The claim was made in a video posted by a Chinese visitor following an immigration officer he said held onto his passport at Suvarnabhumi airport. A message in Chinese was attached to the video, reports the Bangkok Post.
Immigration translated the message into Thai, saying it said, “working in Thailand without a visa requires a connection in the Immigration Bureau”.
This drew a response from Pol Maj Gen Choengron Rimpadee, commander of the immigration division 2 which supervises major airports.
He said he saw the video last week and it was taken in the immigration hall at Suvarnabhumi airport.
According to the commander, the immigration officer in the video was Pol Capt Eknarin Chantamatornpassakul, an inspector of immigration.
He said a Chinese tourist had asked the immigration inspector to help him fill in a digital arrival card and speed up the immigration process, saying he had already been delayed by the digital arrival card process.
Pol Capt Eknarin had assisted the visitor and led the man to a normal immigration booth. The inspector said he gave sincere help to the visitor and was unaware that the man took the video behind his back and made such a defamatory post.
Pol Maj Gen Choengron said immigration officers were this year denying entry to people who only pretended to be tourists. Chinese factors were trying to generate business by creating situations and claiming they could secure entry with the help of some immigration officers.
He said Pol Capt Eknarin had already filed a formal complaint and immigration police were hunting down the Chinese man, who would be deported and blacklisted.