When Aor visited the Din Daeng district office sometime in June, a registration officer questioned her about the number of Myanmar children listed on her family’s household registration.
The answer shocked her. Sixty-four foreign children, aged five to 15, had been registered at the address where her younger sister, Sarina, lived.
Sarina told officers she had received 5,000 baht in cash after messaging her sister Chalermsri, who works at the district office, to ask for a loan. Chalermsri had asked for copies of Sarina’s household registration and identity card.
Sarina believed the documents were needed to apply for a newborn-child subsidy. She had never visited the district office and insisted she had not agreed to have foreign children registered at her address.
The flat, measuring about 30-40 square metres, was among 47 flats where more than 16 foreign children had been registered.
A subsequent police-led examination found at least 1,468 foreign children aged five to 15 listed in household registrations across the Din Daeng complex, which contains 5,726 rooms.
Complaint uncovers network
After discovering the 64 names, Aor first reported the matter to local police, but recalled being challenged over the fact that her sister had already taken the money.
“You already took their money, why are you filing a report to arrest them?” she was told.
Aor then went to the district office but received no clear answer. Instead, she was told that once a foreigner’s name had been entered in a household registration document, further registrations could be made.
Her concerns deepened when she found Noi, a neighbour and a broker involved in arranging documents, waiting for her on the stairs at the flat.
Noi told Aor she knew about the complaints made to police and the district office, suggesting information was reaching the network.
Aor later took the documents to the Office of the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC).
PACC secretary-general Bhumivisan Kasemsook said on Wednesday the agency had received information about suspected corruption involving the misuse of pink identification cards and had shared it with state agencies.
That triggered an operation on Tuesday involving the Interior Ministry, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), Royal Thai Police and the PACC, leading to searches at seven locations, including three Din Daeng flats.
Mr Bhumivisan said the evidence obtained could lead to additional suspects. Claims by the broker that similar practices occurred in every district required verification, he said.
System flags fail
The registration database generates a warning when more than 16 people are registered at a single address. But the alert has little effect if staff with the power to approve household registrations keep processing applications despite it.
Police and the Department of Provincial Administration’s National Identity Crime Enforcement task force found that 64 Myanmar children had been registered at Sarina’s flat within two days, on June 6 and 7.
Chalermsri’s room had 41 names on its household registration and Noi’s had 35, bringing the total across the three rooms to 140.
A wider BMA review on Friday found 16,634 foreign nationals holding pink identification cards registered at 10,066 homes across Bangkok’s 50 districts. Thirteen of those homes, spread across nine districts, had more than 16 pink-card holders at a single address.
Pol Gen Adis Ngamchitsuksri, an adviser to the Bangkok governor, said most addresses appeared to have normal occupancy. The 13 flagged properties were reported to include factories, workers’ dormitories and rental homes, meaning each case must be examined individually.
The BMA will run detailed checks on the 13 addresses, examining actual occupancy, relationships among registered residents and the documents supporting registrations and transfers.
Three Din Daeng district-office employees, including Chalermsri, were later named in arrest warrants. They are accused of receiving and approving applications despite unusually high numbers, accepting documents prepared in advance and approving applications carrying allegedly forged signatures.
Police arrested seven suspects during the raid, comprising the three district-office employees, three household owners and Noi’s niece, who allegedly signed as a witness for the registration of the Myanmar children.
On Friday, the BMA identified a fourth Din Daeng district-office employee as linked to the case. Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt ordered all four staff members to be placed on temporary leave.
Brokers open gateway
The network centred on household registration, which could then be used to obtain pink identification cards for people without Thai nationality.
Noi told officers she had helped foreign workers obtain documents for years, describing a process in which household registrations were arranged so migrant workers could obtain pink cards and work legally.
She said household owners received about 5,000 baht per person, while she collected 500 baht for arranging the registration and another 300 baht for processing the identification card. She did not say how much she paid the district staff.
Deputy Interior Minister Worasit Liangprasert described brokers as key players in the process.
“Sometimes the foreign workers who come in do not know much about what is happening. The broker tells them to come and says, ‘You pay this amount and I will arrange it'”, he said.
Brokerage fees could range from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of baht, depending on the arrangement.
Mr Worasit said a pink card is not Thai citizenship or a Thai identity card. It is an identification card issued to non-Thai nationals whose names are recorded in Thailand’s civil-registration system.
Depending on their legal status, holders can use the card for certain transactions and access education and employment under applicable conditions. It may also open a pathway towards applying for Thai nationality, he said.
The case has also raised concerns that improperly obtained registration and identity documents could be linked to mule bank accounts, scam networks or transnational crime.
Probe goes nationwide
The Interior Ministry is widening the investigation beyond Din Daeng. Mr Worasit said the Din Daeng case was a starting point, and the ministry would examine the area further and extend checks to other parts of the country as need arose.
The ministry will also coordinate with the Labour Ministry because foreign-worker registration is linked to the civil-registration process. Mr Worasit said agencies would need to cross-check information to determine whether people had been falsely represented during registration.
The Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo) is examining the financial dimension. Amlo deputy secretary-general Kamolsit Wongbutnoi said it would consider whether conduct involving public servants and brokers constituted a predicate offence under the current legal system.
If the legal threshold is met, Amlo can trace assets and pursue civil measures against property linked to wrongdoing, he said.
What began with 64 children registered at one small flat has become a wider test of civil registration safeguards. The unanswered question is whether Din Daeng was an isolated failure or evidence of a system open to abuse.