Bangkok –
Iranian national Firoozi, whose last name was withheld by Thai authorities, 46, was arrested by the Immigration authorities in Bangkok this week after allegedly asking a private hospital to issue a fake medical certificate for foreigners who wished to stay in the country for long stay visas and amnesty.
The arrest followed a complaint from a doctor, claiming that the foreigner had visited the hospital and asked him to issue medical certificates to apply for a long-stay visa and for those on amnesty. The doctor would also receive compensation from the suspect if he was willing to do so.
The doctor then alerted the hospital managing department and police inspectors to monitor the suspicious foreigner as he might deceive others and would ruin the hospital’s reputation.
A team of custom inspectors approached the foreign suspect and asked for his travel documents and identification. Firoozi was later taken to a Bangkok police station as he did not possess certain documents.
The initial investigation revealed that Firoozi had reportedly first arrived in Thailand in July 2015 and continued to stay in the country without a legitimate extended visa.
He was allegedly running a business to assist other foreigners to apply and extend long-stay visas by providing illegitimate documents. He had reportedly been contacting many private hospitals for medical certificate requests and was turned down before being caught by the police.
Firoozi was initially charged for overstaying for 1,800 days and will be further interrogated by the investigators for legal proceedings.
