Songkhla: Cyber police, in collaboration with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), launched an operation to take down signal towers along the Thai-Malaysian border to stop call center gangs. The operation was initiated to prevent crime in accordance with government policy, which ordered inspections of border areas to stop the use of communication devices, such as SIM boxes, for fraudulent activities. The initial steps involved inspecting telephone signal towers, reducing the strength of signals, and lowering the height of signal transmission panels to block communication device usage from neighboring countries.

According to Thai News Agency, an inspection in Songkhla Province revealed that there were four telephone signal towers in Padang Besar Subdistrict, Sadao District. At the first location, some antennas were found pointing towards Malaysia, allowing the signal to cross the border. NBTC officials have notified the signal renters to remove these antennas.

For the second and third towers, some antennas were facing Malaysia and were installed at heights exceeding 10 meters. NBTC officials instructed that the antennas be lowered to a maximum height of 10 meters and redirected towards Thailand. They requested that this be completed by November 8th.

The fourth pole was found to have a base station located 50 meters to 1 kilometer from the border. The signal strength was inspected and found to be in accordance with NBTC regulations.

Initially, 10 target locations were inspected for potential use in installing communication devices like SIM boxes for illegal activities. Business operators were also warned to watch out for criminals who may install such devices for defrauding the public.