Northern Thailand News
Northern Thailand news, Chiang Mai news, business, tourism, and culture—stay updated with breaking stories, local events, and travel insights from Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Pai, and beyond. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Northern Thailand news source.
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Nakhon Phanom teacher arrested for sexually abusing niece
Police in Issan’s Nakhon Phanom province yesterday announced the arrest of a teacher for the alleged sexual abuse of his 13 year old niece, who lived with him and his wife. The 52 year old man was taken into custody at his house in the downtown district after a provincial court approved an arrest warrant on Thursday. His name and…
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Government launches vaccination program to fight African Horse Sickness
The first outbreak of African Horse Sickness, aka. African Plague in Asia in half a century, has killed nearly 550 horses in Thailand, but authorities announced yesterday they’re winning the battle. The Department of Livestock Development says it’s speeding up blood tests on zebras nationwide, after experts identified an imported group as the source of the outbreak. Some horse owners…
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Haunted hospital wheelchair. Ghost? Or the wind?
An empty wheelchair at an Udon Thani Thailand hospital moving back and forth has some locals claiming it’s a “phee sing,” meaning mischievous ghost. The Ban Kham Doung hospital is even planning an event to pray and honour the wheelchair’s deceased owner to put the spirit at peace. Footage of the supposedly haunted wheelchair has floated through the internet for…
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Radio station gunman confesses, faces murder charges, death penalty
The gunman who allegedly shot 3 of his coworkers at a public radio station is facing murder charges and the death penalty if convicted. The 59 year old Wim Sonsuk was an electrician at the station. He lashed out after problems with his coworkers at the National Broadcasting Services of Thailand in the northern Phitsanulok province. On Wednesday, he allegedly…
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Villagers in central Thailand in a tangle over cables
Frustrated residents in the village of Pong Kham Fak, in the central province of Phetchabun, are demanding answers to stray power cables invading their homes, roads and farming areas. It’s understood that the problem has been ongoing since November, when 500 metres of cable was installed by a private company operating on behalf of the Provincial Electricity Authority. Now angry…
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2 dead, over 1,000 ill in Korat dengue fever outbreak
2 people have died and more than a thousand have fallen ill since the beginning of the year in an outbreak of dengue fever in the northeastern Nakhon Ratchasima province. The head of the provincial public health office yesterday said that all people in the province infected with Covid-19 have fully recovered and been discharged, and there have been no…
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Gunman kills 3 at Northern Thailand radio station
Thai media reports 3 people are dead after a shooting today at the National Broadcasting Services of Thailand radio station in Phitsanulok, Northern Thailand. One other person is injured. Khaosod English reports that the suspected gunman, Win Sonsuk, has already been arrested. He was a staff member at the radio station. He was working as a transmitter engineer. One of…
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Alleged drug runner busted with methamphetamines valued at 18 million baht
Police in Issan’s Maha Sarakham province yesterday announced the seizure of more than 600,000 methamphetamine pills from an alleged drug runner making deliveries. Officers stopped and searched a man seen tossing a plastic bag from his car, and more more than 600,000 methamphetamine pills were found in more bags inside the vehicle. 43 year old Somphan Sri-ubon was arrested after…
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Cross-border drug trafficking is a “leading concern”
Thousands of people have been arrested since October for drug trafficking in Northeast Thailand. Methamphetamine and cannabis cross the Laos and Cambodia borders into Thailand and make their way down to Bangkok other parts of Thailand. According to Bangkok Post, the issue has now become a leading concern for Justice Minister Somsak Thepsutin. 18,360 people were arrested from 17,685 cases…
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Gang raids virus screening checkpoint and empties community pantry
A coronavirus screening checkpoint in Northern Thailand has been ransacked yesterday morning. Police say around 3 men cleaned out and knocked over the community pantry, which was stationed at the checkpoint, and destroyed some of the plastic chairs. Around 1 am, the group stormed the checkpoint, a tent step-up used to check people travelling in and out of the village…
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Education Ministry urged to tackle sexual abuse of students
92 organisations have demanded the Education Ministry ramp up proactive measures to stamp out sexual abuse of schoolchildren, following recent scandals in 3 provinces. Representatives yesterday handed a letter to the education minister, urging him to take action. They also submitted a list of some 10,000 people who signed a petition via change.org supporting the call. The manager of the…
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Former deputy commerce minister and 4 others plead not guilty to murder of judge’s brother
In a case which has shocked the nation, former deputy commerce minister, MP and police lieutenant Banyin Tangpakorn and 4 co-defendants have pleaded not guilty to the abduction and murder of the brother of the senior Bangkok judge who was handling his multimillion baht stock theft case. They entered their pleas via video conference from prison yesterday. The accused, including 56…
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African horse sickness: Imported zebras need health check and quarantine
Humans have the coronavirus, the animal world in Thailand has an outbreak of their own: African horse sickness. The government is now requiring all imported zebras to be quarantined and tested before entering the country. The same goes for horses. Why are people importing zebras? Who knows, but apparently it hasn’t been that hard to get the exotic animals into Thailand.…
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Police arrest 3 involved in mystery woman’s marijuana syndicate
Police seized hundreds of kilograms of marijuana from a drug network run by a mystery woman in the Isaan region, north east Thailand. The syndicate was run by a woman known as “Jae Saigon,” meaning “sister on the merit path,” according to Bangkok Post. A photo from a police suspects chart shows a woman wearing a white robe and her…
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Accomplice in Chiang Rai robbery found hanging in Phayao forest
The alleged motorcycle driver in a recent Chiang Rai robbery has been found hanging in a forest in the upper northern Phayao province, in an apparent suicide. Two men pulled off the daring daytime robbery of more than a million baht in Chiang Saen district last Monday. Both men were then tracked down by police. The first suspect, identified only…
