A Thai student was arrested for allegedly distributing child pornography on group chats in order to pay for the latest Grand Theft Auto game.
Kiattisak Ruampum, 20, reportedly posted explicit underage images into groups with a paid membership on the Line app, which is widely used in Thailand.
The college student was arrested at his home in Samut Prakan province on December 15, where he allegedly confessed to sending at least 20 pornographic videos to the chat every day.
He said: ‘I know it is illegal, but I needed money to buy a new computer and to play Grand Theft Auto V. I charge 90 to 300 THB as an entrance fee into the group for each person.’
Police said they checked Kiattisak’s hard drive and found that he was also an admin in six other child pornographic groups. More than 3,000 video clips were also discovered on the student’s computer.
In the video from the arrest, police are seen watching the videos while saying ‘these are little children’. Cyber cops are now trying to trace those who were members of the groups.
Major General Theeradej Thammasutee said: ‘After paying the entrance fee, the user would gain access to a group chat called VIP7 where child porn would be sent daily. In some videos we found, the child was as young as five years old.
‘The man was charged for importing and distributing data of an obscene nature into the computer system, and for possessing, producing and distributing child pornography for oneself.
‘He was arrested for the safety of the children on social media. I hope parents take care and educate their children on the matter.’
Line is an app that was originally developed by the Naver Corporation in South Korea. It is phenomenally popular in Thailand where it is largely used for communications instead of phone calls or SMS messages.