Guest Posted May 20, 2004 Report Share Posted May 20, 2004 Two Europeans and a South African have been arrested in the Thai capital for forging hundreds of Italian passports and visa seals they planned to sell in Europe, immigration police said Thursday. British national Robert John Pope, 57, and German Uwe Schneider, 30, were arrested at their apartment Wednesday night with 119 fake Italian passports, 120 Italian passport stamps and 10 British passport laminates. As police brought the two suspects to immigration headquarters for interrogation, South African Philipp Hofer, 31, arrived and offered a bribe of 500,000 baht (12,500 dollars) to police to release the two suspects and all seized documents, police said in a statement. Hofer was later charged with bribing officials on top of falsifying and using official documents along with his two colleagues. "The three suspects denied all charges, so police will prosecute them, revoke their visas, and place them on an immigration blacklist," the statement said, adding that the suspects each faced five years behind bars. The European Union has accused Thailand of being a hub for forgery of official documents, which facilitates human trafficking around the globe. Thai authorities have countered by saying the trade was controlled by foreigners. In February a Frenchman and a German were arrested at Bangkok's international airport for attempting to smuggle out of the country more than 400 fake European passports and visa seals. Last November Spanish authorities said they and Thai police unearthed a passport-forging "factory" in Bangkok designed to help people-trafficking gangs bring illegal immigrants into Europe, with some of the passports falling into the hands of international terrorists. http://www.eubusiness.com/afp/040520084124.upc6uhpu ********** Considering all the anti-terrorism measures Thailand is meant to be taking, five years seems pretty light for this. I recall someone (Stickman?) saying some girl got 10 years plus for thieving a few hundred baht. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 30, 2004 Report Share Posted May 30, 2004 any uptade on that story? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.