Bangkok bans video game after copycat murder 
PROGRAMMED CRIME: The 18-year-old suspect re-enacting the crime. He has told police he copied it from the computer game Grand Theft Auto. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
BANGKOK - THAILAND banned the Grand Theft Auto (GTA) computer game yesterday, after a disturbed teenager allegedly killed a taxi driver in a copycat crime.
Following earlier news that the game's distributor would no longer stock GTA, Thai police told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that they had officially banned it because of 'obscene' content.
'The police are empowered to immediately arrest shopkeepers if they find any GTA games on sale,' said police spokesman Ruangsak Jaritake.
Any seller found stocking the game could be sentenced to three years in prison and fined up to 6,000 baht (S$250).
Stricter penalties are in place for online sellers, who could receive five years' imprisonment and a 100,000-baht fine.
Mr Ruangsak said the police will work with the Culture Ministry to check that online gaming sites are properly licensed and will block websites which offer violent games.
On Sunday, police arrested an 18-year-old high school student, after the body of a 50-year-old Bangkok taxi driver was found slumped in his cab.
'(The student) confessed that he committed the crime because he had copied it from the game he played,' Bangkok police Captain Veerarit Pipatanasak told AFP.
'He wanted money to play the game. His parents, who work as civil servants, did not have enough money to give him.'
The teen bought two knives with the 500-baht allowance his mother gave him last Saturday.
The GTA computer game series, which has sold about 70 million copies worldwide, has come under fire for its graphic depiction of casual violence, drug dealing and prostitution.
The New Era Interactive Media company, the only legal distributor of the game, said earlier yesterday that it would remove it from sale in Thailand.
The company will not import the next title in the GTA series.
It also advised people to be careful about the types of computer games they buy and urged friends and relatives of gamers to watch their behaviour closely when playing.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Bangkok bans video game after copycat murder 
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