The Immigration Bureau (IB) has met with its Chinese counterpart in China to thrash out solutions for screening Chinese nationals involved in shady businesses who flee to Thailand.
IB commissioner Pol Lt Gen Pakphumpipat Sajjaphan and his deputy Pol Maj Gen Phanthana Nutchanart were in Xian in Shaanxi province this week to meet Yang Shanwei, the deputy chief of the Public Security Department.
Four days of talks that wrapped up yesterday were held to seek bilateral cooperation in preventing Chinese criminals from fleeing to Thailand via airports and overland border checkpoints, as well as to track down those who have been issued arrest warrants by Chinese courts. According to the IB, measures to suppress call centre scams, abduction cases and other crimes related to Chinese gangs were also discussed.
Meanwhile, lawyer Atchariya Reuangrattanapong, chairman of the Help Crime Victims Club, filed a petition with the Department of Special Investigation yesterday requesting a probe into Chinese criminal rings involved in money laundering, call-centre scams, online gambling and forging tax invoices in Thailand.
Mr Atchariya said that he found 10 companies had been registered by Thai nominees for Chinese and Singaporean businessmen. The companies claim that they import goods from China through customs checkpoints in Mukdahan, Nakhon Phanom, Laem Chabang Port in Chon Buri and Klong Toey Port in Bangkok. The firms were allegedly laundering money generated by shady businesses worth 10 billion baht, he said.