Thai university student arrested for selling child pornography

Department Of Special Investigation (DSI) officers yesterday arrested a 19 year old Thai university student for selling child pornography online at a condominium in Pathum Thani province near Bangkok.

The Director of the DSI’s Technology and Information Litigation Division, Khemmachart Prakuyhongmanee, reported the successful operation to the media today. Khemmachart stated that officers received a tip-off about the online sale of child pornography from the condo and conducted a raid at the spot yesterday with a sniffer dog called Hidu, which was trained in the US to detect electronic devices.

The dog led the DSI authorities to the room of a 19 year old suspect selling child pornography via a LINE application group chat. Officers discovered more than 5,000 child pornography files and found that there were over 200 child victims involved in the making of the content.

Khemmachart reported that the suspect worked with another woman. The woman created an online profile using a beautiful picture and talked to the victims, who were mostly young boys aged under 18 years old.

The woman then lured the victims into sending her nude pictures and videos in order to sell them in the LINE group. Each member of the group had to pay for a package in order to see the porn, which cost between 150 baht to 500 baht.

Khemmachart believes that there are more members involved in the pedophile ring than just the teenage boy and the woman. The director made known that a further investigation would be conducted to uncover the rest of the gang.

The suspect was initially charged with processing child pornography for the sexual benefit of himself or others, which will result in a penalty of up to five years in jail, a fine of up to 100,000 baht, or both, according to Section 287 of the Criminal Law.

The teenager also faced a charge for uploading child pornography online, which the public could access. The penalty will be imprisonment of up to five years, a fine of up to 100,000 baht, or both, according to Section 14(4) of the Computer Act.