The arrests and deportations were announced at a press conference in Bangkok with a host high-ranking Immigration officials present. (See Immigration report here.)
As explained at the press conference, the two cases involved a Belarusian man identified as “Mr Alexander” or “Mr Aliaksandr” and a Pakistani national identified as “Mr Sheikh” or “Mr Ajmel”.
Mr Alexander from Belarus had been caught working illegally in Thailand in 2018. The man was charged, deported and blacklisted, banned from re-entering Thailand for 100 years, from 2018 to 2118.
Yet, on April 23 this year Mr Alexander returned to Thailand via Phuket International Airport holding a new passport with the spelling of his name changed from original Belarusian “Aliaksandr” to more international “Alexander”.
The man was granted a 90-day permission to stay in the Kingdom, until biometrics revealed he was the same man as the one blacklisted in 2018.
Mr Alexander admitted to be a blacklisted person, so Phuket Immigration on Oct 10 revoked his new permission to stay in the country and deported him, the press conference was told.
Mr Alexander’s arrest and deportation followed the same actions against Mr Sheikh from Pakistan, whose permission to stay was revoked on Oct 1.
The permission was revoked on the same grounds as in case of Mr Alexander. In 2018 Mr Sheikh was prosecuted, deported and blacklisted for 10 years, but on July 5 this year returned to Thailand holding a passport in the name of Mr Ajmel.
He entered the Kingdom via Suvarnabhumi International Airport and was granted permission to stay in the country until Oct 2.
Mr Sheikh (Mr Ajmel) also admitted to be a blacklisted person and was deported, the Immigration Bureau reported.