Police Arrest Chinese Woman, 53 for Fraud and Human Trafficking in Thailand

Police in Thailand have arrested a 53-year-old woman for fraud, forgery, human trafficking and running an illegal surrogacy operation in Bangkok. A raid on a downtown Bangkok building revealed a Chinese woman with Thai citizenship through marriage had a long history of alleged participation in criminal activity.

Thailand’s Deputy Police Chief, Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn, revealed the details on Tuesday at a press briefing.

Gen Surachate identified the woman as Ms. Navaporn, 53, and stated that she was apprehended at a building on Silom Road in Bangkok’s Bang Rak district.

Authorities searched a building on April 4 and discovered seven foreigners possessing non-citizen identification cards, sometimes called pink cards. They also discovered rooms and equipment set up for women working as surrogates for Chinese nationals.

Ms. Navaporn allegedly brought foreigners into Thailand and registered them as residents of her building, providing authorities with false information and fraudulent certificates claiming they were family members to obtain non-resident identity cards.

Over the weekend, police secured a court warrant and arrested Ms. Navaporn for forging and using forged official documents, providing false information to authorities, and using forged visa stamps on international travel passports.

Pol Gen Surachate told the press briefing that Ms. Navaporn was a Chinese national who got Thai citizenship after marrying a Thai man. She later divorced him and married a Chinese man with whom she had three children who have Thai citizenship.

Police collaboration with Chinese Authorizes

Ms. Navaporn had already been accused of duping Chinese citizens into investing in Thai enterprises, and the Prawet police station in Bangkok had already filed the charge against her.

Furthermore, he said, evidence collected by police from Chinese authorities, Ms. Navaporn had been involved in human trafficking for roughly ten years in China, Thailand, and Cambodia.

She held numerous corporations registered with her family and children and functioned as a coordinator, enabling the unlawful operations of Chinese investors by assisting them in obtaining pink cards and recruiting surrogate moms.

Gen Surachate said her financial transactions were still being investigated, he said, and anyone found to be complicit in her illicit operations, whether Chinese or Thai or government officials, would face legal consequences.

He said once sufficient proof was gathered; the Anti-Money Laundering Office would be requested to freeze her assets for scrutiny.

According to Gen Surachate, certain Bang Rak district office officials in Bangkok have already admitted to collaborating with Ms. Navaporn in her illicit actions.

He said the Permanent Secretary of the Interior Ministry would also be requested to investigate whether Ms. Navaporn gained her Thai citizenship legitimately.

Ms. Navaporn’s real name in China is Zhou Qiong, according to Lui Sae Kua, a correspondent for a Chinese news agency. Ms. Lui stated that the woman has a history of defrauding Chinese individuals from mainland China and Taiwan for over 100 million baht (US$2.9 million).