PHUKET: International criminals will find entry to Phuket more difficult but Asean citizens will breeze through fast under plans for the new Phuket International Airport, Phuket's Immigration chief said today.

Self-serve autogates - already introduced at overseas airports - are also likely to be operating on Phuket as soon as the new international terminal opens.

Blacklisted criminals from overseas countries are likely to be kept out of Phuket under the new system, Colonel Panuwat Ruamrak said today.

''The Advance Passenger Processing system will allow us to know a lot more about people when they arrive,'' the colonel said today.

''It's one of a range of developments that should enable greater checks as well as faster speed for arriving and departing passengers.''

Human traffickers, smugglers and transnational fraudsters are likely to find Phuket and Thailand less easy to enter once the new technology is introduced.

Budget remains the only real constraint, said Colonel Panuwat, commenting after some of the innovations were raised at an Asean Immigration Intelligence Forum on Phuket.

''What we can say with certainty is that Asean citizens will benefit when the new Phuket International Airport opens,'' Colonel Panuwat said.

In the past, passengers from Singapore and Malaysia have sometimes had to spend longer to pass through Immigration and Customs on Phuket than their flight time.

''Our aim is to develop a speedy way to ease access for passengers from Asean countries,'' he said. ''As you know, the arrival of the Asean Economic Community coincides with the scheduled 2015 opening of the new Phuket international terminal.

''Our new plan should be in operation as the first flight lands at Phuket's new airport.''