Four foreign criminal suspects connected to four separate cases of fraud, forgery and human trafficking have been arrested in an Immigration Bureau crackdown.
The arrests of one Chinese, two South Korean and one Cambodian were announced at a press conference chaired by Immigration commissioner Pol Lt Gen Sompong Chingduang.
The first case involves a Chinese national identified only as Jiao, 46, who was apprehended following a tip-off from Chinese officials that he might try to slip in Thailand to run a fraudulent scheme.
Immigration police launched a surveillance operation and Jiao was detained on Sept 4 as he arrived at Don Mueang international airport.
The suspect is now being processed for deportation to China to face charges in connection with a fraudulent investment scheme which caused about 137 million yuan (685 million baht) in damages.
In the second case, a 55-year-old South Korean national was arrested after spending 25 years in hiding in Thailand, according to the bureau's press conference.
Identified only as Yang, the suspect was detained at a restaurant in Pathum Thani during the crackdown against foreign nationals overstaying their visas. He legally entered Thailand in September 1994 and remained in the country after his passport expired in June 1999.
Immigration police said that Yang is wanted in South Korea on charges of falsifying cheques and personal identification documents. In South Korea, the statute of limitations is suspended if the suspect flees the country.
According to the bureau, Yang was also charged with overstaying his visa and would be deported.
In the third case, a 36-year-old South Korean national identified only as Yoon was arrested at a high-end condominium in Chon Buri's Bang Lamung district.
Yoon was accused of luring dozens of people to invest in the futures market from 2009 to 2016 and swindling them out of 500 million baht. After the scandal surfaced he fled to Thailand and stayed here illegally for two years and six months.
In the last case, immigration police arrested a Cambodian national identified only as Nang who was wanted on an arrest warrant issued by Ranong provincial court in February 2016 on charges of human trafficking.
The suspect was detained at a market in Pathum Thani's Lam Luk Ka district, where he admitted he had worked as a job broker persuading Cambodians to work aboard fishing boats in Ranong.
The four Cambodian nationals were also apprehended for illegally entering the country and being involved in street begging, the bureau announced.