The female model, Tho Nander Ong, aka Han Lay, told The Associated Press over the phone that she was stranded at Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok because she was in Thailand when she returned from a brief tour of Vietnam on Wednesday night. No re-entry allowed.
She is living in Thailand, but needs to go out and re-enter to extend the length of her stay. Model said she has also requested the UN refugee agency for help to avoid deportation to Myanmar.
People who are not granted entry into Thailand are usually deported back to the place they left for Thailand. But the UN agency has advised Model that she will be arrested in Vietnam and then handed over to Myanmar.
Thailand’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Tani Sangrat also confirmed that Tho Nander Ong was barred from entering Thailand. The spokesperson said this was done because of a problem with the model’s travel document.
The spokesperson also said that the government is yet to arrest him and there are no plans to send him elsewhere at this stage.
Thao Nander Ong said that upon his return to Bangkok, the Thai government entered his name in an online database and asked him if his passport had been lost. When the model replied ‘no’, officials showed her a screen shot showing an Interpol red notice issued against her. This meant that the police of his country had asked to take him into custody.
In Bangkok, the model spoke from the stage of ‘Miss Grand International Beauty Pageant’ about the killing of pro-democracy protesters in Myanmar. The model cried, “Today in my country Myanmar many people are dying while I am on this stage. More than 100 people died today. I am deeply saddened for all the people who lost their lives.
AP Santosh Avinash
Avinash