A woman has been arrested for allegedly colluding with corrupt government officials in offering to provide fake identity cards for displaced people.
The woman, who was not named, was shown at a press conference in Pathum Thani’s Thanyaburi district on Monday evening.
Sakchai Taenghor, director of the Department of Provincial Administration's (DPA) investigation and legal affairs office, said the arrest followed information received from the Lawyers Council of Thailand subcommittee on stateless people.
A gang of people claiming to be registration officials from the Interior Ministry had duped displaced people into believing they could provide them with ID cards. The gang had demanded 10,000 baht per head for the service.
The DPA sent officials to arrest the woman following cooperation from a network of displaced people in Tak’s Mae Sot-Mae Ranat district, who sent members pretending to be interested in getting ID cards from the suspect, said Mr Sakchai.
The woman was apprehended when she showed up for an appointment at a superstore in Thanyaburi district.
She has been charged with falsifying official documents, colluding in the bribery of state officials and extortion.