Thai Minister Says Spyware Used for National Security, Drug Dealers

The word Pegasus and binary code are displayed on a smartphone which is placed on a keyboard in this illustration taken May 4, 2022. Dado Ruvic/Reuters

A Thai minister has acknowledged the use of surveillance software to track those involved in “national security or drug matters,” but stated that it was only used in “limited and special cases.”

Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn, Minister of Digital Economy and Society, told parliament on Tuesday that he was aware of the use of spyware but did not disclose which software was used and against whom.

“It is used on national security or drug matters. If you need to arrest a drug dealer, you have to listen in to find where the drop would be,” he said, according to Reuters.

This comes after Toronto-based Citizen Lab, Thai legal monitoring group iLaw, and Southeast Asian internet watchdog Digital Reach revealed that 30 Thai activists and lawyers had been targeted with Israeli surveillance spyware Pegasus.

Chaiwut said that his ministry lacks the authority to use such software, but added that other agencies may have such capacity.

“I understand that there was usage of this sort but it is very limited and only in special cases,” he added.

Chaiwut later backtracked on his remarks, saying that his comments on the usage of spyware were general views and not particular to Thailand.

“I said I knew of the system that is used on security and drug [suppression], but I did not say that it existed in the Thai government,” he told parliament on Friday.

The Royal Thai Police also denied using spyware in their security operations, according to local reports.

Pegasus Software

Citizen Lab launched a joint investigation with iLaw and Digital Reach after Apple Inc alerted several iPhone users that “state-sponsored hackers” may have targeted their devices and iCloud accounts last year.

Apple sued NSO Group—an Israeli technology company that developed Pegasus—to ban it from using any Apple product, stating that Pegasus software had been used to “attack a small number of Apple users worldwide with malicious malware and spyware.”

According to Citizen Lab’s report, at least 30 Thai activists, academics, and lawyers were targeted with Pegasus spyware between October 2020 to November 2021, a time when there were widespread pro-democracy protests in Thailand.

Many of the victims have been repeatedly detained and imprisoned by the Thai authorities for their political activities, criticism of the government, or lese-majeste offenses (offenses against the royal family).

“The forensic evidence collected from infected devices, taken by itself, does not provide strong evidence pointing to a specific NSO Group customer,” the report reads.

“However, numerous elements of the case, when taken together, provide circumstantial evidence suggesting one or more Thai government Pegasus operators is responsible for the operation,” it added.

NSO Group stated on its website that its technology is sold exclusively to governments and law enforcement agencies “to fight crime and terror.”

The Epoch Times has reached out to NSO Group for comments.