BANGKOK – Thai police have arrested a Russian man wanted over a sex act filmed on the bed of a moving pickup truck in Phuket. He was detained at Suvarnabhumi airport on Thursday. The suspect, identified as Georgii, a 23-year-old Russian tourist, was being moved to Phuket on Thursday evening for legal action.
Officers believe he is the man seen in a clip showing a couple in the back of a pickup as it travelled along a bypass in Muang district on Wednesday night. The 15-second video shows a foreign man holding a woman by the waist from behind while she grips a rope tied to a bar on the truck bed. The woman has not been confirmed, though police think she is also Russian.
Investigators say Georgii left Phuket and headed for an outbound flight from Suvarnabhumi in Samut Prakan. Immigration police officers found him at about 3.45 pm on Thursday, questioned him at the airport, and then prepared to hand him over to the Phuket police.
Pol Lt Col Ekachai Siri, chief of Phuket tourist police, said that anyone involved faces a public indecency charge. If the video was produced and shared as online content, they could also face prosecution under the Computer Crime Act.
Pol Col Chatree Chukaew, chief of Muang Phuket police, urged the Immigration Bureau to cancel Georgii’s visa and add him to a blacklist, blocking any future entry. Phuket police say the suspect has a record of posting explicit videos on social media.
Indecent Acts in Thailand
Thailand’s Penal Code bans public sex acts and indecency, including under Sections 279 on indecent acts, especially involving minors, and Sections 282 to 287 on procuring or engaging in indecent acts.
The Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act of 1996 also outlaws solicitation and public prostitution. Penalties range from fines up to 20,000 baht to prison terms from 1 to 20 years, depending on the offence, and deportation for foreign nationals.
Private, consensual acts between adults are seldom pursued, but public incidents, often filmed, prompt swift arrests in tourist centres such as Pattaya and Phuket.
In 2019, police made more than 24,000 arrests for prostitution-related offences, with foreigners sometimes caught in raids. These cases reflect ongoing efforts to curb sex tourism and uphold public standards, though enforcement can vary.
Most cases cluster in Pattaya and Phuket. Areas like Walking Street and Beach Road draw frequent complaints from residents and visitors, which leads to periodic crackdowns.
In December 2024, police detained four foreigners, including a German and a Serbian, linked to the TukTuk Patrol porn channel, along with three Thai nationals. They were accused of making and distributing sex videos at tourist sites and charged under anti-pornography laws that carry up to five years in prison.
In a separate case, officers arrested 20 foreign women in Pattaya, including those from Uganda and Uzbekistan, for public solicitation. Thailand takes a hard line on public sex and indecency to protect its family-friendly image. Foreign visitors risk visa cancellation and blacklisting if they break these laws.
