There's a new broom at the Immigration Bureau, and he's determined to help clean up the country with help from the three S's
A compact man with an impressive CV, the new head of the Immigration Bureau, Wuthi Liptapallop, has set himself a tall order. Central to the three S's campaign he has established for the bureau is "security" - which means dealing with illegal aliens and flushing out foreign criminals who use the country as a haven.
"We have about three million illegal aliens in Thailand who came mostly from neighbouring countries. This is a big security problem for our country," says Police Lieutenant General Wuthi, who took over as commissioner of the Immigration Bureau last November.
"The second problem concerning security is transnational crime. I don't want Thailand to be known as a place where foreign criminals hide and conduct illegal activities, especially in Chiang Mai, Pattaya, Koh Samui and Phuket. We want these and other places in Thailand to be tourist destinations, not places for foreign criminals and gangs."
Although he has been in charge of immigration for only a short time, Lt Gen Wuthi is already well aware of the bureau's failings. But with a strong background in law enforcement, the 52-year-old is also aware of its advantages, and wants to develop it into a "flagship" of the Royal Thai Police (RTP).
He has served as commissioner of the Narcotic Suppression Bureau (NSB), deputy commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) and commander of the Tourist Police (TP). From the politically influential Liptapallop family, it's clear that Lt Gen Wuthi engenders respect from his new colleagues at the office of the bureau's Soi Suan Phlu headquarters in Sathon Road.
"He always lays his plans out clearly and implements them successfully. His record of suppression of all types of crime is well-known to his superiors. That's why he was selected to head the Immigration Bureau, which is often criticised, rightly or wrongly," said a former colleague at the NSB.
As deputy commissioner of the CIB from 2004, Lt Gen Wuthi said he had to deal with many different crimes ranging from fraud to human trafficking and illicit drugs. "I also gained a lot of experience in a variety of criminal cases involving foreigners, so my current assignment is really a continuation of the work I have already been doing for many years. I can cope with the workload and a variety of cases," he said.
What he has noticed is a lack of cooperation between local law enforcement agencies on transnational crime in Thailand. "While I was assigned to the TP, the CIB and the NSB, I found that there was always a lack of co-ordination between them in combating transnational crime," he said.
"For example, when the NSB receives information about foreign drug traffickers, then we would like to receive the same information here. We want to be linked to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI], the Drug Enforcement Administration [DEA], Interpol and to other foreign law enforcement organisations," Lt Gen Wuthi said.
In March, the National Criminal Centre will be established to handle police requests from abroad to track down foreign criminals. "It will be a centre for international arrest warrants, located in the immigration office," Lt Gen Wuthi said. "The centre will classify every criminal. I will try to arrest every criminal, not just prostitutes. The centre will tackle every crime, and arrest warrants from other countries. We have the names of the 'most wanted' people sought by the FBI, the DEA and Interpol.
"If criminals move to Thailand, we can find their records at the National Criminal Centre, locate them and make an arrest. We have the system and the ability to conduct such investigations," Lt Gen Wuthi said.
He is now chief of the Transnational Crime Coordination Unit, a body that will arrest anyone involved in transnational crime. This is a group of investigators at the Immigration Bureau who are assigned to investigate transnational crime.
"We also have a list of around 1,000 people with arrest warrants issued by Thai courts. We will try to classify the various warrants and arrange them into categories such as human trafficking, robbery, terrorism, narcotics and so on. I will launch a battle against all the criminals - to find and arrest them. I estimate that at least half of these wanted people are in Thailand."
He said the National Criminal Centre would have an advantage because "we have so much information and data, beginning with the entry of people into the country until their departure. This is an advantage that has never really been fully exploited".
"Unfortunately, Thailand is known as a haven for criminals from all over the world because of its relatively easy-going visa policies, which are designed to attract tourists. We must crack down on this," he said.
As proof of this new direction, Lt Gen Wuthi pointed to the arrest last week of Anai Kenichi, accused of murdering a rival Yakuza member in Japan last June.
He also pointed to the arrest of fake passport gangs in recent weeks, a campaign that will continue.
"There are still some here, and I will go after them more aggressively than was done in the past ... we are getting very good cooperation from the foreign embassies, from whom we have received special equipment to check passports and to identify counterfeits. The machines are installed at every airport and at border crossings, and can identify whether a passport is fake or has been altered. We have enough of these machines, and we are constantly conducting training courses for immigration officers as well."
Lt Gen Wuthi is just as serious about the other two S's - service and standards. He makes it clear that the Immigration Bureau has a crucial role to play in improving Thailand's image and supporting tourism and foreign investment.
"I want to revitalise and improve the bureau as well as have my immigration officers understand what we are doing. I have nearly 4,000 immigration officers under my command and 55 border checkpoints to look after. In fact, I am visiting these, one by one, at weekends.
"The bureau must be the main organisation that supports the economic policies of the government, especially in the fields of tourism and investment. Therefore, to serve potential investors is vital and the main point for me," Lt Gen Wuthi said.
Service was basic for all immigration officers as "they are the first people that tourists meet upon arrival, and the last before departure from the country. The first impression of foreign tourists meeting a Thai is the most important".
When it comes to standards, Lt Gen Wuthi wants to ensure consistant quality of service in the three areas immigration officers work in - international airports, land border crossings and river and sea ports.
"During the investigation I conducted over the past two months, I found that the standards are not the same. This includes the length of time to obtain a visa," he said.
"It shouldn't take more than five minutes, but at some checkpoints it takes five minutes and at others 10 or even 20 minutes. This is unacceptable. I want to standardise it, so it will take the same amount of time, whether at Suvarnabhumi airport or at Klong Toey port. For that we need to install more high-tech equipment such as electronic passport checking machines."
Lt Gen Wuthi said manpower needed to be increased to cope with the new workload. "We have the number of personnel fixed at nearly 4,000, but with the increase in numbers of tourists, investors and illegal aliens, we need more."
But there were be no let up on the requirement for all foreigners to carry their passport with them all times, he said. "This is for identification purposes. It is a law. Every Thai national must carry their ID card with them at all times, so why should foreigners be exempt? To carry a copy is not acceptable because it is impossible to see whether it is counterfeit or altered. Carrying a passport is not something we thought up in Thailand, but a normal regulation in many countries. I have been to many countries and carried my passport with me all the time."
When asked if he planned to enter politics like his elder brother Suwat, who held various ministerial positions in previous administrations, Lt Gen Wuthi answered with a smile: "I don't want to be involved in politics. My destiny is to teach or to be an instructor at a university. That would be much better. But I will remain a policeman until my retirement in 2018."
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