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Thai prison governor fired for allowing inmate conjugal visit
Should prisoners get a little love? Not in Thailand apparently. Recently, a prison governor was booted after he allowed an inmate to have a conjugal visit. Typically, a conjugal visit in Western countries means the inmate and the visitor are in a private room together with a sofa or bed, sometimes a TV. In this case, the inmate at the…
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One of the robbers in Chiang Rai arrested – VIDEO
UPDATE: Police have arrested a suspect from Monday’s robbery that took place in Chiang Saen district in Chiang Rai, when a pair of robbers stole 1.05 million baht outside a Krungthai Bank. 2 men on a motorbike managed to escape and a manhunt was ordered. Read more HERE. When officials arrived at the crime scene they found 46 year old…
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18 year old daughter allegedly raped multiple times by father
Thai media report that an 18 year old girl was raped multiple times over 8 years by her own father. The victim, identified only as “Mali,” filed a complaint with police in the northern province of Lamphun, just south of Chiang Mai, alleging that her 38 year old father ‘O’ had been raping her since she was 11 years old.…
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5 dead in high speed Surin crash
5 are dead after a pickup truck traveling at high speed crashed into a Mitsubishi Pajero in Issan’s Surin province yesterday. The incident happened on Surin-Prasat Road near the Sab-anan rice mill in the province’s Chaneang district. The pickup’s driver, who was one of those killed in the accident, is believed to have lost control of the vehicle on the…
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University lecturers suspended over sexual assault allegations
Two Isaan university lecturers have been suspended following sexual assault allegations The 47 year old male lecturer was accused of sexually abusing his own children – a 9 year old girl and a 7 year old boy, allegedly on several occasions. The man has been charged with statutory child rape, according to the Bangkok Post. The man was accused by his…
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Parents believe murdered Mukdahan girl was killed by a local
The body of 3 year old girl, missing since Monday, was found naked and apparently strangled in a forest in the northeastern province of Mukdahan on Thursday. Now her parents believe their daughter was killed by a local villager. “Nong Chompoo’’ Wongsricha went missing on May 10. After a massive search involving some 500 officers and volunteers, police in Dong…
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Robbers stole 1.05 million baht in cash from a Chiang Rai bank
Today at 10am Police in Chiang Saen district Chiang Rai (which borders Myanmar and Laos on the so-called Golden Triangle), were notified that a pair of robbers had stolen 1.05 million baht from the local Krungthai Bank. Police authorities are currently chasing down the 2 suspects who pulled off the daring daylight robbery on the bank. Both suspects were dressed in…
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Dengue fever on the rise in Isaan
While the country is slowly getting a handle on containing the coronavirus pandemic, the Isaan region is tackling a bout of dengue fever. There’s been a rise of the mosquito-borne illness in Nakhon Ratchasima with 737 cases. Local health volunteers have ramped up initiatives to prevent the further spread of the disease. Abate sand granules are being used to kill mosquito…
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African Horse Sickness spreads in the north east, death toll passes 500
The outbreak of African Horse Sickness, or African Plague, that emerged in Pak Chong district of Nakhon Ratchasima recently, has killed well over 500 horses and now spread to neighbouring Saraburi province. At least recent 28 horse deaths in Saraburi are attributed to AHS, a highly infectious and deadly disease, according to Saraburi Livestock Development officials. The department vaccinated horses…
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Airports open, quarantine rules and Samui – the latest
Airports of Thailand warns domestic airline passengers to check provincial travel restrictions before they book flights. Currently, there are 5 airports fully operational – Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang), Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, and Hat Yai, but only 4 airlines, namely Nok Air, Thai AirAsia, Thai Lion Air and Thai Vietjet are serving them. Phuket airport was set to reopen…
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Police investigating murder of 3 year old found in Mukdahan forest
The body of a 3 year old girl, missing since Monday, was discovered on Thursday in the northeastern province of Mukdahan. A team of detectives is now investigating the and murder. A massive search involving about 500 police, soldiers, local officials and volunteers was launched when the child, Nong Chompoo, was reported missing in the province’s Tambon Koktoom. The team…
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Thailand Transport Company plans to restart 16 routes from May 18 onwards
Today a spokesman for the state-run Transport Company Limited, one of Thailand’s biggeest bus operators, announced it will open 7 routes in the northern region and 9 in the northeast and eastern regions from Monday onward “to facilitate the people who need to travel after the Transport Company temporarily ceased service due to the Covid-19 epidemic situation.” Here are the…
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Military school owner gets death sentence for student’s fatal beating
The owner of a private military school in Nakhon Sawan province, about 237 kilometres north of Bangkok, has been sentenced to death, and his wife and mother-in-law to life in prison, for the fatal beating of a 15 year old student. The provincial court handed down its judgement on Tuesday, ordering capital punishment for Natthaphol Thavornphibun, the owner of Ban…
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University in Korat plants more than 3,000 cannabis plants
The Suranaree University of Technology in Korat (Nakhon Ratchasima) announced today that they have begun planting marijuana trees as part of their research on marijuana based medicines. A senior official at the university, Weerapong Pairsuwan, says that “up to 3,360 cannabis will be planted, with a harvest more than 1,500 kilograms later this year.” “The plants will be used in researches…
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Kalasin policeman fired, faces prosecution for drunken sexual assault
A senior police officer in northeastern Thailand is facing dismissal and criminal charges after drunkenly trying to grope a teenager. According to his supervisor, the police lieutenant allegedly “asked the girl if he could touch her private parts.” Charoenwit Sriwanit, deputy inspector at Sahatsakhan police station in the northeastern Kalasin province, claimed yesterday that Uthit Onprasong confessed he had been…
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