A former pilot and another man have been arrested in Bangkok and Chanthaburi for allegedly luring women into having sex and posting sex shows for payment from subscribers in online chat groups.
The arrests were made on Thursday by a team of police from the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB), who raided two locations at around 6am.
In the first operation, they searched a house at Sammakorn housing estate at Soi Ramkhamhaeng 112 in Saphan Sung district, Bangkok, and arrested a man identified only as Phattharawit, a former pilot.
In the second raid, another man identified only as Atthaphol was apprehended at a house in Muang district of Chanthaburi.
Both men were wanted under arrest warrants issued by the Criminal Court on Wednesday for indecency, defamation through advertisement, and putting indecent data into a computer system. The police team seized notebook computers, mobile phones, and hard disk drives from them.
The operation was led by Pol Lt Gen Worawat Watnakhonbancha, the CCIB commissioner, following a complaint by a victim against Mr Phattharawit, whom she knew via Instagram, Facebook, and other social media platforms.
According to the victim, Mr Phattharawit had created a profile of an airline pilot on social media. After they chatted online and became close, the man allegedly enticed her to a hotel room where they had sex. Later, the victim found indecent videos showing her posted on the VK social media and other platforms. Her Facebook and Instagram accounts were also put on those social media platforms.
The CCIB police began an investigation and found that both suspects had posted those clips, which led to their arrest.
According to the CCIB investigation, Mr Phattharawit had opened rooms at a hotel in Bangkok's Ratchathewi district 13 times last year to deceive women into having sex with him and videotaped their sexual acts.
In 2021, the former pilot had opened rooms seven times at the same hotel. The investigation found that he had allegedly videotaped sex acts with good-looking young women and opened membership for people wanting to view those clips via chat groups on social media. After examining those clips, the CCIB investigators found that 29 women had fallen victim to him.
A criminal record showed that Mr Phattharawit had previously been prosecuted for the same offences at Samrong Nua police station in Samut Prakan, and another victim filed a complaint with him at Khok Kham police station in Bangkok's Bung Kum district.
During the arrest, Mr Phatthawarit told the officers that he used to work as a pilot for a well-known Thai carrier and that he had graduated with a degree in mining engineering from Chiang Mai University.
