Alleged Thai paedophile arrested on child pornography charges

An alleged paedophile has been arrested in Phetchaburi in connection with human trafficking, child exploitation and production, and the distribution of child pornography.

Nitikorn Manop was arrested by police on Thursday at a house in Cha-am district, Phetchaburi, in central Thailand, bordering Myanmar, after gaining a warrant by the Criminal Court.

Pol Maj Gen Wiwat Khamchamnarn, head of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division, told media yesterday the suspect has been charged with human trafficking, child exploitation and production and distribution of child pornography.

The 29 year old allegedly distributed his illicit materials online and ran a webpage that lured children to appear in pornographic videos, which he sold to the public.

Police authorities were alerted to Nitikorn’s illegal activities on Twitter, which has over 290,000 followers. The social media platform posted messages exhibiting child pornography and sexual acts performed on minors, and encouraged users to join a pay-for-entry secret group on the LINE messaging app.

Authorities disguised themselves as ‘interested users’ before making the arrest. They discovered many of the boys were under 18.

Under questioning, Nitikorn confessed he was the owner and administrator of the webpage, Twitter account, and LINE group.

The child predator admitted to luring the underage children via social media, and paid them 2,000 to 3,000 baht for intercourse. Most of the victims did not know they were being filmed during the act

He also acknowledged he had filmed most of the videos posted to those social media platforms.

Police unveiled Nitikorn had been operating for over 4 years before the arrest, and charged people 500 to 1,000 baht to join his illicit group.

SOURCE Bangkok Post