Thai police seize internet chat logs

PHUKET: More than 20 police from the Economic and Cyber-Crimes Division (ECOTEC) have raided the offices of Thai state-owned telecommunications company CAT Telecom and confiscated chat-room conversation records and a server.

Police Lieutenant General Tha-ngai Prasajaksatru, commander of ECOTEC, said the raid at CAT Tower yesterday focused on the Internet data center and was in response to a radical pro-Thaksin supporter accessing the server to instigate political violence.

Lieutenant General Tha-nga said that on February 26, Pornwat Thongsomboon, widely known as ‘K. Thong’, accessed a chat room titled ‘Voice of Change’ and posted a video clip issuing a bomb threat and stated, “The civil war has commenced”. The video also urged investors to withdraw their investments from the stock market. 

The day after the message was posted, four Bangkok Bank branches in the national capital were attacked with hand grenades, followed by a further series of bomb attacks on banks in the southern province of Narathiwat on Tuesday.

Lieutenant General Tha-nga said the message was intended to damage national security and create social unrest, which is a violation of the Computer Crimes Act. 

He said the contents of the confiscated server will be inspected by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology in an attempt to identify the IP address of K. Thong or any other people posting items in breach of the Computer Crimes Act.

Meanwhile, in the wake of last week’s Supreme Court verdict finding Thaksin guilty of abuse of power, there have been no protests, demonstrations or other potentially damaging activities by any political groups in Phuket or most of the rest of Thailand.

— ThaiVisa.com