At 1:40pm yesterday (Sept 26), Pol Lt Col Kan Aksornthong, Investigation Superintendent at Phuket City Police, formally received the 25-year-old Russian national whom police named only as ‘Mr Alex’ and the black Ford pickup truck used in the video in front of Phuket City Police Station.
Police said Mr Alex admitted that he had known the main suspect, 23-year-old Russian ‘Mr Georgii’, for only four days and had invited him to bring the vehicle to film social media content. He claimed he was promised payment for providing the truck but had not yet been paid.
Investigators have charged Mr Alex with aiding and abetting a publicly indecent act, reckless driving endangering others and supporting the import of obscene material into a computer system in violation of the Computer Crimes Act.
The arrest follows the detention of Mr Georgii, who was intercepted at Suvarnabhumi Airport on Thursday (Sept 25) while attempting to board a flight to Vietnam. He has already been charged with public indecency, publishing obscene material online and offences under the Computer Crimes Act.
The Thai woman in the video, a 42-year-old Rawai resident identified by police only as ‘Ms B’, has also been charged with public indecency and has already been brought before Phuket Provincial Court.
The charges stem from a clip posted online showing a naked foreign man and a Thai woman engaged in a sex act in the open bed of a black pickup as it travelled along the bypass road on Wednesday night (Sept 24). The video quickly spread across Thai social media, prompting a coordinated investigation by Phuket City Police, Tourist Police and Phuket Immigration.
Police have already recommended that Immigration cancel Mr Georgii’s visa and deport him once court proceedings are complete, with a re-entry ban also under consideration.
Investigators said they are still working to identify the person who filmed the clip. Further charges may follow as the case continues.