Thai marine police and telecommunications regulators have arrested two fishing-boat owners after finding allegedly unauthorised Starlink satellite-internet equipment and mobile-signal hardware aboard vessels on Songkhla Lake.
The arrests took place on 5 August 2026 after an operation ordered by Pol Maj Gen Setthasiri Nippaya, commander of the Marine Police Division. Officers detained Mr Panaiyakorn, 43, and Mr Cha, 67, on two fishing boats floating on the lake in Songkhla province.
Equipment found on two fishing boats
The operation was led by Pol Col Wanphichit Wattanasakmontha, superintendent of Marine Police Sub-Division 7, alongside Pol Lt Col Kongkiat Hemthanont and Pol Lt Col Phuwaset Chamnina. They worked with officials from the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), including its Region 4 office and Office 41.
Police said the two men identified themselves as the boats' owners and caretakers. Officers alleged that the vessels had been fitted with communication and telecommunications equipment without the required permission.
On Mr Panaiyakorn's boat, police seized one white Starlink satellite internet router with connection cables, plus a Starlink UTP-232 satellite internet transmitting and receiving device, also with cables.
Mr Cha was found with a TQx-689-3800-13 logarithmic-period receiving antenna, a YBT-700-2700 omni-directional transmitting antenna, connection cables and one signal amplifier, police said.
The boats were located during patrols in the Songkhla Lake navigation channel, part of a joint effort to prevent and suppress technology and telecommunications crime.
Owners say they did not know equipment was illegal
Both suspects admitted ordering and installing the Starlink satellite internet receiving equipment and mobile-phone signal boosters themselves, according to police. They said they had not known the equipment was illegal.
They are accused of offences involving untaxed, illegal or improperly cleared goods, as well as possessing, using, importing, exporting or trading radio communications equipment and establishing a radio station without authorisation.
The two men and the seized equipment were handed to investigators for further legal action.
Picture courtesy of Thaitabloid
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6 August 2026
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