Cable crackdown: Thailand bridges gap on cybercrime
In a campaign to cut off cybercriminals at their source, Thailand’s top telecom regulator is joining forces with the Department of Highways to tackle illegal cross-border cable networks lurking near national bridges.
In a bid to sever the sinister circuits exploited by cybercriminals, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) is tying knots with the Department of Highways to clamp down on illegal cross-border cabling. Their gaze is fixed on 17 key bridges where shady networks threaten to undermine national security.
Trairat Viriyasirikul, NBTC acting Secretary General, revealed recent covert operations alongside local police and the Technology Crime Investigation Division 3. The team uncovered an unlawful cable con setup near the first Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge, with spider-webbing cables linked directly back to Laos.
Last year’s eagle-eyed checks revealed these unauthorised installations, sparking this year’s sting. The NBTC aren’t just stopping at cable cuts, they’re demanding telecom operators tag their networks for quick-fire identification.
Their sleuthing didn’t stop there: a secondary sweep around the same bridge bagged wireless antennae perched at a nearby hotel with views of Laos, just 1.24 kilometres away. Not far off, a dish loomed ominously at a commercial site only 936 metres short of the border, capable of zipping internet signals 30km wide.
Trairat raised a red flag about these findings, warning that such gear, so close to foreign soil, could enable cross-border cybercapers. The offenders, linked to these digital misdeeds, will face the Radio Communications Act’s hefty penalties—up to 100,000 baht in fines or a five-year stretch behind bars, reported Bangkok Post.
Adding to their border-busting agenda, Nong Khai province became the latest stop for this month’s border blitz, as the joint team scours the country’s fringes to unplug cyber plots before they take root.
Meanwhile, about 7,000 foreigners trapped in fraudulent scam call centres in Myanmar’s Myawaddy region have been freed and are awaiting repatriation.
Some 7,141 victims from 28 nations, were rescued from the Shwe Kokko and KK Park complexes, areas known for human trafficking and cybercrime activities.
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