Police nab internet child porn suspect

Police have arrested a man for possessing and uploading child porn on social networks and charging fees for people to view the material.

The arrest was based on information from the online reporting system CyberTip.

The US National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which runs it, reported that someone in Thailand had uploaded porn featuring minors aged between 5-10 onto the internet.

The agency asked the Immigration Bureau (IB) to investigate the matter, said IB chief Sompong Chingduang yesterday. An investigation found the suspect, identified as Kittiphong, is a native from Sakhon Nakhon and works in Bangkok.

On May 21, police from the IB, the Thailand Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and the anti-trafficking in persons division, armed with a court warrant, raided a room in Khlong Sam Wa district where the man stayed. Police found eight mobile phones which contained child porn. Police said Mr Kittiphong admitted he uploaded the porn onto his Twitter account, as well as a group on the Line application which charges a membership fee of 350 baht for viewing.

Police charged him with possessing child porn for financial exploitation, while the Sakon Nakhon Court also issued a warrant for his arrest for sexually abusing children aged 13 and under, after an investigation suggested his room matched that which turned up in the pictures.

In another development, Pol Lt Gen Sompong yesterday also announced the arrest of a woman identified as Panitnart at an upscale condo in Soi Aree in Bangkok.

Pol Lt Gen Sompong said the woman falsely claimed she was lured into prostitution abroad, and duped unsuspecting foreigners who had trysts with her to pay a ransom for her freedom.

The woman also texted messages to married victims threatening she would reveal their trysts with her to their wives if they refused to give her money. Victims were forced to transfer more than 1.5 million baht to her, Pol Lt Gen Sompong said.