CityNews – Police raided a house being used by a group of Chinese nationals holding tourist visas as an illegal pornography website operation centre based in Thailand – a criminal offence under pornography laws and immigration laws.
The house, found in Emperor Village 2, Faham, was home to a gang of Chinese nationals that concerned neighbours in the area, causing them to ask police to inspect what they were doing. Locals told the police it looked like it was being used as a work place.
After the raid, police discovered a series of computers with matching IP addresses to admins for a pornography website. In thailand, watching pornography is not illegal, but selling, trading and distribution is illegal under pornography laws, section 287 of the penal code and article 14 of the criminal code.
Five Chinese men were arrested (Wang Bo, Xu Liangte, Lin Zhangbin, Miao Xin and Li Mingxi). They had been renting the house for three months and were all on a tourist visa.
Members of the website paid for content which was then collected by the men as profit and wages. The admin of the website had a matching IP address to the computers found in the house, and was in Chinese language.
They initally denied the allegations but now have been arrested and awaiting trial. They will be charged under the Computer Crime Act BE 2550 for disseminating pornography from within the Kingdom, and for working without the correct visa and work permits.