The Department of Special Investigation on Monday sent two anti-corruption agencies its investigative report into allegations that a dozen Office of Central Civil-Registration employees issued fake identification cards for stateless people.
The workers, whose names have not been released, are accused of assisting a gang in producing fake IDs by tampering with the civil-registration database and adding names of more than 400 stateless people -- officially known as "people with no registration status" -- to it.
The crimes were committed between 2006 and 2013 and involved some local politicians, said Pol Lt Pong-in Intharakhao, deputy director-general of the DSI, which sent its investigative report today to the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission and Centre for National Anti-Corruption.
Pol Lt Pong-in said the gang altered personal information for Thai citizens in databases maintained by the Department of Provincial Administration or re-entered names previously removed from those databases.
They then replaced persons reported missing with stateless people of similar heights and appearances, and added names of migrant workers to the missing persons' household-registration records. That information then was used to apply for ID cards.
The ID cards sold for 10,000-100,000 baht each, depending on whether the first digit on the card was 0, 6 or 8.
"A card that begins with zero means the holder is a person with no registration status. Eight identifies an alien who has been granted Thai citizenship, while a six means the holder is allowed to live in Thailand temporarily," Pol Lt Pong-in explained.
The Department of Provincial Administration is revoking the 400 bogus IDs.
The forging of fake ID cards for ethnic minorities or stateless people is rampant in border provinces, particularly in Mae Taeng and Wiang Haeng districts of Chiang Mai, and Kanchababuri's Thong Pha Phum and Sangkhla Buri districts.
The National Intelligence Agency obtained information that fake-ID gangs also may have forged cards for illegal Muslim Rohingya migrants in southern provinces. An investigation is underway, the DSI deputy chief said.