Link cut, depriving call scammers of internet access
PUBLISHED : 2 Dec 2024 at 16:28
TAK – Large internet cables have been found illegally installed across the Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge and were being used by call centre gangs.
The illegal cable link was discovered on Monday on the first Thai-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 Telecommunication Commission (NBTC) and the police Taskforce for Information Technology Crime Suppression (TACTICS) into illegal internet cables, telecom towers and transmission antennas on the border with Laos and Myanmar.
Illegal internet cables were recently found on the friendship bridge across the Mekong River from Mukdahan to Laos.
National Broadcasting and Telecommunications commissioner Pol Gen Nathathorn Prousoontorn told a press briefing that a total of 16 large-sized, high-speed fibre optic cables were laid across the bridge.
There were two 216-core cables, two 96-core cables and 14 24-core internet cables. An inspection using specialised equipment found the scam gangs had also installed illegal internet cables several kilometres deep into Myanmar.
“Given the size of the cables, they can transmit signals to four economic towns covering areas of hundreds of kilometres and provide internet services to many scammers who have moved their operations (from Laos) to this area,” Pol Gen Nathathorn said.
“This is our biggest seizure of illegal internet cables. Cutting them has prevented the call centre gangs in this area from accessing the internet,” he said.