Busted! Pakistani man lived ‘life after death’ with dead Thai’s ID
A crafty Pakistani conman has been cuffed after living in Thailand for over a decade, using the stolen identity of a dead man to travel in and out of the country more than 100 times.
The 41 year old Pakistan national has been arrested in Bangkok for living a double life, quite literally, after police uncovered a jaw-dropping identity scam involving a long-dead Thai citizen.
Officers from Thailand’s elite Crime Suppression Division today, April 24, swooped in on a home in the Thung Khru area of Bangkok, arresting the man known as Zeshan under a warrant issued just two days earlier by the Criminal Court.
The charges read like a conman’s greatest hits: using a Thai ID under false pretences, forging documents, lying to officials, fraudulently entering the population register, and faking a passport, all while not being a Thai national.
Police Colonel Witthaya Sriprasertphap, Commander of the Crime Suppression Division, directed the operation alongside Pol. Col. Manoon Kaewkam and Pol. Lt. Col. Dechawut Utharasat.
The shocking scam came to light when investigators discovered that Zeshan had assumed the identity of a deceased Thai man, whose family had never reported his death. With the unclaimed identity, Zeshan allegedly managed to get a Thai ID card and used it to apply for a legitimate-looking passport.
Police say he then brazenly used that passport to travel in and out of Thailand more than 100 times, enjoying the full benefits and freedoms of Thai citizenship, all while living under a ghost’s name.
When police finally tracked him down, Zeshan was still living quietly in the capital. During questioning, he denied all charges but the weight of evidence was enough to land him in cuffs and into the hands of Crime Suppression Division investigators, reported KhaoSod.
Now, police are digging deeper to uncover the network behind the forged documents and to see if any officials or third parties were involved in the elaborate scheme.
As one officer put it, “He’s been living someone else’s life for over a decade, now it’s time to face reality.”
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