Police on Saturday arrested a suspected child-pornographer after being alerted by a 17-year-old victim who said he was being blackmailed.
Acting on a warrant issued by the Thonburi Criminal Court, officers from the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau apprehended a 24-year-old man identified only as Kantames at his home in Bang Khae district of Bangkok.
He faces charges of human trafficking through the distribution of pornographic material, violating computer crime laws and child pornography trading.
The parents of the victim contacted police on Tuesday, revealing that their son had been coerced for years into producing explicit content daily. The minor was threatened with having his previous images posted on Instagram if he did not comply.
The boy was reportedly depressed after some classmates discovered some images leaked earlier.
During the arrest, police seized several Apple devices, including an iPhone 14 Pro Max, an iPad Pro and an Apple Watch. The officers also uncovered over 200 gigabytes of explicit material in cloud storage.
The suspect admitted to coercing multiple minors to produce videos for his personal use and sale. He had been arrested by Nakhon Chai Si police in 2023 for similar offences but was released on bail. The case is still pending trial.
Kantames has been handed over to the Lak Song police station for further legal action.