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Burmese passport forger on the run |
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Mizzima News
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Tuesday, 29 April 2008 00:19 |
According to the Bangkok Post a major forger of passports has been arrested in Thailand, but his Burmese accomplice remains at large.
Mohammed Karim (56), of Bangladesh, was arrested in a raid conducted by Thai police in the Bang Kae District of Bangkok on Saturday. However is accomplice, a Burmese citizen named Tin Oo, is still on the run.
The two are accused of forging passports from countries such as the United States, France, Spain, Belgium, Malaysia, Singapore and Japan. They are alleged to have sold their counterfeit goods to Thai and Burmese touts and brokers who in turn passed them on to prostitutes and persons associated with smuggling and terrorism.
About 1,000 passports were seized in Saturday's raid, of which 577 had been completed, along with nearly 700 forged visa stamps.
The forgers charged 3,000 to 10,000 baht, or $95 to $315, for each passport, netting Karim 300,000 to 400,000 baht per month from the illegal operation, according to a statement from the accused.
It is the biggest forged passport seizure in Thailand in the past five years.
Police remain on the hunt for Tin Oo. The culprits can be punished by up to 20 years imprisonment.
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