leah

Leah is a translator and news writer for the Thaiger. Leah studied East Asian Religions and Thai Studies at the University of Leeds and Chiang Mai University. Leah covers crime, politics, environment, human rights, entertainment, travel and culture in Thailand and southeast Asia.
  • South Thailand NewsRailway bomb attack in southern Thailand injures 8 security officers

    Railway bomb attack in southern Thailand injures 8 security officers

    A bomb attack at a railway in Narathiwat province in southern Thailand yesterday injured eight subdistrict security officers. Officers at Rueso Police Station were informed that subdistrict security officers were injured by an explosion while on duty overseeing the safety of the railway line in the area of Duyae Village, Sao Or subdistrict, Rueso district. Assailants planted improvised explosive devices (IEDs)…

  • Thailand NewsThai man sacrifices himself to save mother in savage Pit Bull attack

    Thai man sacrifices himself to save mother in savage Pit Bull attack

    A former jockey from Nakhon Ratchasima province in northeast Thailand was killed by his pet Pit Bull while trying to save his mother who was attacked by the animal. Today, a funeral was held for 47 year old Thedpong [surname reserved] at Thung Sawang Temple in Mueang district. On Friday, Thedpong’s eight year old Pit Bull “Bobby” attacked Thedpong’s 68 year…

  • Thailand NewsThai cops go above and beyond to help Chinese tourist return home

    Thai cops go above and beyond to help Chinese tourist return home

    Good eggs from the Royal Thai Police force in Chiang Mai Province, northern Thailand, helped a Chinese tourist get her passport back in the nick of time before her flight back to China last night. At 10pm, officers at Chang Phuak Police Station received a call from a distressed Chinese tourist. The tourist rented a car from a car rental…

  • Thailand NewsElderly Thai woman survives wild elephant attack

    Elderly Thai woman survives wild elephant attack

    Netizens think it’s a miracle that an elderly Thai lady survived being trampled on by a wild elephant in Prachin Buri province in eastern Thailand yesterday. The victim, 71 year old Winit On-On, aka “Grandma Winit,” was watering her eucalyptus plants at her home in Phanom Sarakham district when she bent down to pick up her hose. When Grandma Winit…

  • Thailand NewsThai immigration chief asks reporter, ‘Do you have a husband?’ to dodge question

    Thai immigration chief asks reporter, ‘Do you have a husband?’ to dodge question

    In an interview about the macau888 gambling case, Thailand’s Chief of Immigration dodged a female reporter’s question by responding, “Do you have a husband?” The interview followed the interrogation of police officer Kunakorn “Bright” Khajohnboonthaworn who was accused of being one of four brothers operating the illegal gambling website macau888. According to the police force, Captain Bright proved his innocence…

  • Thailand NewsTarmacked forest in Thai conservation area sparks outrage

    Tarmacked forest in Thai conservation area sparks outrage

    Netizens are scratching their heads at the Department of National Park‘s decision to tarmac a forest inside a conservation area at a wildlife sanctuary in Chiang Mai province in northern Thailand. No space at all was left around the tree trunks to allow the trees to breathe and grow. An outraged Facebook user posted a picture of the newly tarmacked…

  • Bangkok NewsDrunk police officer crashes car into restaurant in Bangkok, 3 in ICU (video) | Thaiger

    Drunk police officer crashes car into restaurant in Bangkok, 3 in ICU (video)

    Three people are seriously injured in intensive care after a drunk police officer crashed his car into a restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand, on Monday night. The owner of the “Mala” (Chinese spicy hotpot) restaurant in Bang Khen district said they are scared justice will not be served because the drunk driver is a police officer. At 10.55pm on Monday, officers…

  • Bangkok NewsBangkok man electrocuted to death charging his phone

    Bangkok man electrocuted to death charging his phone

    A young Thai man was found dead in his room in Bangkok this morning clutching a phone on charge. Police say he was electrocuted to death. At 8am, officers at Rat Burana Police Station were informed of a death in a rented room in the Bang Mod subdistrict, Thung Khru district. Police, doctors from Bangkok’s Siriraj Hospital, and rescue workers from…

  • Thailand News‘Rave for Maddi’ raises £5000 for British woman after balcony fall in Thailand

    ‘Rave for Maddi’ raises £5000 for British woman after balcony fall in Thailand

    A charity fundraising event entitled ‘Rave for Maddi’ held in Coventry, England, raised 200,000 baht (£5000) to help the recovery of the young British woman who fell from a second-floor balcony in Koh Pha Ngan in southern Thailand on New Year’s Eve. A GoFundMe appeal raised over 3 million baht (£73,500) from over 1,400 donors to pay for 21 year old…

  • Phuket NewsHigh Stakes: Police shut down Phuket cannabis store for 30 days due to gambling

    High Stakes: Police shut down Phuket cannabis store for 30 days due to gambling

    Police ordered the closure of ‘Hi Kush’ cannabis store in Phuket, southern Thailand, for 30 days, from yesterday February 7 to March 8, after finding evidence of gambling at the establishment. Officers from Phuket City Police Station arrested a man named Ratchakrit and 13 others for, “organising gambling (poker), gambling at a property without permission and conspiracy to gamble.” The…

