The head of Thai Immigration has announced the arrest of five foreign nationals in what he described as an attempt to improve the security of Thailand and its citizens by targeting known criminals.
In Phuket a Russian called Matvey Shuvalov, 45, is now in custody. He has apparently been hiding out in Thailand for twenty years and has a Thai wife and four children here. He was wanted on an Interpol warrant for fraud and had had his Russian passport rescinded before.
Immigration chief Nathathorn Phrosunthorn said that Shuvalov was a prominent figure in the Phuket underworld.
Also arrested were Norwegian Indal Stig-asbjoern and American Aarl Bagley. Both were wanted for sex offences believed committed in their home countries.
Yakov Elfasi, was also arrested for forgery and sex offences committed in his native Israel.
All suspects have had their right to stay in Thailand terminated and are now in custody.
It was also reported that three Taiwanese nationals were also under arrest for running a call centre. No details of this case were given yesterday.
One thought that springs to mind is if they were known criminals why were they not arrested sooner. The Russian’s been here for twenty years !!!
(Source:Sanook)