A Frenchman with a long criminal history including bank robbery and drug possession had been living in Thailand for almost five years before his arrest in Bangkok on Friday.
A team of Special Branch and Phra Khanong police apprehended the 35-year-old French national in Suan Luang district on Friday night.
Police said the man had used a fake passport to enter the country.
The suspect told police his real name was Andre Espiasse Cabau and he was a French national, but the passport he carried identified him as Andre Donatho, Thai media reported. He had been staying in Thailand for almost five years. He was handed over to Phra Khanong police to face charges of illegal entry.
According to Interpol, a French court had sentenced him to 10 years in jail for carrying firearms in public and being in possession of cocaine and cannabis. He was also wanted for a bank robbery in France, police said.
The arrest was part of a crackdown on foreigners using fake passports and other crimes which was ordered by national police chief Chakthip Chaijinda.
It was later found he had illegally entered the country in 2011 on the counterfeit passport believed to have been bought in France. The man had been staying on the holiday island of Koh Samui in Surat Thani province since arriving in Thailand.
However, he was arrested after authorities received a tip-off that he was visiting a friend in Bangkok.
He will be transferred to Phra Khanong police station and the French embassy will be informed of his arrest and the judicial process he now faces.