  • Crime NewsConvicted South African drug trafficker writes letter from inside Thai prison

    Convicted South African drug trafficker writes letter from inside Thai prison

    A 23 year old South African woman serving a long prison sentence for drug trafficking wrote an eloquent letter offering a glimpse into how it feels to be locked away in Thailand. Ashley Oosthuizen was found guilty of international drug trafficking after she signed for a package containing MDMA at the restaurant she worked at in Koh Samui, ‘Hot in…

  • Thailand NewsThailand’s first ever seaplane airline to launch this summer

    Thailand’s first ever seaplane airline to launch this summer

    Thailand‘s first-ever seaplane airline ‘Siam Seaplane‘ is preparing to launch this summer to take the kingdom’s tourism industry to the next level. Siam Seaplane has formed partnerships with 60 luxury hotels and resorts, including top brands Intercontinental and Four Seasons. In an interview with AirwaysMag, Chief Business Operator Dennis Keller revealed that the company faced plenty of setbacks during the…

  • Transport NewsNo one responsible for Service Hall collapse at Don Mueang Airport, confirms AOT

    No one responsible for Service Hall collapse at Don Mueang Airport, confirms AOT

    No one is responsible for the partial collapse of the newly-built Service Hall at Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport in April last year, confirms Airports of Thailand (AOT). Excessive rainfall was blamed for the incident. Tomorrow, February 8, the repaired Service Hall will open for use, some ten months after its collapse. On April 17, 2022, parts of the roof and…

  • Thailand NewsThai child buys grandma gold ring with money saved selling kanom pang ping

    Thai child buys grandma gold ring with money saved selling kanom pang ping

    A giving and entrepreneurial Grade 5 student from Chai Nat province in central Thailand has won over the hearts of the nation by buying his grandma a gold ring with money he saved up selling ‘kanom pang ping.’ On Sunday, 11 year old “Ice” went to a gold shop in Chai Nat with his mother with 4,700 (US$140) baht in…

  • Thailand NewsCanadian couple cycle 2500km around Thailand for children’s charity

    Canadian couple cycle 2500km around Thailand for children’s charity

    A Canadian couple are cycling 2,500 kilometres around Thailand with the goal of raising one million baht for a children’s education charity. Chantal Jauvin and William Thomas – from Canada – are over half way through their cycling journey to raise money for the Foundation For Rehabilitation & Development of Children and Family (FORDEC). FORDEC is one on the main…

  • Thailand News‘Buy insurance’ urges English tourist who crashed moped through window in Thailand | Thaiger

    ‘Buy insurance’ urges English tourist who crashed moped through window in Thailand

    A young Englishwoman urges tourists to take out travel insurance after crashing a moped through a glass window in Koh Pha Ngan in southern Thailand. Emma Lewis, a 24 year old student from Basingstoke in Hampshire, was en route to go snorkelling on the island paradise when she lost control and crashed into a house window. The glass shattered around her…

  • Thailand NewsBody of German tourist who jumped from Koh Pha Ngan ferry found near Koh Tao

    Body of German tourist who jumped from Koh Pha Ngan ferry found near Koh Tao

    A body found floating in the sea near Koh Tao is believed to be the missing German tourist who jumped off a ferry shortly after it departed from Koh Pha Ngan in southern Thailand one week ago. At 4pm yesterday, the Kusol Sattha Rescue Foundation was informed that a tourist boat came across the body of a male tourist floating…

  • Thailand NewsRescuers race to save 1 year old trapped in 15-metre-deep hole in Thailand

    Rescuers race to save 1 year old trapped in 15-metre-deep hole in Thailand

    Rescuers have been working for over 16 hours to attempt to rescue a one year old girl trapped in a narrow, 15-metre-deep hole in Tak province in northern Thailand. At 9.30am, rescuers made a breakthrough and managed to reach the toddler. They are now in the process of bringing her up out of the hole. Yesterday, a Burmese couple left…

  • World NewsBangkok Airways suspends Hat Yai and Da Nang routes until further notice

    Bangkok Airways suspends Hat Yai and Da Nang routes until further notice

    Regional airline Bangkok Airways based in Thailand announced the temporary suspension of two of its routes “until further notice.” Bangkok Airways will suspend all flights on the domestic Bangkok – Hat Yai route on March 1, 2023. International route Bangkok – Da Nang, in Vietnam, will be suspended from May 1, 2023. The airline did not reveal the reason for…

  • Thailand News‘Tame’ whale shark swims with tourists for 5 hours in eastern Thailand

    ‘Tame’ whale shark swims with tourists for 5 hours in eastern Thailand

    A “tame” whale shark swam with tourists for five hours off the coast of Rayong province in eastern Thailand yesterday. Diving instructor Kru Off, from the Toy Boat Tour group, revealed that he took tourists out to Hin Pleng, a popular dive site about 13 nautical miles off the coast. As the tourists were swimming and looking at the coral,…

