Pathum Thani man arrested selling child pornography via LINE
A 27 year-old man nicknamed Kij was arrested in the Bangkok suburb province of Pathum Thani, accused of selling child pornography online. The suspect was arrested yesterday and is being charged with profiting from the sale and distribution of child pornography.
Police raided the man’s home in the Beung Kham Phroy sub-district of Lam Lukka district outside of Bangkok yesterday. They seized electrical equipment used in gathering and reselling the child pornography as evidence of his crimes. He is said to have earned about 100,000 baht over the last year via a secret group on the LINE app.
He had used VK, the popular Russian alternative to Facebook, to find customers and then lured them in with a promise of “enough content for all-day viewing”, cheap prices, and daily updates. And he did attract customers by charging only 100 to 150 baht for membership that would allow access to a group chat where he would continuously post underage explicit material.
Kij says he jumped on a business opportunity that netted pure profit as he would scour free sites online and download child pornography content which he would then post to the LINE group where he was charging a fee. Before being caught, the group had amassed about 500 current members.
The arrest yesterday is just one of many on a growing list of people busted for underage sex crimes including child pornography, human trafficking, and underage prostitution in recent months. Police and the Anti-Human Trafficking division have been increasing their investigations and arrests of paedophiles and people profiteering from underage crimes.
Thailand has felt increasing pressure from the international community that is urging them to step up their fight against sexual crimes against children as the country has long struggled to combat its reputation as a haven for it. Many viewed Surachet “Big Joke” Hakparn being appointed to lead the effort against child pornography as a strong action towards toughening on crimes involving the abuse of minors.
SOURCE: ASEAN Now
