Police arrested a Chinese national trying to flee a B15 billion fraud case in China. The man built a gang for making fake Thai ID cards for Chinese nationals and corroborated with rogue police officials to extort money.
This news comes from a joint conference with the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) on March 6, Thursday. Authorities arrested LI Zhijun, 43 years old, a Chinese national, and Aye Sant, 30 years old, a Myanmar national, under arrest warrants issued by the Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct cases. The suspects are facing multiple criminal charges including document forgery and aiding officials in the production of fraudulent national ID cards.
In a The Nation report, accomplices who formerly worked for the Immigration Bureau were also detained under new warrants related to corruption and misconduct. They will also face additional charges, which includes abuse of power and accepting illicit benefits.
The Chinese national’s cases date back to late 2023 when a Chinese victim filed a complaint against police for extortion. The victim had been coerced into paying 2 million baht after being accused of using fake Thai national ID cards. Criminal operations had been running since November 2022.
The same report says that the modus of the gang is they post an advertisement in a Chinese-language Facebook group offering “legal Thai national IDs for 1 million baht”. Trusting the offer, the victim contacted the services of Li Zhijun and was guided through the process of obtaining the fake IDs at a municipal office in Nakhon Ratchasima, where local officials facilitated the collection of biometrics.
After the victim received the ID, Li escorted the victims to the Department of Consular Affairs in Chaengwattana to apply for a Thai passport. Once the victim arrived at the office, three Immigration Bureau officers apprehended the victim, accused of using a fake ID. Officers demanded 3 million baht in exchange for dropping the charges, later settling at 2 million baht. The victim transferred the amount in USDT cryptocurrency before being released later that night.
Back in China, Li Zhijun was the subject of red notice for massive fraud swindling over 15 billion baht from 3,000 victims in 2019, where he and his wife fled to Thailand in 2021. Managed to obtain a Thai ID through fraudulent means where they both paid 60,000 baht each to Thai brokers to secure these documents. Li also has registered to 15 shell companies suspected of money laundering.