Operator of child porn site arrested in Chiang Mai

CHIANG MAI: Police recently arrested the administrator of a child pornography website after tracking him down to a condo in this northern province.

Officers from Provincial Police Region 5 and the Thailand Internet Crimes against Children (Ticac) unit apprehended Korakot Chulthong at a condo on Thung Hotel Road in Muang district, police announced on Saturday.

They also seized three mobile phones, a laptop computer, two portable drives, some bank books and ATM cards.

Police have been on the lookout for Mr Korakot, 24, who was wanted on charges of possessing child pornographic materials for sexual and commercial purposes and for uploading pornographic data into a computer system that can be accessed by others.

The arrest followed public complaints that a group on the VK social-media platform was distributing video clips featuring sexual acts between Thai children and foreigners.

This group allegedly had 800 members and more than 200,000 followers.

VK (VKontakte), a Russian social-media and networking service, is available in numerous languages but is mainly used by Russian-speakers.

With more than 500 million accounts, it is the 12th most visited website in the world.

Investigators learned that the group was created in Russia and later purchased by Thais, with Mr Korakot serving as an administrator. Reviews of more than 100 porn clips were posted on the group, and those wanting to watch uncensored versions had to pay membership fees of 300 baht.

This gave police officers a chance to pose as customers, transfer the money to the administrator, and later track him down to the condo.

The suspect has confessed to the charges, saying he had been running the site for about a year, officers said.