A Pattaya-based Facebook page has stirred the ire of the national police chief for tipping off the public to police checkpoints in the area.
The “We Love Pattaya Checkpoints” page was ordered closed down under threat of prosecution under the Computer Crime Act.
Pol. Gen. Somyot Pumpunmuang – older brother of Pattaya’s police chief – recently declared war on all Facebook pages, websites and social media channels tipping off the public to checkpoints that test for alcohol use, proper licenses and motorcycle helmets.
He said owners of such pages would be tracked down and told to remove the pages or face prosecution.
Faced with huge fines and possible jail time, the administrator of the checkpoints tip-off Facebook page has shut down.
The anonymous admin of the Thai-language page – which had received more than 100,000 “likes” – initially declared he would not remove the page, as he was not doing anything improper. But faced with fines of up to 100,000 baht and jail time, the page has disappeared from Facebook.
