Thai authorities have moved against a scheme that allegedly turned civil-registration records into a production line for fake Thai citizenship. Roughly 5,000 migrants are believed to have obtained ID cards they were never entitled to.
Investigators arrested 20 suspects in raids on 35 locations in Chiang Mai, deploying about 200 police and administrative officials. Those detained include a former assistant district chief of Chai Prakan, a sub-district chief and a village headman. Eight Thai house owners and nine Myanmar nationals were also held.
The alleged scheme centred on Category 0 Thai ID cards, the record type used for people whose civil status has not been established. Officials suspect these were issued to about 5,000 migrants in Chai Prakan district between 2018 and 2022.
The Thai house owners are accused of supplying the addresses that made the paperwork look legitimate. That gave applicants a registered residence on paper.
The operation follows a separate case in the same province. In May, the Interior Ministry announced arrests under an operation named Revealing the Dragon’s Shadow. The results were presented at the National Anti-Corruption Commission’s Region 5 office in Chiang Mai.
That case targeted a Hot district deputy chief, previously the deputy district chief in Chiang Dao, and a Chiang Dao district employee. Both are accused of falsifying civil-registration records for Sun Mingchen. The Chinese national already faces charges over military-grade weapons and explosive materials.
The two cases point at the same weak spot. Thai citizenship records are issued at district level. That puts a small number of local officials in control of documents carrying lifelong legal weight.
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The story Chiang Mai citizenship bust: 20 held over ID cards issued to 5,000 migrants as seen on Thaiger News.
