A Sri Lankan national was arrested at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok last week after allegedly attempting to board a flight to London using a counterfeit Canadian passport, Thai immigration authorities said.
Immigration officers at the airport reportedly detected irregularities in the Canadian travel document presented by the passenger at boarding. Subsequent investigations established that the individual was a Sri Lankan national and was allegedly involved in a plan to use multiple travel routes to avoid detection, Newswire reported.
Thai officials later arrested a second suspect at Don Mueang International Airport, Bangkok’s secondary hub, as part of the same investigation. Authorities also said they recovered a mobile phone containing instructions on how to respond to border security officials during questioning.
The suspects are being investigated under Thailand’s immigration and document-fraud laws.
The case is the latest in a string of overseas document-fraud incidents involving Sri Lankan nationals. A former Welikada Prison OIC was arrested in May for accepting a bribe to facilitate a Chinese passport release. Thailand also reduced visa-free stays for Sri Lankan passport holders from 60 to 30 days in May, tightening border-control conditions for visitors.
