Central Thailand News

Central Thailand news, Ayutthaya news, Kanchanaburi updates, and business developments—stay informed on local events, tourism, and culture, including landmarks like the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Central Thailand news source.

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  • Thai teacher caning a student in Ayutthaya reports to police – UPDATE

    Thai teacher caning a student in Ayutthaya reports to police – UPDATE

    A teacher, now identified as teaching in Ayutthaya, north of Bangkok at the Chiang Rak Noi School, met with the girl’s mother and police last night. Teacher Som Ruseeprasit was caught on video flogging a young female student whilst screaming appalling Thai swear words at the student. The girl was struck at least three times in the video although he admitted…

  • Gold shop gunman could have fled to Chon Buri

    Gold shop gunman could have fled to Chon Buri

    The armed gunman who shot and killed three people, injuring another four during an apparent gold shop robbery in Lop Buri last week, could have fled to Chon Buri. Police are raising the possibility after the Thai army chief Apirat Kongsompong met with the heads of Provincial Police Regions 1 (Bangkok) and 2 (Chon Buri) in Bangkok yesterday. Some media and…

  • Killer in Lop Buri gold shop attack may be ex-military

    Killer in Lop Buri gold shop attack may be ex-military

    Police now believe the attack at a Lop Buri gold shop in central Thailand last Thursday that killed three, including a two year old boy, may have been carried out by a former military officer. Four others were wounded in what appeared to be a botched robbery. A high ranking police source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters that…

  • Restaurant owner returns 700,000 baht to tourist

    Restaurant owner returns 700,000 baht to tourist

    Imagine discovering you’ve left close to three quarters of a million baht in cash at a Thai restaurant. That’s exactly what happened to a tourist from Ubon Ratchathani on Sunday. Fortunately for him, the money was in good hands. Pariwat Thangtham was horrified to discover he’d left a bag with 700,000 baht in cash at a restaurant in Petchabun province, central Thailand.…

  • Police doubt gold robbery was the motive for deadly Lopburi attack

    Police doubt gold robbery was the motive for deadly Lopburi attack

    Police and authorities now suspect that the motive for Thursday’s brutal and deadly attack, which killed three, including a toddler, may not have been robbery. The lone gunman stormed into a gold shop at a Robinson’s Shopping Centre in Lopburi, Central Thailand, and systematically shot and killed customers and shop staff. The Crime Suppression Division is running background checks on…

  • 5 dead, 8 injured as tourist passenger van slams into rear of broken down truck in central Thailand

    5 dead, 8 injured as tourist passenger van slams into rear of broken down truck in central Thailand

    Five tourists have died and another eight injured after their passenger van slammed into the rear of a parked ten wheel truck that had broken down. The incident happened outside the Ban Noi PTT petrol station in Nong Phai district on the Saraburi to Lomsak Road. The van was on its way from the south to Khao Khor in Petchabun,…

  • Gunman wasn’t after gold – investigators speculate about killer’s motives

    Gunman wasn’t after gold – investigators speculate about killer’s motives

    Investigators have become suspicious of the motives of the lone gunman who shot and killed three people, injuring another four, at the Aurora Gold Shop in the Robinsons Mall in Lopburi on Thursday. They are seeking more information on the victims as the gold stolen was such a small amount – the suspicion is that the target wasn’t the gold…

  • Lone gunman storms into Lopburi gold shop and kills three people – VIDEO

    Lone gunman storms into Lopburi gold shop and kills three people – VIDEO

    Police are now on the hunt for the Lopburi gold-shop robber who has killed three and injured four. The man stormed into a Robinson Department Store gold shop last night killing three people as he walked in. He shot without hesitation and paid no attention to the people he’d shot. One of them was a young boy. The gunman also…

  • Justice minister orders probe in prison deaths

    Justice minister orders probe in prison deaths

    An investigation is now proceeding into the deaths of four inmates at the Phitsanulok Provincial Prison who died with “extremely low potassium and high levels of thyroid hormone in their blood”, more commonly thought to be food poisoning. The Thai Justice Minister Somsak Thepsuthin, who ordered the probe, says he suspects prison administrators were inadvertently, or possibly even deliberately, negligent.…

  • Locals protest for closure of Ayutthaya smelting plant

    Locals protest for closure of Ayutthaya smelting plant

    Residents in the central Thai province of Ayutthaya are protesting to demand the closure of a smelting plant which they claim is threatening the environment and their health. More than 200 people took to the streets this week to protest the failure of the CP Industry Company, which operates the scrap metal processing plant, and to honour promises to address the…

