Suspect checked into Bangkok hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 5 on Tuesday evening and was collared by the police on Thursday. On Friday, General Ittipol Ittisarnronnachai, the deputy chief of the police Immigration Bureau highlighted the role of the central biometrics database system in the case.
A senior immigration bureau commander praised both the quick action of the police in Phuket and the new police biometric system for the efficient apprehension of a Kuwaiti suspect for whom a warrant was issued on Thursday for rape in the Patong area of the city. The victim was a Danish woman.
Thai immigration police in Bangkok announced on Friday the arrest of a 33-year-old Kuwaiti national charged with the rape of a woman in Phuket and deprivation of liberty on foot of a warrant issued the day before.
The arrest occurred at a hotel in the Asoke area of Bangkok after police tracked down the offender down through the immigration bureau’s biometric system and registration details from a hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 5 where the suspect checked in on Tuesday, January 14th.
Police obtained a court arrest warrant fro the Kuwaiti man in Phuket on Thursday on rape charges
The offence relates to the reported rape of a Danish woman in the Patong area of Phuket for which police sought a warrant from the Phuket Provincial Court on January 16th. The arrest warrant 20/2563 was approved by the court.
Suspect is a 33-year-old Kuwaiti national
Details of the arrest were given on Friday by Immigration Bureau Deputy Chief Major General Ittipol Ittisarnronnachai.
The immigration police chief only identified the Kuwaiti by his surname as Mr Ghazi and confirmed that he is 33 years old.
Immigration police located the suspect relaxing at the Lakeview Hotel in Asoke and asked for documents
Officers accosted the suspect at the Lakeview Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 16 on Thursday after the immigration office in Bangkok on Wednesday had received details from the suspect’s hotel.
Recognising the Kuwaiti from a description of the suspect, they asked him for his passport and to confirm his name.
Suspected will be taken back to Phuket
With this information, Mr Ghazi was invited to accompany the police officers to a Bangkok immigration bureau office where his identity was confirmed through the biometric system.
He was duly arrested on foot of the warrant just issued by the court and will be transported back to Phuket to face the criminal charges and questioning by police in Phuket.
Praise for the central biometric database system and police in Phuket from bureau deputy chief
General Ittiphon on Friday praised both the biometric system and the police officers in Phuket who quickly moved to have the suspect apprehended and blocked from leaving the country by entering his details on to the national database after a court arrest warrant was issued. This led to the suspect’s arrest.
‘The arrest took only two days because the police at Patong Police Station quickly provided the information to the Immigration Bureau and entered the details into the biometric system in order to check, block and confirm the identity of the offender,’ the police officer said.
Further reading:
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Dutch national identified from CCTV using police biometric system after Ko Tao theft and arrested
