Thai man arrested for tricking more than 20 young boys into sex for porn
Police arrested a 28 year old Thai man for tricking more than 20 young boys aged between 12 to 15 years old into having sex for porn and selling child porn online.
A Thai mother, identified only as A, filed a complaint with Wang Sapung Police Station in the northeastern province of Loei on December 29 that her 12 year old son was tricked and threatened by a Thai man to go to a hotel yesterday, December 25.
She stopped her son from meeting the man and thought this man was dangerous and attempted to sexually assault her son. So, she decided to report the incident to the police. Officers asked the boy to pretend to agree to the meeting and asked the suspicious man to wait at the hotel.
Officers then raided the hotel room and found the man, later identified as 28 year old Arnon Saengthong, in the room. Two used condoms and two boxes of condoms were found in his room. Officers also found a large amount of child pornography on his mobile phone.
Arnon was taken to the police station for questioning and denied the accusation. He said he travelled from Bangkok to Loei to meet the boy. They talked with each other via Instagram and Facebook for months but had a conflict with each other and wanted to meet in person to settle the matter.
Arnon insisted that he had no sexual intentions and had never tricked boys into having sex. and had never tricked any young boys into sex. He added that he made an appointment with this boy for the first person and had never met other young boys before. Arnon claimed that the two condoms used were for masturbation.
Charges issued on clear evidence
Police were not convinced by Arnon’s claim because the explicit videos of children were concrete evidence.
Further investigation revealed that Arnon used a Facebook account called Pat Sang and an Instagram account called Shinzukeamaki to target young boys.
Arnon would ask the boys to send him their naked pictures and later lure them into sex. He would record the sex acts both for sale and to blackmail the victims. More than 20 boys in Pathum Thani and Nonthaburi provinces were victims of this paedophile.
Officials urged other parents and guardians who found their children among the victims to report to the police. Arnon faces two initial charges, including…
- Section 287/1 of the Criminal Law: possession and distribution of child pornography. The penalty is imprisonment of up to seven years, a fine of up to 140,000 baht, or both.
- Section 26(9) of the Children Protection Act: forcing, convincing, encouraging, or supporting children to commit explicit or indecent acts for money or other benefits. The penalty will be imprisonment of up to three months, a fine of up to 30,000 baht, or both.
