KOH PHANGAN — Thai police have charged a 72-year-old woman for spreading false information on social media claiming that American mercenaries were traveling from a southern Thai island to assist Cambodian forces in fighting Thailand, authorities said.
Police on Koh Phangan island said the false reports alleged that Jewish American soldiers were among groups of foreign mercenaries being transported by boat to Cambodia’s Sihanoukville province to join combat operations against Thai troops.
According to investigators, the misinformation circulated online included claims that 180 foreigners on Koh Phangan had hired Thai boat operators to take them to Cambodia, while another 200 foreigners remained on the island.
The posts said the group included Jewish Americans and people of other nationalities and was accompanied by photos showing foreigners carrying luggage in front of a building with Khmer-language signage.
The posts further claimed the foreigners were mercenaries working for Cambodia’s powerful Hun family and were specialists in military drone operations. Police said their investigation found the claims to be entirely false and unsupported by any evidence.
Authorities said they were ordered on Dec. 13 to trace the source of the social media posts after they began circulating widely. Investigators determined the first messages were shared at about 1 p.m. on December 12 from a house in Koh Phangan district via a LINE messaging group with 270 members. The content was later forwarded to two additional LINE groups with 24 and 29 members, respectively.
Police identified the original sender as a 72-year-old woman, identified only by the initials T.H. She was summoned for questioning on Dec. 13 and admitted to sharing the messages and images without knowing whether they were accurate and without knowing their original source, police said.
Investigators charged her with importing distorted or false information into a computer system in a manner likely to cause harm to the public, an offense under Thailand’s computer crime law.
The spread of the false claims coincided with a televised discussion on Dec. 12 involving prominent political science and security expert Panitan Wattanayagorn, who was speaking about military drone use on a popular Channel 3 talk show.
During the program “Hone Krasae,” the host asked whether unidentified fighters were involved in the conflict. Panitan said Thai authorities were detaining some individuals connected to the battlefield who were affiliated with military consulting companies.
Panitan said he was aware of such companies, which he did not identify by nationality. He said security agencies would continue investigating their activities. The companies, he said, are legitimately hired to train or operate military drones, not civilian or semi-civilian drones. However, all such operations must be conducted under military command systems.
His comments were later distorted and circulated on social media to falsely claim that he had said American mercenaries were helping Cambodia attack Thailand.
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