Chiang Rai News
Singaporean Arrested at Chiang Rai Border with Fake Thai ID Card
CHIANG RAI – A Singaporean National Zhang Yao Zhong, a 50-year-old was arrested by Chiang Rai Immigration at the Mae Sai Border with Myanmar for using a fake Thai National ID Card.
Mr Zhong who is married to a Thai and works at JT Art Co located in the River City shopping complex in Bangkok, claimed he discovered he had been duped by the couple after his arrest.
He was carrying an ID card bearing the name of Santi Tiathanawong, the address on his ID card belongs to a Buddhist temple in Ban Khok.
Mr Zhong said a Thai man and a woman told him they could help him get a Thai ID legally for 200,000 baht, but he had to do it at the Ban Khon district office in Uttaradit.
After questioning, the Singaporean was released on bail for 150,000 baht on condition that he could not travel abroad and his passport was kept by investigators.
Meanwhile, Uttaradir provincial court issued arrest warrants for 16 people on July 15 on charges of reporting false information to government officials and applying for national IDs without citizenship using false evidence.
16 individuals included 11 foreigners who received counterfeit Thai ID cards and five Thais, one of them a district official whose work does not involve civil registration. Other Thais included three living outside Ban Khok and a local monk who acted as a document endorser.
The Ban Khok police chief said Police were trying to locate the other suspects. They were not able to identify the nationalities of the remaining 10 foreign suspects yet.