Gang leader posed as monk for a decade

The Department of Special Investigation has cracked a ring selling Thai ID cards to nearly 300 illegal Burmese and Lao migrants.

"The gang demands Bt100,000 per card," DSI deputy director-general Suchat Wong-ananchai said yesterday.

The gang has reliable-looking figures testify that the illegal aliens were born in Thailand and have a Thai mother so that they can get the national identification cards.

Three ring members have already been picked up.

Pornsri Sornpaeng and Duangjai Lehkon were arrested in Nakhon Phanom for acting as agents looking for illegal aliens who would agree to pay a big sum in exchange for a national ID card.

Weera "Toon" Pakdee, a Burmese, was nabbed in Phang Nga.

Suchat said Weera sneaked into Thailand about a decade ago and spent most of his time here as a monk.

"After staying at many temples, he headed down South. And after spending five years at Yan Yao Temple in Phang Nga, he was appointed an acting abbot," Suchat said.

During his monkhood, he was known as Phra Azee Uttara.

"He had to leave the temple over temple-funds mismanagement earlier this year," Suchat said. "He became a layman on January 19."

Weera was suspected of embezzling some donations intended for tsunami victims to pay for his Thai ID card.

Phang Nga was hard hit by a tsunami in 2004.

Many other illegal aliens have done just like Weera, according to the DSI. They first enter the country as monks and after spending many years at a temple, they find a way to buy a national ID card and live a normal life.

"Their conduct can hurt national security as well as Buddhism," Suchat said.

The DSI was going after two more suspects, for whom arrest warrants were already issued, he said.

The DSI would also check how many government officials in Nakhon Phanom colluded with the gang, he said.

"We will report this to the director-general of the Provincial Administration Department as well as the interior minister," he said.

Corrupt officials involved in the gang must also face criminal action, he said.