The link was central to the work of the officers who began to gather information on the gang after the arrest of people using fake passports, he said.
They checked the phone records of the passport holders, hoping they would discover a link to Mr Jafary.
But those efforts failed, Pol Lt Gen Nathathorn said. "The Doctor changed phone numbers almost all the time when he contacted each of his customers," he said. This made it difficult for the investigators to reach him.
Locating his hideout or uncovering his identity through other methods proved challenging, though he had been reportedly living in Thailand for some time.
Almost nobody knew his true identity, Pol Lt Gen Nathathorn said. The suspect carried five fake passports – three Brazilian passports and a Portuguese and a New Zealand passport. Mr Jafary was good at using his forgery skills to disguise himself.
The police found it difficult to arrest him while he was delivering fake passports to his customers. "He did not simply hand a passport to his customer," Pol Lt Gen Nathathorn said. "He usually hid it inside the cover of a diary he gave to the customer.''
However, the investigation team eventually found the most crucial link after arresting a person who bought a fake passport from Mr Jafary. He claimed he had once seen Mr Jafary and provided police with a description.
"Officers found the caller used it [the phone] to order pizza" from a store with a delivery service, Pol Lt Gen Nathathorn said. "Police found his hideout from this information," he said.