuesday officials from the National Security Council (NSC) contacted the Immigration Police Burea and said those who had used the missing visa stickers were on a watch list for the prevention and suppression of transnational terrorism.
Of the 55 still in Thailand, the immigration police had arrested nine of them and all immigration offices along the border had been alerted to watch for them.
BK Post
Published: 22 Aug 2013 at 12.41Online news:
A total of 300 visa stickers were recently found to be missing from the Thai embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and 259 have been used by foreigners, many of them on the immigration police watch list and not eligible for entry or re-entry to Thailand, according to an online report on Khaosod newspaper website Thursday morning.
The report said the disappearance of the visa stamps was revealed after the immigration police manning the Songkhla Immigration Office in Sadao district on the Thai-Malaysian border on Wednesday morning arrested Naemeka Sunday Edwin (spelling based on Thai script), 35, a Nigerian national, as he was leaving the country. He was on the immigration police watch list.
After checking with the office of Immigration Police Sub-division 1, they obtained additional information that Naemeka was considered by the Thai embassy in Kuala Lumpur as a possible threat to national security because the visa sticker on page 6 of his passport might have been obtained through illegal means or might be a fake.
A source said the immigration police at Mukdahan province bordering with Laos earlier arrested a Cameroon national who was entering the country from Savannakhet. In his passport, the immigration police found a visa stamp issued by the Thai embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
From a subsequent check, the Thai embassy said the visa stamp was genuine but what was unusual was that the man had never travelled to Malaysia. He confessed to have paid 3,000 Malaysian ringgit, or about 30,000 baht, for the visa.
The Immigration Police Bureau also learned that the Thai embassy in Kuala Lumpur originally received 3,000 visa stickers from the Foreign Ministry and 300 of them - 100 with the running numbers A4049901-A405000, 100 with numbers A4055501-A4056000, and another 100 with numbers A5801901-A5802000 - had gone missing.
Of the 300, 259 had been used by 35 Iranian, one Camaroon, 20 Nigerian, four Pakistani, four Indian nationals and the rest by other nationals from the Middle East.
These people had used the visas for entering and leaving the country, and 55 of them were still in Thailand.
It was found from further investigation that these foreign nationals bought the visas from a Thai woman known as "Mama", whose address was in Soi Pattanakarn 64 in Bangkok. To get the visa, they went to see the woman and gave her their passport, a photo, and 10,000 baht. A few days later they were required to pay another 20,000 baht to get the passport with a visa stamp in it.
The visa office at the Thai embassy in Kuala Lumpur has five officials - three Thais and two Malaysians.
The report said that on Tuesday officials from the National Security Council (NSC) contacted the Immigration Police Burea and said those who had used the missing visa stickers were on a watch list for the prevention and suppression of transnational terrorism.
Of the 55 still in Thailand, the immigration police had arrested nine of them and all immigration offices along the border had been alerted to watch for them.
BK Post
