Thai authorities on Tuesday arrested a former Cambodian maid and her Malaysian boyfriend as they allegedly attempted to enter Cambodia using fake passports at the Poipet border checkpoint yesterday after travelling overland from Malaysia, border officials said yesterday.

Yal Bunpov, a Cambodia-Thailand border communications officer, identified the two as Cambodian Meas Chanda, 36, from Kampong Chhnang province, and her Malaysian boyfriend, Rofik Saliman, 22.

The duo’s passports didn’t pass a computerised check performed by the Thais, and while Saliman’s passport listed Kratie province as his birthplace, he knew nothing about Cambodia, he added.

Bunpov said he visited Chanda with her uncle and was told “that her and her boyfriend’s passports were created by a broker and cost 2,000 ringgits [about $532] per passport”, and that she had bought them after working as a maid in Malaysia for three years.]

Bun Sokvibol, Cambodia’s consul general in Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province, said yesterday that he is still investigating and monitoring the case.