  • Prison sends 24 inmates for treatment after “mystery deaths”

    Prison sends 24 inmates for treatment after “mystery deaths”

    PHOTO: Longdo Map Following the deaths of four prisoners over the New Year break, the Phitsanulok Provincial Prison has sent another 24 inmates for treatment. All 24 were found to have high levels of “thyroid hormones and rapid heart rates”. Officials originally reported that the four dead prisoners had shown “symptoms related to food poisoning, such as numbness in the…

  • Mystery Phitsanulok prisoner deaths to be investigated

    Mystery Phitsanulok prisoner deaths to be investigated

    PHOTO: Mishvo in Motion An investigation has been launched into the deaths of four prisoners in the northern province of Phitsanulok over the New Year holiday break. A spokesman says that The Thai Corrections Department has created a panel to investigate the deaths, which happened in close succession. Officials say the four prisoners showed symptoms related to food poisoning, such as…

  • Four children injured after carnival ride throws them off a ride – VIDEO

    Four children injured after carnival ride throws them off a ride – VIDEO

    PHOTO: INN News Police are questioning the owner of an amusement ride that ‘malfunctioned’ in Lopburi province resulting in the injury of children. The incident took place at a carnival named “Lopburi Winter” on November 30 around 10.30pm. Children were enjoying the ride when suddenly a safety bar, holding the children in place, appears to let go and the children bounced off…

  • Husband begs wife for forgiveness, then smashes her windscreen

    Husband begs wife for forgiveness, then smashes her windscreen

    PHOTOS: sanook.com A 40 year old woman in Nonthaburi province, central Thailand, has filed a police report against her husband after he smashed the passenger van windscreen when she refused to get out of the vehicle. Thai Residents reports that Arunee Mala was in a van transporting school children home to Bang Bua Thong village when her husband, 44 year…

  • Immigration nabs foreign criminals

    Immigration nabs foreign criminals

    Three foreign nationals have been arrested, as well as a Thai man supplying fake documents. The Immigration Bureau held a press conference Tuesday giving details of the arrests. The first suspect is 45 year old Chen Ying, a Chinese national who allegedly used forged documents to get bank loans. Chen is wanted by Chinese authorities for using fake documents in…

  • University to allow transgender students to wear female uniforms

    University to allow transgender students to wear female uniforms

    Chulalongkorn University has finally agreed to allow transgender students to the wear female uniforms. For Ince Jirapat, a transgender student, it was a dream come true. In November 2018, Jirapat, a student at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Education, was forbidden to wear a female uniform in class and was insulted by a lecturer. Jirapat turned to human rights activists, a…

  • Pattaya mayor visits site of drainage work following complaints about traffic problems

    Pattaya mayor visits site of drainage work following complaints about traffic problems

    Following numerous complaints about the effect of various work projects on city traffic, Pattaya’s mayor has visited one of the construction sites where a water drainage project is being completed. The Pattaya News says Mayor Sonthaya Khunplueam inspected the site on Sawang Fah Road in the Naklua area of the city, where the drainage project is taking place over an…

  • Police general kills two, dies in courtroom land case drama

    Police general kills two, dies in courtroom land case drama

    A retired senior policeman has shot dead the plaintiff and his lawyer before being fatally shot by police in a Chanthaburi courtroom. He wounded two other people accompanying the plaintiff. 67 year old police major general Thanin Chantratip was a defendant in a 10 year long civil lawsuit about land in Tha Mai district. He was in court for a…

  • The lights are on, but there’s no-one home: villagers report empty police station in central Thailand

    The lights are on, but there’s no-one home: villagers report empty police station in central Thailand

    Villagers in Pathumthani province, central Thailand, have lodged complaints about a local police station claiming it was unmanned at night when they went to file a report. Thai Residents reports that local residents who went to Klong Luang police station were left waiting so long for someone to return that they ended up sleeping at the station. It was also…

  • Tiger Temple will adopt cats and dogs

    Tiger Temple will adopt cats and dogs

    Authorities in Kanchanaburi have begun building facilities at the infamous Tiger Temple in Sai Yok district to care for about 1,200 stray dogs and cats from a foundation run by a former Bangkok governor. Kanchanaburi’s governor was among those participating in a ceremony to mark the start of construction on Saturday. The temple, formally known as Wat Pa Luang Ta…

