The Immigration Bureau is trying to relieve travelers’ congestion at Suvarnabhumi airport while admitting that immigration police have to carefully screen inbound travelers for security sake.
In response to photos of crowds queuing up in front of immigration check-in booths at Suvarnabhumi airport, Pol Maj Gen Choengron Rimpadee, spokesman for the Immigration Bureau, said the incident happened from 1pm to 5pm on Oct 30 when there were 76 visiting flights sending 3,000-4,000 inbound passengers an hour there.
To cope, Pol Maj Gen Montree Pancharoen, commander of Immigration Division 2, ordered subordinates to open all immigration booths so that each arriving traveler could pass the immigration process within an hour.
At their booths, immigration police took about 45 seconds to check each traveler’s passport, visa and biometric data compared with their blacklists. The police had to prevent criminals from entering the country as tourists with ill intentions including call scams and disturbance instigation during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit later this month.
Pol Maj Gen Choengron said the management of Suvarnabhumi airport expanded immigration lanes from 92 to 119 and more immigration police were deployed from Nov 2. They could check about 6,500 inbound travelers per hour while security measures would remain intact, he said. (TNA)
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