Garbage collector Surat Maneenopparatsuda and his family. Photo: Morning News.

A 28-year-old garbage collector was ordered to pay a fine of THB133,400 yesterday for selling used VCD movies he found in the trash.

The Supreme Court found Surat Maneenopparatsuda, a municipal garbage collector in the capital’s Saphan Sung district, guilty of selling copyrighted CDs without permission.

“I am in the dark now,” he said. “All I am concerned about now is my children.”

He was arrested in 2008 for selling old movies at a market in Bang Kapi district for THB20 each alongside old shoes and rice cookers. He was originally sentenced to a fine of THB200,100 in 2010 but appealed the case.

The court found the defendant’s testimony “useful” and reduced his fine to THB133,400.

As Surat cannot afford the fine, he would have to serve one day for every THB200 in prison, or about 1 year and 8 months, Komchadluek and The Nation reported.

This morning Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya offered to pay the fine for Surat, according to Morning News.

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