Police are beginning to unravel a fake visa racket, having arrested a Thai woman nicknamed “Mama” implicated in the disappearance of 300 visa stickers from the Thai consulate in Malaysia.
The investigation started after the immigration police in Mukdahan arrested a Cameroon national as he crossed into Thailand from Laos on July 20. Samuel Ncha Ekwale possessed a visa supposedly issued by the Thai consulate in Kuala Lumpur, but authorities were suspicious about how he had obtained it as there was no entry or exit stamp from Malaysia in his passport.
The suspect allegedly confirmed he had not travelled to Malaysia and admitted he obtained the visa from Mama, who had offered to help him get a Thai visa without going through the usual lengthy procedure. He paid about THB30,000 for the service.
They tracked Samuel’s payment and found he had transferred the money to a bank account belonging to a Nigerian man he believed was Mama’s husband. With this information, officers were able to identify Mama as Piyamat Bandasak, 39, who is a former Spanish interpreter for the Colombian consulate in Thailand.
The probe identified the suspected mastermind behind the missing Kuala Lumpur visa stickers as Indian national Kumar Ramesh, who is known to be in a relationship with a woman who works at the consulate.
Investigators found 259 of the visas stolen from Kuala Lumpur have been used. Among those foreigners known to have used the fake visas, 77 are still in Thailand.
The ministry also reported similar cases in other countries. About 500 visa stickers disappeared from the Thai consulate in Laos’ Savannakhet province and 2,000 visa stickers had vanished from the Thai consulate in the Hague in the Netherlands, reported the Bangkok Post.
