Fake Maltese visas found in Bangkok

Three Thais have been arrested with thousands of fake passport pages and visas for various countries, including Australia, Canada and China, police said yesterday. Among the named countries was Malta.

Police also found 600 fake Malaysian and Hong Kong identification cards and 100 fake plane tickets at the suspects' apartments in Bangkok, a major Asian centre for fake documents.

"This is the biggest raid on a travel document gang this year," Police Major-General Winai Thongsong, head of the Crime Suppression Bureau said.

But police said they found no link between this gang and any international militant network.

"No, they aren't connected. They have no shop or counter to place orders, but only people in the inner circle would contact them for the document they wanted," Mr Winai said.

The three men, aged 32, 27 and 50, were arrested on Sunday.

At their apartments, police found 100 fake passport books and more than 3,000 passport pages for Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, the Netherlands, France, Japan, Australia, Germany and the United States.

They also found about 1,500 visas for Australia, Malta, Moldova, the European Union, United States, Canada, Japan and South Africa.

International security analysts call Thailand "the place" to get fake travel documents.