15 Thai officials charged after 2 Chinese suspects escape passport-forging raid

The Thai officials were charged with corruption after two Chinese suspects walked free from a raid on a passport-forging den, police said on Monday

Case comes as concerns in Thailand grow over so-called ‘grey businesses’ – illegal operations run by Chinese nationals

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Published: 10:35am, 17 Jan 2023Updated: 3:32pm, 17 Jan 2023

Thailand has charged 15 officials with corruption after two Chinese suspects walked free from a raid on a passport-forging den, police said on Monday.

The case comes as concerns in Thailand grow over so-called “grey businesses” – illegal operations run by Chinese nationals.

Police raided the former consulate of Pacific island Nauru in Bangkok late last month following allegations that Chinese citizens were squatting there.

Inside officers found two Chinese men – both wanted by Beijing – forging passports for fellow nationals, Deputy National Police Chief Surachet Hakpal said.

But the two managed to escape, he told reporters, with the collusion of five officials from the Department of Special Investigation as well as nine police officers and a military sergeant.

The officials, along with a translator, extracted a 10 million baht (US$245,000) bribe from the suspects for their help, Surachet said.

The scheme came to light, Surachet said, when the translator confessed after being caught attempting to flee to Malaysia and a lost hard disk containing the original evidence was discovered.

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