Two male university students were arrested for tweeting photos of themselves posing nude in public places in Chiang Mai, stirring public debate on social media about whether they ruined the province’s image.
Police in the northern province launched an investigation June 3 into the nude selfies taken in several locations on many occasions, including a kilometre marker and a traffic sign showing the direction to the city.
It took about a week to track down and arrest Hariphat Phuphansamrit, 20, and Surapong Khaophong, 22.
Pacha Rattanapun, deputy chief of Provincial Police Region 5, said the two joined a homosexual group known as "Outdoor" to take nude photos and publish the images on social media.
He said the two youths are students at a university. They are charged with distributing pornography via computer and public indecent exposure. Police said both confessed to posting the images, saying it was just for fun and not intended to smear the province's image. They extended apologies to Chiang Mai.
The police team has tracked down the two using CCTV camera footage from private and government sources, particularly the Police Eye project.
Mr Hariphat said the Outdoor group normally held meetings at the back of Chiang Mai's provincial hall. The police will track down more of the group's members living in Bangkok and usually travelled to Chiang Mai by plane.