UK Asks Thais for Algerian Forgery Suspect

British detectives are in Bangkok to seek the extradition of a detained Algerian man wanted in the UK for alleged money-laundering and conspiracy to produce hundreds of forged passports and identity cards, say Thai police.

Major General Suwat Tumrongsisku, the head of Thailand's immigration police, said Atamnia Yacine, 33, who was arrested last Tuesday with 110 fake French and 86 forged Spanish passports in his Bangkok flat, was well-known in the documentation forgery business.

Gen Suwat said yesterday that he was part of the same syndicate as Mahieddine Daikh, a Briton of Algerian origin, who was arrested at Bangkok airport earlier this month with 448 fake passports.

However, Mr Yacine appears not to be connected to the July 7 London bombings as was initially thought, said Gen Suwat, after parading both men in handcuffs in front of journalists.

"British detectives visited me today and told me that, so far, they have no evidence linking him to the bombings," he told the Guardian. "If there is a link, it is probably by chance."

According to a copy of the extradition request seen by the Guardian, Mr Yacine was first arrested in Britain in 1995 after entering the country on a fake French identity card. He had used the alias, Dario Calderone.

His fingerprints then appeared on some of the packages of 145 forged Belgian and three forged French passports seized in July last year from a Swedish woman, who brought them into Stansted airport from Bangkok via Gothenburg. When Mr Daikh was arrested he also had plane tickets to Britain via Scandinavia.

Detectives investigating the Swedish woman found a further 222 blank French, Belgian, Italian and Spanish passports at the house of another man.

Mr Yacine's fingerprints were allegedly also found on some of these packages of passports.

The other charges relate to the making of fake document stamps, identity card forgery, selling fake IDs and laundering £161,292.

Mr Yacine, speaking in French with a heavy Algerian accent, denied he was involved in the syndicate.

"I don't know what happened," he said. "I lost my passport. I declared it was lost, I asked for help to get a new one and then I was arrested."

Mr Daikh, speaking in English, also protested his innocence, despite the fact that the passports he was linked to were in his hand luggage and checked-in bags at Bangkok airport. "I don't know nothing," he said. "I was here for five weeks and I don't know nothing."

No extradition request has so far been made for Mr Daikh.

The British detectives in Thailand declined to discuss the case yesterday - or their plans to present their case to Thai prosecutors, which they are expected to do today.

Scotland Yard said the extradition request was made after an arrest warrant was granted by Bow Street magistrates in London last week. The extradition would be sought "under the authority of that warrant".

Gen Sawat said it was not clear whether Thailand would hand over Mr Yacine or prosecute him in Bangkok.

He could face three years' imprisonment in Thailand if found guilty of smuggling fake passports.