A hacker accused of breaking into at least 100 government websites has been arrested in the border district of Mae Sai in Chiang Rai, police said on Thursday.
The suspect, identified only as Warakorn, was caught as he was about to cross into Myanmar.
According to police, the suspect hacked many government websites and used them for operating his illegal websites.
Typically, illegal websites are automatically blocked from Google search, while government agency websites can usually be found on the first page of search results.
The illegal links were damaging to the agencies and also confused the public, police said.
The investigation showed the suspect also opened bank accounts to receive money from the gangs that hired him to hack into the websites, he added.
Police have advised state agencies to regularly check their websites. If a website displays an illegal advertisement, it may have been hacked.