Four people allegedly involved in offering child sexual services have been arrested separately in Bangkok and Samut Prakan, police said on Saturday.
Officers from the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division (ATPD) arrested two of the suspects, a man and a woman, identified as Noppadol Chanthong, 40, and Khachaporn Khlainakpheuk, 51, who were wanted under arrest warrants issued by the Criminal Court on Sept 6.
The two suspects face charges of supporting human trafficking by profiting from prostitution and luring or persuading children under the age of 15 into sexual abuse.
The officers later arrested two key suspects - website administrator Warit Wattanawongchai, 41, and website owner Pheeraphon Jaensapsin, 41.
Both men were also wanted under arrest warrants issued by the Criminal Court on Sept 14. They are charged with colluding in human trafficking, procuring children for prostitution, profiting from the flesh trade, depriving children of parental care and related offences, Pol Maj Gen Sarut Kwaengsopha, ATPD commander, said on Saturday.
Earlier, police rescued two 15-year-old girls who had been lured into sex flesh trade. The officers later arrested a sex broker, identified only as Ms Thanyaporn, at a condominium on Rama II Road.
According to Pol Maj Gen Sarut, Ms Thanyaporn had deceived the two girls into selling sex at this condominium.
According to the police investigation, the sex broker had posted photos of children on a website offering sex services, requiring a monthly payment of 490 baht for advertisement fees. Additional fees were charged for boosting page views.
Police seize computers, mobile phones and other items from a house of one of the four suspects. (Photo supplied/Wassayos Ngamkham)
Pol Maj Gen Sarut said Ms Thanyaporn had transferred money to the website via a bank account of Ms Khachaporn, who had hired to open a mule account to receive money transfers from those seeking to advertise sex services.
About 200,000-300,000 baht was transferred to her bank account each month, with Mr Noppadol responsible for withdrawing the money.
Ms Khachaporn was arrested at her house in Dusit district, while Mr Noppadol was apprehended at his mansion in Bang Khen district, said the ATPD commander.
During questioning, Ms Khachaporn confessed to being paid 2,000 baht to open the mule bank account, Mr Noppadol admitted he was hired to withdraw funds from the mule account, receiving 1,000-2,000 baht from Mr Warit each time.
Pol Maj Gen Sarut said police subsequently arrested Mr Warit at a housing estate in Hua Mak area. Mr Warit confessed to acting as an administrator of the website offering child sex services and managing its finances. He received a monthly salary of 60,000 baht and also earned a portion of the advertisement fees from website owner Pheeraphon.
Mr Pheeraphon was later arrested at a luxury housing estate in Samut Prakan. Police found numerous photos of young women and girls who were human trafficking victims on his seized computers.
During questioning, Mr Pheeraphon admitted to owning the website and told investigators that he and Mr Warit were close friends. They had previously worked as online marketing staff and event organisers before venturing into the online sex business.
Mr Pheeraphon said he had hired a foreign programmer to create the website and rented a server overseas to avoid the eyes of Thai authorities. He said he earned about 200,000-300,000 baht a month from advertisement fees.
All suspects are currently in police custody pending legal action.