319 foreigners arrested in latest 'outlaws' raids

Some of the foreigners arrested during Friday morning's coordinated police raids on 337 premises in Bangkok and other provinces. (Photo: Tourist Police Bureau)
Some of the foreigners arrested during Friday morning's coordinated police raids on 337 premises in Bangkok and other provinces. (Photo: Tourist Police Bureau)

A total of 319 foreigners were arrested for immigration offences in the latest "outlaw tourists" raids, which targeted 337 locations across the country early on Friday morning.

They also arrested 50 Thai nationals on separate offences.

Combined teams of local, immigration, tourist police and other agencies descended on premises in Bangkok, Kanchanaburi, Nakhon Sawan and other provinces, targeting people at one language school, two secondary schools and 334 other places frequented by foreigners.

Pol Maj Gen Surachate Hakparn, acting Immigration Bureau chief, released details at a media briefing on Friday. Also present were acting tourist police commissioner Pol Maj Gen Theeraphol Kuptanont and senior police officers from other agencies involved.

Ninety-six of those arrested (65 from Myanmar, 13 from India, 7 from Laos, 4 from Vietnam, 2 each from Cambodia and Russia, one each from China, Ghana and Nigeria) were charged with overstaying their visas.

The longest overstayer was Francis Okai, 36, a Ghanaian man caught in Bangkok 656 days after he should have left, followed by Arjun Kumar Yadav, 30, an Indian national caught in Kanchanaburi for overstaying 162 days, and a Vietnamese woman, Nguen Thi Ngoc, 28, who was arrested in Nakhon Sawan 60 days after her visa expired, Pol Maj Gen Surachate said.

Another 131 (79 from Myanmar, 15 from Cambodia, 10 from Laos, 9 from China, 7 from Vietnam, 6 from India, one each from Malaysia, the Philippines, the USA, Ivory Coast, and another whose nationality was not released) were charged with illegal entry. The remaining 142 (50 Thais, 48 from Laos, 21 from Cambodia, 14 from Myanmar, 4 from China, one each from India, Vietnam, Canada, Israel and the US) were charged with other offences.

The raids were the 21st phase of operation X-Ray Outlaw Foreigner, which aims to sweep out foreign criminals entering the country to commit crime, such as romance scams, credit card skimming and drug trafficking, and those who overstay their visas, the acting Immigration Bureau chief said.

To date, a total of 2,273 people had been arrested during raids at 4,496 locations across the country. Authorities would continue the crackdown, impose stricter measures and search more locations in tourist provinces and border areas to boost overall safety for tourists, he said.

All the arrested foreigners would be put on police blacklists and deported to their home countries, Pol Maj Gen Surachate said.

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Vocabulary

  • acting: doing the work of the usual person in a particular job while they are not there, or until a new person starts - ที่รักษาการแทน
  • blacklist: a list of the names of people, companies, products or countries that an organization or a government considers unacceptable and that must be avoided - บัญชีดำ, รายชื่อผู้ที่รัฐบาลไม่ยอมรับหรือต้องถูกหลีกเลี่ยง
  • boost: to increase; to strengthen - เพิ่ม; ทำให้มีกำลังมากขึ้น
  • briefing: a meeting in which people receive information or instruction - การสรุปแบบสั้นๆ
  • crackdown: strong action that someone in authority takes to stop a particular activity - การใช้กำลังเข้าปราบปรามของเจ้าหน้าที่
  • deport: to send someone out of a country, usually because they do not have a legal right to be there - เนรเทศออกจากประเทศ, ส่งตัวกลับประเทศ
  • descend on (verb): to come to a place, especially in an impressive way; to come to a place in large numbers - จู่โจม, มาในจำนวนมาก
  • expire: to come to an end or stop being in use - หมดอายุ
  • frequent: to visit a particular place often - ไปบ่อย,ไปเป็นประจำ
  • impose: to introduce something and force people to accept it - กำหนด,บังคับใช้
  • measure: a firm action taken to solve a problem or stop a dangerous unpleasant situation - มาตราการ
  • overstay: stay in a country for longer than you are allowed to stay, not leaving when your visa to stay in the country ends -
  • phase: a particular period of time during the development of something - ตอน, ขั้นตอน, ช่วง, ระยะ
  • premises: the buildings and land that a business or organisation uses - ที่ดินและสิ่งปลูกสร้าง
  • raid (noun): a short (surprise) attack on an enemy or group - การจู่โจม,การโจมตี, การบุกเข้า
  • scam: a dishonest plan, especially for getting money - กลโกง, แผนร้าย
  • skim (verb): to use a piece of equipment to secretly obtain information from a electronic device like an ATM - ขโมยข้อมูลด้วยเครื่องดักข้อมูล
  • trafficking: dealing in illegal goods, like drugs, weapons or in illegally moving humans or animals from one place to another - การค้าสิ่งที่ผิดกฎหมาย

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