Indian man, 27 Thai women arrested over fake marriage scam
An Indian man and 27 Thai women have been arrested in connection with a fake-marriage registration scam that enabled Indians to get residential visas in Thailand, a senior police officer announced on Monday.
Pol Lt-General Surachate Hakpal, immigration bureau chief and deputy head of the technology crime suppression centre, said Wikrom Layerhi (not official spelling) had been arrested on a charge of being a broker to arrange for Thai women to register fake marriages with Indian nationals.
The arrest was made following a long investigation, and 27 Thai women have also been taken into custody, he added.
Surachate said police found that the women had been hired for Bt8,000 to Bt10,000 each to register their marriages with Indians, so that the men could be granted residential visas.
The 27 women arrested were, however, found never to have stayed with the Indians with whom they had registered their marriages.
One of the women is 70 years old and has a family, including children, Surachate said.
Police have checked more than 8,000 Indians living in Thailand and found that 127 of them unlawfully obtained residential visas, which have since been revoked, he explained.
Thirty-six of the 127 men have been deported.