Police Dismantle 600-Million-Baht Rubber Factory Sham

On September 16, Deputy Police Commissioner Samran Nuenmaa led a raid on a rubber tyre manufacturing company in Samut Sakhon province that was using Thai nominees to hold over 600 million baht in assets. The operation involved senior police commanders, the Registration Security Threat Prevention Task Force (DOPA N.I.C.E), the Interior Ministry, and provincial officials. The Chinese suspect confessed to using Thai employees as nominee shareholders across three companies holding 100% stakes to circumvent Thai law. He also fraudulently registered his Chinese son under a dead Thai citizen's birth certificate to grant him Thai citizenship and prepare to transfer all assets to his son. The suspect has an arrest warrant from China for cross-border fraud and was previously convicted and sentenced to 2 years and 10 months imprisonment for assaulting and robbing a Chinese woman in 2024, a case currently under appeal at the Supreme Court.

During questioning, the 19-year-old Chinese son claimed he did not believe he had done anything wrong and said he was forced to come to Thailand as a child in grade six and has been stuck here for five years. He stated he wants to return to China where his mother and grandmother live but cannot. When asked how he could claim ignorance about using a dead person's birth certificate when he possesses two Thai identification cards, he had no response.

Investigators also identified a woman from Chiang Dao who provided her deceased five-year-old son's name for the Chinese child to use. She admitted a Chiang Dao district official approached her requesting permission to use her dead son's name in exchange for 500 baht in travel expenses. She claimed she did not know this action was illegal because she is illiterate. Factory inspection revealed tyre production and export operations, with the plant manager denying knowledge of the nominee scheme.