Man calls 191, pleasures himself

A 22-year-old man has been arrested for calling the 191 hotline about 30 times a day and pleasuring himself when male officers answered the phone, police said on Tuesday.

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Pol Maj Gen Panurat Lakboon, who is in charge of the 191 police unit, said Pitsanu Kohplub, a fourth year university student, called the emergency hotline 529 times in December.

"I frequently called the hotline because I was under a lot of stress and I wanted to relieve my pain," Mr Pitsanu was quoted as saying by police.

The suspect also admitted that he masturbated when male police officers picked up his call. The 22-year-old said he was sorry and promised that he will not make harassing phone calls again.

He is liable to a fine of up to 1,000 baht and/or a jail term of one month.

Pol Maj Gen Panurat said some 250,0000 calls were made to the 191 hotline in November. About 54% of the calls were hoaxes.

He has instructed police to answer all calls made to the hotline. Most hoax callers were found to be children, he said. Officers could only warn them not to do it again. Adults who made hoax calls were fined 500 baht each, he added.