Thai cyber police bust child porn ring with over 15,000 members
Cyber police widened their investigation following the arrest of the administrator of a secret group selling child pornography clips, with over 15,000 members and a membership fee of 100 to 200 baht. The arrest comes after the suspect was apprehended on drug charges today, January 18.
The operation was led by Police Colonel Chusak Khanadnit and Police Lieutenant Colonel Runglerd Kanthachan, both of whom are part of the Internet Child Sexual Exploitation Prevention Group. The alleged 34 year old perverted suspect stands accused of uploading and forwarding computer data of an indecent nature, accessible to the public, under the Computer Crimes Act, and for possessing child pornography for sexual or commercial purposes under the Penal Code sections 287/1 and 287/2.
The arrest was made following a tip-off received on January 11 from The Scientia Program, an NGO operating in Thailand to support Thai law enforcement in combating human trafficking and child exploitation.
This led to the arrest of the degenerate Tawan, who had opened more than 100 secret groups disseminating child pornography. Another alleged pervert, Surachai, was also identified as a member of this operation, operating a secret group on the LINE application under the account name Arsa Paploen. The majority of the content was child pornography, involving both Thai and foreign children, reported KhaoSod.
On the evening of January 16, officers arrested Surachai, seizing his mobile phone. At the time, Surachai was already under arrest on drug charges by the Kaset Wisai Police.
Upon inspection, the phone provided evidence confirming Surachai as the user of the Arsa Paploen LINE account, although this had since been deleted and replaced with a new account under the name Sukanthawa Paploen.
This new account was used to invite people to join the secret group on LINE and to collect membership fees, ranging from 100 to 200 baht. The LINE group containing child pornography had a total of 111 groups, with a total membership exceeding 15,698 people. After the arrest, the case was handed over to the Kaset Wisai Police for further legal proceedings.
