On March 22 , the Thai National Immigration Bureau announced that it had successfully tracked down and arrested a Chinese fugitive suspected of stealing 11 billion Thai baht. #The fugitive tried to evade the monitoring of the biometric system by changing his name and pretending to be a Vanuatu citizen. After careful investigation, the fugitive's identity was finally confirmed.
March this year , the Immigration Bureau has launched an investigation team. According to the information provided by the informant, a Chinese foreigner named Zhang Wei (pseudonym) was suspected of illegal entry or violation of the Immigration Law. He was suspected of hiding in downtown Bangkok. After receiving the relevant instructions, the Immigration Police Investigation Team compared Zhang Wei's facial information with the biometric database and found that his facial features matched those of Tunan, a foreigner from Vanuatu. The investigation team believed that Zhang Wei and Tunan were the same person and immediately launched further tracking.
It was not until 2:30 pm on March 21 that the staff found a foreigner at the scene whose appearance was consistent with the informant's description. When the foreigner was subject to passport control, he first claimed that he was not Chinese and said that his passport was lost. Later, he changed his words and said that he was a Vanuatu citizen and showed a photo of his Vanuatu passport. After verification, the staff confirmed that the person was Tunan, a Vanuatu citizen who held a 60- day tourist visa, but the visa had expired. The staff accused him of " staying beyond the authorized period " in accordance with the law , detained him after informing him of his rights, and then handed him over to the relevant law enforcement authorities for processing.
Zhang Wei was involved in a major fraud case in Shandong Province, China in 2024 , involving a sum of 2.4 billion RMB (about 11 billion Thai baht). Through biometric comparison, it was finally confirmed that he and Tunan were the same person. The Immigration Bureau has informed the relevant departments of the information and will hold him accountable according to law.