BANGKOK: A Pakistani passport forger whose fakes may have been sold to the militant Islamic State group operatives has been arrested in Thailand, police said on Friday, ending a career that helped people slip into Europe illegally.

Mohammad Iqbal, 52, was arrested on Jan 14 in a Bangkok suburb along with Singaporean and Indian fake passports as well as plates and laminates to forge entry visas to France, Italy and Spain.

“He has worked on faking documents for a long time using Thailand as his base,” Commander of the Immigration Bureau Lt Gen Suttipong Vongpint told reporters.

The arrest is the latest in a series of targeted operations against skilled passport forgers in Thailand as fears over security and immigration have compelled authorities to tackle a shadowy industry that has thrived in the kingdom for decades.

Iqbal, who is believed to have operated from Thailand for more than 10 years, was charged with falsifying passports, visa seals and trafficking of fake passports a few days after police seized him as he pulled into his Bangkok condo on a motorbike.

Earlier this week, Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan linked Iqbal to a group selling passports to IS.

“The suspect has falsified visa and passports for the IS group with the attempt to make them travel from the Middle East into Thailand,” he said before adding that the attempts were unsuccessful.

But at Friday’s press conference officials downplayed IS connections in favour of a portrait of a businessman who welcomed all clients.

“Based on the investigation he will sell to every group, not particularly to IS, he just made them by orders,” Suttipong said.

A typical fake passport would sell for only a few hundred dollars, according to the immigration bureau.

Thailand’s role as a global hub for fake passports came under renewed scrutiny following the 2014 disappearance of Malaysian Airlines MH370.

Two Iranians travelling on European passports bought and modified in Thailand were on board the ill-fated flight.

It is an industry dominated by highly skilled Iranians and Pakistanis serving customers from South Asia, the Middle East and further afield.

Immigration police said Iqbal was affiliated with a shadowy Iranian master forger known as ‘The Doctor’ who sold ‘Triple A’ quality passports to refugees, economic migrants and criminals from a Bangkok suburb for nearly 20 years.

Detectives hailed his 2016 arrest as a major breakthrough in the fight against passport crime — although other forgers have taken his place.

Transient, vast and permissive, Bangkok has for long provided sanctuary to people wanting to disappear or re-invent.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2018