  • Crime NewsThai police can’t find alleged ‘macau888’ kingpin’s rare Lamborghini

    Thai police can’t find alleged ‘macau888’ kingpin’s rare Lamborghini

    UPDATE Police searched three locations in Thailand but the super rare Lamborghini they planned to seize from alleged macau888 gambling kingpin Benz Daemon today is nowhere to be found. Police did however seize other luxury cars belonging to various suspects in the case including Benz Daemon, who is believed to be in hiding in Hong Kong. Netizens are criticising the…

  • Thailand NewsAmerican tourists spend more money in Thailand than Europeans, survey says

    American tourists spend more money in Thailand than Europeans, survey says

    American tourists spend more money in Thailand on average than European tourists, according to a survey conducted by the Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT). The TCT polled 200 Western tourists about their holiday spending habits during Q4 of last year. On each trip to the kingdom, Americans said they spend 96,269 baht on average per person (US$2,887) and Europeans said…

  • Crime NewsThai police to seize rare Lamborghini from alleged ‘macau888’ gambling network kingpin

    Thai police to seize rare Lamborghini from alleged ‘macau888’ gambling network kingpin

    Thailand’s cyber police say they will seize a super rare Lamborghini owned by the alleged owner of the illegal online gambling network ‘macau888‘ today. The Lamborghini Mad Bull Liberty Walk Aventador V2 is one of only 50 in the world with an estimated value of 37 – 44 million baht. It is the only one in Thailand. The ‘Liberty Walk’…

  • Pattaya NewsCanadian man’s luxury Pattaya villa gutted by fire

    Canadian man’s luxury Pattaya villa gutted by fire

    A fire gutted a Canadian man’s 20 million baht luxury villa in Pattaya, eastern Thailand, yesterday. Officers at Nong Prue Police Station were notified of a raging fire at a pool villa in Phu Thara village in Pattaya’s Bang Lamung district yesterday afternoon. Nong Prue Municipality firefighters deployed three fire engines and quickly got the flames under control. The fire…

  • Thailand NewsBangkok’s Jodd Fairs market is relocating

    Bangkok’s Jodd Fairs market is relocating

    Famous night market Jodd Fairs in the Rama 9 area of Bangkok will be relocating to Ratchada at the end of the year. The new night market is expected to open in January 2024. In November 2021, the famous Talat Rot Fai Ratchada (Train Night Market Ratchada) which permanently closed during the Covid-19 pandemic made a comeback under the rebranded…

  • Thailand NewsWater buffalo gores farmer to death in northeast Thailand

    Water buffalo gores farmer to death in northeast Thailand

    A female water buffalo in heat gored a farmer to death in Nakhon Nayok province in northeast Thailand yesterday. Officers at Ban Na Police Station were informed that a buffalo chased and killed a man at Village No. 7 in Ban Phrao subdistrict. Police and rescue workers from the Sawang Ariya Foundation travelled to the scene to investigate. Police found…

  • Thailand NewsThai police return 6.5 million baht Richard Mille watch to Vietnamese tourist

    Thai police return 6.5 million baht Richard Mille watch to Vietnamese tourist

    Not all Thai police are bad eggs as proven by Lumpini Police officers who managed to reunite a Vietnamese tourist with an expensive Richard Mille wristwatch that he lost in Bangkok on Wednesday night. A Vietnamese tourist took a taxi from a hotel in the Lumpini area of Bangkok to Asiatique on the river. Later on, he ordered a private…

  • Crime NewsFrench ‘mafia’ boss extorts money from foreigners in Pattaya, claims ties with Big Joke

    French ‘mafia’ boss extorts money from foreigners in Pattaya, claims ties with Big Joke

    Police arrested a wanted French ‘mafia’ boss in Bangkok on Tuesday after a group of farangs in Pattaya, eastern Thailand, claimed he extorted money from them in exchange for police protection. The fraudster claimed to have ties with “Big Joke.” Yesterday, high-profile police officer Pol. Lt. Gen. Surachate “Big Joke” Hakparn revealed that police arrested 58 year old Herve Christian…

  • Thailand NewsWoman’s dead body tied up and dumped at landfill site in central Thailand

    Woman’s dead body tied up and dumped at landfill site in central Thailand

    Police launched a murder investigation today after a rubbish collector discovered the decaying body of a woman wrapped in a blanket and tied up with rope at a landfill site in Prachin Buri province in central Thailand. Officers at Rabo Phai Police Station were informed today that someone found a body wrapped in a blanket at the landfill site in…

  • Environment NewsUncontrollable landfill site fire in Samut Prakan worsens air quality

    Uncontrollable landfill site fire in Samut Prakan worsens air quality

    Bangkok, Thailand, has seen the worst air pollution levels of the year so far today. An uncontrollable fire raging for two days straight at a rubbish dump in Samut Prakan province, just south of the capital, has pumped more PM2.5 dust into the air. A fire has plagued a landfill site in the Phraeksa district since Tuesday night in an…