Pakistani shop owner arrested for 'using dead Thai man's identity to build life in Thailand'
A Pakistani businessman was arrested for allegedly using a dead Thai man's identity to build a life for himself in Thailand.
Mohammad Anwar, 54, reportedly assumed the identity of a Thai man from a remote area whose civil records had been inactive.
He had arrived in Thailand around 20 years ago before allegedly paying a broker 100,000 baht to obtain the ID card in Nakhon Sawan in 2007.
Anwar then went on to build a thriving wholesale and retail textile business in the southern Thai province of Pattani, importing fabrics for Muslim clothing in the predominantly Muslim region.
Police said he also married a Pakistani woman, and the couple had four children who also obtained Thai citizenship.
But the alleged identity theft was discovered when authorities found that the Thai man he was impersonating had died in Malaysia in March 2023.
Officers raided Anwar's shop and arrested him on October 21.
Immigration Division 6 spokesman Police Colonel Charoenpong Khantilo said the arrest followed an investigation involving Pattani immigration police, the Southern Border Provinces Investigation Division and the Anti-Human Trafficking Division to crack down on transnational crimes.
He said: 'He was charged with causing an official acting in the execution of their duty to record a false statement in a document and presenting false evidence to an official when applying for an identification card.
‘The suspect was handed over to the inquiry officer at Mueang Pattani Police Station for further legal proceedings.'
