22,000 counterfeit passports seized in Thailand

From the Counterterrorism Blog:

Today Thai authorities announced arrests in an enormous counterfeit passport ring. 12 people were arrested and some 20,000 fake passports were seized. It was the second such arrest in the past month.

The 12-person gang, included Thais, Burmese, and Indonesians. The 20,000 passports were from a diverse group of countries: Burma, Brunei, Canada, France, Germany, Malaysia, Russia, Sweden and the United States. Thai police reported that 2,000 of the passports were ready to be used.

The ringleader of the cell, Somkhuan Muen-in, had nearly 10-year career in document forging, people and arms smuggling. Police assert that he had smuggled arms for the Tamil Tigers in 2003.