Police have linked a number of people arrested on Tuesday with an overseas Thai who has been supplying them with funds to produce online anti-government propaganda on Facebook.
At a press conference on Thursday at the Crime Suppression Division, charts were displayed to show the connection between the detained suspects and a man identified as Chaiyathat Ratanachan who lives overseas.
They said a former reporter for Matichon newspaper, Harit Mahaton, 25, one of the two suspects arrested in Khon Kaen, was an advisor for a Facebook page and the go-between for the funds.
Ten people were arrested on Tuesday in a wide sweep of anti-government elements.
On Thursday afternoon, Col Burin Thongprapai, a Judge Advocate-General's Department officer, took the group to the CSD headquarters for questioning and to acknowledge charges of breaching Section 116 of the Criminal Code, which involves actions to publicise messages in a bid to stir political unrest, and the Computer Crimes Act.
Police accused Mr Chaiyathat of receiving money from an unknown financier to make monthly payments to eight of the suspects to produce content aimed at criticising and provoking hatred against the government on two Facebook pages: "เรารัก พล.อ.ประยุทธ์" (We love Gen Prayut) and “UDD Thailand”.
An investigation alleged Nattathika Worathaiwit was the leader of a group which created the “เรารัก พล.อ.ประยุทธ์” Facebook page while others took the roles of administrators and text/photo editors.
Ms Nattathika and her team had received 110,000 baht every month from Mr Harit to run anti-government Facebook pages since March last year.
Eight people were arrested on Tuesday night for allegedly breaching the computer crime law through their criticism of the regime and the prime minister.
The other two were arrested in Khon Kaen on the same charges and taken into custody at the 23rd Military Circle.
The detentions were carried out under overriding powers set down in Section 44 of the interim charter.
Earlier Thursday, military officers turned down a request by red-shirt leaders to meet eight of the 10.
United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship leader Jatuporn Prompan and other core UDD leaders arrived at the 11th Military Circle in Bangkok’s Dusit district at about 1pm and asked to meet the detainees inside the compound.
The soldiers refused the request, saying they were taking the detainees to the Crime Suppression Division headquarters to acknowledge charges. They would then be taken to the Bangkok Military Court later on Friday for approval of further detention.
Mr Jatuporn said he knew three of the detainees - Noppaklao Kongsuwan and Vararat Mengpramool, who are his Facebook page administrators, and Thanawan Buranasiri, a former employee at Peace TV, a red-shirt station. Mr Thanawan resigned from the satellite TV station last month.
Mr Jatuporn said the government accused the 10 people of breaching the Computer Crimes Act but treated them worse than those arrested for breaching the Anti-Communist Act in the past, because soldiers "kidnapped" them from their homes and only later sent them to police investigators to have charges pressed against them.
This sort of action must stop, he said. The detention of the 10 netizens should be the last.
The government should not create an atmosphere of fear in the lead-up to the charter referendum on Aug 7, the UDD leader said.
The other five detainees at the 11th Military Circle are identified as Worawit Saksamutnan, Supachai Saibutr, Yothin Mungkungsa-nga, Kannasit Tungboonthina and Ms Nattathika.
