Police arrest 72 as blitz of illegal foreigners goes on

A total of 72 people, including three Thais, were arrested during coordinated police raids at 75 locations nationwide frequented by foreigners early yesterday morning.

Most face immigration charges, Tourist Police Bureau deputy chief Pol Maj Gen Surachate Hakparn said.

Eleven (three from Myanmar, one each from India, Germany, Australia, Malaysia, Uzbekistan, Finland, Serbia, and Russia) were charged with overstaying their visas.

Forty-six others (23 from Myanmar, nine from India, seven from Cambodia, five from Laos, and two from Vietnam) were charged with illegal entry.

The remaining 15 (10 from Myanmar, three Thais and one Nigerian) were charged with various other offences, Pol Maj Gen Surachate said.

The string of raids was the 20th in the ongoing crackdown dubbed “X-Ray Outlaw Foreigner’’. Officers from the Central Investigation Bureau, Narcotics Suppression Bureau, Tourist Police Bureau, Patrol and Special Operation Division, the Metropolitan Police Bureau’s Arintharat 261 special task force, Immigration Bureau and Chana Songkhram police were involved, Pol Maj Gen Surachate said.

The coordinated raids targeted three international schools, two language schools, 13 secondary schools and 57 other locations.

To date, a total of 1,904 foreign illegals have been apprehended during recent raids at 4,159 locations across the country.

Pol Maj Gen Surachate said the crackdown has also focused on Nigerian nationals, with several having been arrested in connection with online romance scams.

Based on immigration records, there are about 1,400 Nigerian nationals currently in Thailand.