PATTANI, Thailand – Immigration police in Pattani have arrested a 54-year-old Pakistani national accused of illegally obtaining a Thai identity card and using the assumed identity to build a textile business and family in Thailand.
The suspect, identified by police under the alias Anwar, reportedly entered Thailand about 20 years ago. Investigators allege he paid a broker 100,000 baht to obtain a Thai national identity card in 2007 by assuming the identity of a Thai person registered in Phayuha Khiri district, Nakhon Sawan province.
Police said the identity belonged to a person whose civil registration records had shown little activity. The case came to light after local registration officials in Pattani removed the name from the civil registry when checks found that the Thai individual whose identity had allegedly been used had died in Malaysia on March 14, 2023.
After allegedly assuming the Thai identity, Anwar established a major wholesale and retail textile business in central Pattani. The business supplied imported rolls of fabric for fashion garments and Muslim clothing across southern Thailand.
Police said the suspect had married a Pakistani woman and had four children, who had also obtained Thai nationality.
The arrest followed an investigation by Pattani Immigration Police in cooperation with the Southern Border Provinces Investigation Division and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division. Officers searched the suspect’s residence and textile business in central Pattani before informing him of the allegations.
He is accused of causing a public official to enter false information into official documents and presenting false evidence to an official when applying for an identity card. The suspect was taken to Pattani City Police Station for further legal proceedings. The allegations remain subject to the legal process.
