BANGKOK: A news article widely shared last week about a man being chopped up and his flesh served to hungry customers at a vegetarian restaurant in Lat Krabang, near Bangkok was fake, said Thai police.
While police confirmed that a murder did occurred at the restaurant, other gory aspects such as the victim's body being chopped up and his flesh served with noodles to restaurant patrons were not as claimed.
"No one ate noodles at the restaurant as the place has been temporarily closed for renovation during the said incident," the investigation officer in charge of the case, Col Charnwit Pumpho, told Bernama when contacted today.
He also disputed claims in the news report that customers had lodged police reports on the incident and the discovery of human flesh in the noodles, saying that there was no customers at the time of the incident.
The police report, according to Charnwit, was filed by nearby residents who were disturbed by foul smell emanating from the restaurant, which then led to the discovery of a human body inside a septic tank near the restaurant's kitchen.
Due to the false depiction about the murder, as the fake news article had gone viral in Thailand and other neighbouring countries including Malaysia, Thai authorities were worried about its impact on the country's image and tourism industry.
When police received the report more than week ago, they went to the restaurant and found pieces of human brain and blood splattered inside the restaurant's kitchen.
Upon further investigation, police found the partly decomposed body of a man with multiple stab wounds inside a septic tank near the kitchen and later identified the body as belonging to 61-year old Prasert Inpathom.
The police have since picked up a 68-year-old suspect, who allegedly was the last man to be seen with the victim.
Meanwhile, Thailand's acting Immigration Police Chief Maj Gen Surachate Hakpal said the authorities will take a closer look at the impact of the fake news on Thailand.
The immigration police chief, who also heads Thailand's Action Taskforce for Information Technology Crime Suppression (TACTICS), said authorities will check the purpose behind the sharing of the fake news and whether they intended to cause damage to the country's image.
"We will check whether they (those who shared the fake news) violated the Computer Crimes Act," he said. — Bernama