BANGKOK – At a press conference on February 29, Immigration Bureau authorities announced the arrest of two Chinese men claiming to be Canadian nationals at the gate inside Suvarnabhumi Airport, Nong Prue Subdistrict, Bang Phli District, Samut Prakan Province.
Pol. Maj. Gen. Phanthana Nuchanart, Deputy Commander of the Immigration Bureau, revealed that immigration personnel received information from EVA Air that there were two suspicious Chinese passengers with Canadian passports who could not communicate in English. They notified airline officials that they planned to fly to Taipei, Taiwan, then change flights to Vancouver, Canada.
Immigration inspectors subsequently checked the two people who were at the boarding exit, Gate E3, at Suvarnabhumi Airport, and discovered that the two Chinese were using fraudulent Canadian passports. When officers searched their belongings, they discovered Chinese passports, indicating that the two had left Colombo, Sri Lanka, for Suvarnabhumi Airport with the intention of using fake Canadian passports purchased from a Colombo agent to board a flight to Taipei, Taiwan, a destination for illegal entry into Vancouver, Canada.
According to coordinating the verification of the two people’s citizenship status with the Canadian Embassy in Thailand, the information on both men’s Canadian passports does not match the official Canadian database. Mr. Jianbo, 48, of Chinese nationality, and Mr. Pinhua, 49, of Chinese nationality, were then arrested and charged with using a forged passport. They were transferred to Investigating Immigration Bureau 3.
