The Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc) has estimated that land rights documents for 100,000 rai nationwide were obtained illegally.
In response, the agency has ordered its local offices nationwide to examine land plots where they suspect documents were illegally issued, said Phongphet Ketsupha, a planning specialist at Isoc who also coordinates a committee charged by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) with developing a master plan for forest conservation.
The local officers were requested to submit reports to Isoc headquarters by the end of the month, when it will establish a working committee to speed the process of nullifying illegal land documents.
The panel will comprise representatives from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, the Royal Forest Department, and the Lands Department.
"If we nullify the documents under the normal process, it might take more than a decade to complete. So we need a special track to nullify those illegal documents in one year," Col Phongphet said.
"If we don't do it now, we may not have another chance," he said.
Col Phongphet said the government will not take legal action against officials who granted land rights illegally.
Some of the 100,000 rai of land sits within fertile forests, where there's no trace of human habitation.
In Petchabun province alone, officials granted illegal titles for around 1,000 rai of pristine land.
Col Phongphet said Isoc's inquiries will include the five luxury hotels in Sirinath National Park in Phuket province that the Lands Department previously said possessed illegal land titles. It could nullify the titles within the year.
The move to nullify titles is a focal point of the country's master plan on forest and natural resources management, approved recently by the NCPO.
It includes sweeping measures to protect and preserve forests, and would expand the country's protected forests to 40% of its total land area in a bid to avoid further encroachment.
Meanwhile, Thammasak Chana, deputy chief of the Lands Department, said he was not aware of Isoc's plan to nullify land documents in the forest zone.
But he cast doubt on Isoc's ambitious plan to nullify unlawful land rights documents as the process takes a long time.
Nullifying a title requires complicated legal manoeuvering involving different government departments, he said, a process unlikely to be resolved within a single year.
The crackdown has already begun with the army launching a series of raids on encroached land nationwide. Joint forces of soldiers from the 2nd Army and security officials of Loei province, as well as forest officials, yesterday raided an area located in a preserved forest in Phu Rua district of Loei province on which investors had allegedly encroached on land covering 700 rai.
They found several houses and resorts built there. They reportedly belong to several individuals, including state officials, none of whom were present at the time of the raid. The authorities seized the properties and planned to take legal action against the owners.
In Satun, a joint force of soldiers, provincial officers and forest officers will today inspect Lipe Island, located in Tarutao marine national park.
It was reported that as many as 120 resorts had been built on the island, encroaching on public land.