Pattaya, Thailand – The days when foreign paedophiles and criminals could retire in peace in Pattaya – a Thai beach resort infamous for its prostitution and sleazy nightlife – are numbered, at least according to immigration police.

On Thursday, Pattaya’s Immigration Office will officially launch the country’s first Transnational Crime Data Centre, equipped with a staff of 12 and a 6-million-baht (184,615-dollar) computer system dedicated to tracking down nefarious expats.

“Pattaya may have been a heaven for foreign criminals in the past, but now we have the technology to spoil their paradise,” said Police Colonel Athiwit Kamolrat, Chonburi Immigration Police Superintendent.

The centre, plastered with photos of alleged criminals wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Interpol, Bangkok-based embassies and Thai authorities, sits above Pattaya’s Immigration Office, a busy place visited by hundreds of expatriates a day.

Source: The Earth Times