SATUN: Local police are tracking down a person who posted a message online wrongly accusing a group of Chinese tourists of beating sea urchins on a beach at Koh Lipe.
After the message was posted on Wednesday, tourist police on the island took four Chinese tourists to Koh Lipe police station on the same day for questioning.
The tourists told police that they arrived at the island on Monday and checked in at a resort in the afternoon. They later strolled along the beach and found three sea urchins near a rock at about 5pm as seawater was receding. They walked up to them to take a close look.
At the time, two Thai volunteers sent to warn visitors not to step on coral reef when seawater recedes saw them gather near the rock. The officials walked toward them and told them not to disturb the urchins. One Chinese man then used one of his slippers and a wooden stick to take the urchins one by one to part of the beach where seawater could reach, according to a police investigation.
The tourists denied destroying or beating the animals. Wrong social media reports on the matter caused damage to them, said the tourists. The two volunteers who witnessed the incident that day also testified in their favour.
Police said they were looking for the person who spread the wrong information. He or she would be charged with putting false information into the computer systems in violation of the Computer Crime Act.