  • Arrest warrant issued for Korean suspected of stabbing another Korean man in Pattaya

    Arrest warrant issued for Korean suspected of stabbing another Korean man in Pattaya

    Police in Pattaya have issued an arrest warrant for a 38 year old Korean man, named as Keunhei Park, who is the chief suspect in the stabbing of another Korean national. The Pattaya News reports that the victim is an expat man who was stabbed seventeen times in the early hours of Thursday morning. He is understood to have undergone…

  • Six top officials sacked on King’s orders

    Six top officials sacked on King’s orders

    His Majesty the King has sacked six senior palace officials attached to Royal Guard units and the Royal Household Bureau, stripping them of their rank and recalling their royal insignias, citing severe disciplinary misconduct and accusing them of exploiting their positions for personal gain. The dismissals were announced in two royal commands, reported Wednesday October 23 by the Royal Gazette.…

  • One dead, three in coma, ten seriously ill after drinking moonshine mixed with poisonous toad blood in Chonburi

    One dead, three in coma, ten seriously ill after drinking moonshine mixed with poisonous toad blood in Chonburi

    A dangerous concoction of herbal alcohol known as ya dong, mixed with poisonous toad blood, has left one man dead, three others in a coma, and ten seriously ill in Chonburi province. The Pattaya News reports that the incident happened in the sub-district of Samet, with local police notified after a man was found dead at Samet temple on Monday…

  • International chess competition finishing in Jomtien

    International chess competition finishing in Jomtien

    More than 300 youth and senior contenders from 42 countries are competing in the 2019 Thailand Pattaya Open Chess Championship, October 19-23 at the Bay Beach Resort in Jomtien. The Thailand Chess Association is hosting the competition in association with 101 Chess Academy and Pattaya Chess Club. The event follows the success of the Pattaya Rapid & Simultaneous Chess Festival…

  • 3 killed as car skids into canal

    3 killed as car skids into canal

    A man and two women were killed after a car skidded off a road and plunged into a roadside canal in Phimai district of Nakhon Ratchasima on Sunday afternoon, according to police. Police and rescuers rushed to the scene after being informed of the accident, which occurred at about 2.50pm. At the scene, they found Toyota car submerged upside down…

  • Russian wanted by Interpol arrested in Thailand

    Russian wanted by Interpol arrested in Thailand

    A Russian man wanted by Interpol was arrested in Chonburi on Saturday. 52-year-old “Sergey” is wanted in relation to a case involving fraud amounting to more than 20 million baht. Immigration police were notified on 25 September by an anonymous citizen, who claimed that there was a Russian man with an arrest warrant in his name in Russia. Thai Police…

  • Crystal meth worth 500 million baht seized

    Crystal meth worth 500 million baht seized

    Acting on a tip-off, police and narcotic suppression officers in Tak province on 18 Oct seized 1.5 tons of crystal methamphetamine, better known as ice, worth more than 500 million baht, according to the Thai-language Khao Sod newspaper. The drugs were hidden under metal sheets in the back of an 18-wheel truck. Photo : SAQ News The truck driver and…

  • Foreigner arrested for exchange counter robbery

    Foreigner arrested for exchange counter robbery

    A foreign man was arrested after robbing a currency exchange counter in a Bangkok bank on 16 October. Police worked with Immigration officers and the tourist police to arrest the man, whose nationality has yet to be confirmed. The man walked to a Government Savings Bank Currency Exchange Counter before pulling out a knife and threatening a clerk. He then…

  • Child injured in hit-and-run “ghost riding” motorbike incident in central Thailand

    Child injured in hit-and-run “ghost riding” motorbike incident in central Thailand

    PHOTO: Workpoint News A 10 year old girl has been injured after a motorbike being ridden against the flow of traffic – a practice known as “ghost riding” – hit her and then drove off. The early morning incident took place in Samut Prakan province in central Thailand as the girl waited to cross the road. Facebook user Uthaiwan Permjit…

  • Fried chicken worker stabs boss in the head in central Thailand

    Fried chicken worker stabs boss in the head in central Thailand

    A fried chicken vendor needed medical treatment after being stabbed in the head by a young man working for him in Chonburi province, central Thailand. Yannawuth Prasomwangsub told police that he and his wife sell fried chicken at the Sattahip flea market and hired 16-year-old Nat to help them just a week ago. While setting up shop, Yannawuth was missing…