BANGKOK, Thailand – Seven suspects, including three government officials, have been arrested in a major crackdown on an organised network specialising in the fraudulent issuance of pink identity cards to children of migrant workers, with investigators uncovering mass registrations of foreign nationals at cramped apartments in the Din Daeng area.

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The joint operation, codenamed ‘Clean up the City,’ was carried out by police, officials from the Provincial Administration Department, and the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission, who raided several locations and discovered a large quantity of documents including work permits and passports allegedly used in the scheme.

The investigation found that more than 1,300 documented migrant workers, mostly from Myanmar, had been registered in the household certificates of just 44 apartment owners since 2024, with one room measuring 30 to 35 square metres having 64 people registered. The arrested suspects include three district officials accused of approving the fraudulent registrations, brokers who allegedly arranged the scheme, and flat residents who allowed their addresses to be used, with investigators tracing financial transfers totalling approximately 936,000 baht to district office staff.

Pink ID cards, issued by the Provincial Administration Department to non-Thais whose names appear in household certificates, normally cover children born in Thailand to documented migrant workers, and while the card itself does not confer citizenship, authorities say it can form part of a longer paper trail that may support future claims to Thai nationality.

Thai authorities are expanding investigations into widespread use of fake birth and ID registrations from Bangkok to all provinces as the issue jeopardises national security, according to a deputy interior minister.

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Deputy Interior Minister Worasit Liangprasit described the scam as a significant threat to national security, warning that false registrations could give foreign nationals access to public services and potentially allow them to seek Thai citizenship, while also announcing that the investigation would expand nationwide.

According to the Labour Ministry, there are approximately four million documented migrant workers in Thailand, though the actual number, particularly from Myanmar, is much higher due to undocumented workers and those in the country illegally.

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The Bangkok governor has ordered all 50 district offices to check for unusually high numbers of pink-card holders in household registers, with police reviewing records over the past five years and extending checks as far back as 10 years. The case highlights the vulnerability of Thailand’s civil-registration system to abuse, with authorities vowing to pursue not only those at the end of the chain but also the masterminds behind the operation.

-Thailand News (TN)