THAI CRACKDOWN EYES ‘DARK-SKINNED PEOPLE’
Authorities unapologetic as they weed out ‘bad foreigners’
Allegedly aimed at busting visa abusers and illegal migrants, a Thai police operation called “X-Ray Outlaw Foreigner” has raised questions about racial profiling and fears for asylumseekers caught in its web.
Tens of millions of tourists come to Thailand each year for the cheap living and postcardperfect beaches, with some seeking out the seedier thrills of a bustling sex industry.
But as weak law enforcement, porous borders and corruption help make the country a hub for transnational crime, Thai authorities are intensifying Operation X-Ray — a programme that started about a year ago — with more than 1,000 people arrested in recent weeks.
Although the majority caught in the dragnet are migrants from nearby countries, the campaign has sparked concerns about profiling based on skin colour.
“Our job is to classify who are the good dark-skinned people and who are the ones likely to commit crimes,” said Immigration Bureau chief Surachate Hakparn.
He said the operation was aimed at weeding out visa overstayers and nabbing criminals — especially “romance scammers” who lure lonely locals online to defraud them of cash.
At the start of one night time operation in Bangkok’s rowdy Nana district earlier this month, about 75 Thai police officers stood in rows at a briefing.
“The targets are the darkskinned people. First, we search their bodies, then we search their passports,” shouted an officer.
Soon they began stopping suspects, including three people from Mali, who tested positive for drugs on the spot.
By 11.55pm, almost 30 individuals — about half were black — had been rounded up. Only one was Caucasian, a Frenchman caught smoking marijuana.
Surachate’s staff said details on the breakdown of nationalities was “confidential”.
But in the first two weeks of this month, police arrested a Korean citizen wanted by Interpol for sexual assault, and busted a team of four Nigerians and 16 Thais allegedly involved in romance scams. They also found a Laos national who had overstayed his visa by more than 11 years.
Rights groups warn that refugees and asylum seekers who transit through Bangkok en route to a third country for resettlement are also being ensnared in the latest police operation.
Thailand is not a party to the UN convention recognising refugees and made headlines in 2015 for deporting more than 100 Uighurs back to China.
More than 70 Pakistani Christians were rounded up and detained this month, even though they were assumed to be in transit and escaping religious persecution in their homeland.
But the authorities remain unapologetic. According to immigration chief Surachate’s count, Thailand is home to more than 6,000 people who ought to have left the country already.
“In order to clean house, we need to bring in the good people and deport the bad people so that the country will have sustained stability,” he said.