A 30-year-old man has been charged with producing pornography involving minors and posting it on a website for paying customers, according to the Thailand Internet Crimes Against Children (TICAC) Task Force.
Thanawut "Note" Pawaree was taken into custody at his apartment in Wang Thong Lang district of Bangkok on Monday, and his arrest was announced by the police task force on Thursday.
Mr Thanawut allegedly ran a Twitter account under the alias "Khun Gorn". The account is alleged to have been registered to attract followers and sell membership to a secret website he also set up for airing sex shows.
According to the TICAC, he lured young girls, many believed to be underage, and had sex with them while broadcasting it live on the members-only website.
His Twitter page has racked up more than 50,000 followers. Many of them also paid a one-off fee of 300 baht to be members, who were given access to the website to view the live sex shows.
Mr Thanawut allegedly confessed to the crime. He faces charges of possessing and selling online sexual content involving minors.
The offences carry a jail term of 3-10 years and/or fine of 60,000-200,000 baht.
Police searched his apartment and found large quantities of online pornographic material, the TICAC announcement said.
Investigators were trying to find out if the girls featured in the live shows were victims of a human trafficking gang.
On Oct 22, police arrested another man, identified as Theerawut Somklaew, 27, who operated a similar pornographic website for members in Udon Thani. It was unclear if Mr Theerawut was linked to Mr Thanawut. Mr Theerawut's bank accounts were ordered frozen to facilitate a check on his money trail.
National police chief Chakthip Chaijinda said on Thursday the crackdown on online pornography and sex-related entertainment focused on tackling human trafficking and the exploitation of young people and women.