Bangkok Post – Illegal internet cables discovered installed on Thailand-Myanmar bridge

Link cut, depriving call fraudsters of Internet access

TAK – Large internet cables were found illegally installed through the Thailand-Myanmar Friendship Bridge and were used by call center gangs.

The illegal cable link was discovered on Monday at the first Thailand-Myanmar Friendship Bridge, which crosses the Moei River at Ban Rim Moei in Mae Sot district, opposite Myawaddy in Myanmar.

The discovery was part of an ongoing joint investigation by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) and the Police Task Force for Combating Information Technology Crime (TAACTICS) into illegal internet cables, telecommunications towers and transmission antennas on the border with Laos and Myanmar.

Illegal internet cables were recently discovered on the Friendship Bridge across the Mekong River in Mukdahan, Laos.

National Commissioner for Broadcasting and Telecommunications Pol Gen Nathathorn Prousoontorn told a press briefing that a total of 16 large, high-speed fiber optic cables had been laid on the bridge.

There were two 216-conductor cables, two 96-conductor cables, and 14 24-conductor Internet cables. An inspection using specialist equipment revealed the fraudulent gangs had also installed illegal internet cables several kilometers deep in Myanmar.

“Given the size of the cables, they can transmit signals to four economic cities covering areas of several hundred kilometers and provide Internet services to many fraudsters who have moved their operations (from Laos) to this area,” he said. said Pol General Nathathorn.

“This is our largest seizure of illegal internet cables. Removing them stopped the call center gangs in that area from accessing the internet,” he said.