Detectives are hunting a Chinese man who illegally obtained Thai identification documents and used them to set up businesses with registered capital of more than 3.6 billion baht.
Yesterday, Korawat Panprapakorn, director-general of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), said that investigators had a court warrant for the arrest of the man, who has been going under the Thai name Apao Sae Soen.
He is one of at least 255 foreign nationals who have illegally obtained Thai national identification cards in the Chiang Rai district of Wiang Kaen.
Mr “Apao” is alleged to have illegally set up companies that are restricted to Thai citizens and Pol Col Panprapakorn said the DSI had accepted the case for special investigation because it was deemed to involve national security.
Pol Col Panprapakorn said Apao Sae Soen was really Wen Haomiao, a Chinese national with the Chinese passport number G23810848, and a troubled past.
He was declared bankrupt and had his assets seized after his business collapsed, whereupon he travelled to Thailand and managed to illegally obtain a Thai ID card, as recorded in a domicile registration paper in Wiang Kaen.
With his false Thai identity and home registration documents, he set up companies operating businesses that foreigners are not allowed to run.
The documents also enabled him to stay in Thailand and travel in and out of the kingdom.
On 18th February, the DSI obtained a court warrant to arrest Wen Haomiao on charges of illegally obtaining and using a Thai identification card and domicile registration and, as a foreigner, running businesses in Thailand without the required permission.
The investigation was expanded to include the Provincial Administration Department and other agencies in Wiang Kaen.
The DSI has revoked 50 other ID cards illegally issued to foreigners, seven of whom were listed as owners of businesses that were prohibited to them, Pol Col Panprapakorn said.
Apao Sae Soen was stripped of Thai nationality on 15th June 15, 2020, a DSI source said, by which time he had set up four companies with a combined registered capital of 3.6 billion baht.
The four companies were: 10 Plus 1 Group, a company dealing in rice trading; Amarin GTI Ltd, a real estate company; De Yi Network Technology Ltd, a non-residential building construction firm; and Tai Xi Development Group, a property leasing firm.
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