BANGKOK: Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul (pic) announced on Wednesday (July 24) that he has warned the Provincial Administration Department (PAD) to ensure no billboards advertising the sale of passports are ever put up in Thailand again.
He said anybody will common sense should know that passports cannot be sold, so the PAD should never have let such billboards to be put up in the first place.
On Monday, Anutin ordered the authorities to immediately remove a billboard spotted in Bangkok’s Huai Khwang district sporting an advertisement in Chinese offering passports and nationalities for sale.
The removal order was issued after a photo of the billboard sparked an outrage on Thai social media.
Bangkok’s Huai Khwang district is now referred to as the city’s new Chinatown, with many Chinese entrepreneurs setting up bars and other businesses to cater to Chinese tourists. Many shops and bars in Huai Khwang also bear signs in Chinese language.
“Yesterday [Tuesday], I told the PAD that this kind of signs cannot be put up again,” Anutin said.
“Any advertisement offering passports of any country for sale is wrong. Thailand is not a place where outsiders can come to do illegal things. It’s not true that selling passports of other countries is not wrong. It’s common sense that passports cannot be sold.”
Anutin, who also doubles as deputy prime minister, said police are now investigating to find out who was the mastermind behind the gang that wanted to sell passports.
He said he has also instructed the PAD to work with relevant government agencies to screen out criminals when they try to enter the country under the free-visa policy.
The minister has also instructed the PAD to cooperate with police to identify and track down members of foreign call-centre gangs, who may be operating out of Thailand.
As for concerns that Thailand will soon become a “province of China”, Anutin said this fear is unfounded as Thailand is a sovereign nation.
He said it is okay for Chinese nationals to do honest business in Thailand as it would generate more income for the country.
“We are all descendants of aliens. Like my deputy Chada Thaised, my grandparents are also Chinese,” Anutin added. - The Nation/ANN
