The Department of Provincial Administration is accelerating its investigation to expose the phantom birth registration scheme involving Chinese children. Recently, 18 more cases were discovered within Nong Phai Lom Subdistrict Municipality in Mueang Nakhon Ratchasima District. Authorities are collecting evidence to arrest two additional municipal officials, highlighting the threat this poses to national security.
Following a special task force operation by the Department of Provincial Administration in collaboration with the Anti-Corruption Police Division, 50 cases of phantom birth registrations of Chinese children were uncovered in Pho Klang Subdistrict Municipality, Mueang Nakhon Ratchasima. The main suspect is a former district chief. Authorities planned and arrested Mr. Nopparat Duangphrom, former district chief of Huai Thalaeng District, along with Ms. Jinda Kletnguleum, a senior registration officer from Pho Klang Municipality, and a former employee of Huai Thalaeng district office at their residences in Non Sung and Huai Thalaeng Districts, Nakhon Ratchasima. They were taken for interrogation to further investigate and apprehend the grey Chinese gang behind the scheme.
Recently, Ms. Jinda confessed to forging birth certificates—phantom registrations—for nine Chinese children, receiving 10,000 baht per child. She stated financial necessity motivated her actions and denied knowing the grey Chinese gang. Meanwhile, a Huai Thalaeng district employee admitted to receiving assignments from a friend who is a former district chief to register 13 children under 'ghost households,' for which he was paid 10,000 baht per case.
Mr. Nopparat Duangphrom, the former district chief, continues to deny the allegations, claiming his signature was forged. However, both Ms. Jinda and the district employee have implicated Mr. Nopparat as the mastermind behind all the illegal activities.
In the latest development on 3 May 2026, the Department of Provincial Administration's DOPA N.I.C.E. task force and the Anti-Corruption Police extended their investigation and discovered that in Nong Phai Lom Subdistrict Municipality, Mueang Nakhon Ratchasima, Mr. Nopparat's gang registered another 18 Chinese children with phantom births. Ms. Jinda accepted work from Mr. Nopparat and collaborated with two registration officers from Nong Phai Lom Municipality. Authorities are currently gathering evidence before proceeding with arrests and prosecution.
This case is part of the 'Dragon Scale Operation,' initiated after ACSC tracked and investigated a network of international scammers linked to a group of intermediaries registering visas for certain Chinese nationals. Suspicious information was discovered regarding a child holding a Chinese passport alongside a Thai birth certificate. Such acts threaten the country's national security.