South Thailand News
Southern Thailand news, Phuket news, Koh Samui news, and Krabi updates—stay informed on business, tourism, and local events from Trang, Songkhla, Yala, and beyond. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Southern Thailand news source.
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Woman arrested in Trang for filming assault over love triangle
Police apprehended a 21 year old Thai woman outside a popular shopping mall in Trang Province for her involvement in a violent assault over a love dispute. The arrest took place today after an extensive manhunt following an incident in May last year, where the woman, Wiphawadee (surname withheld) and her group forcibly entered a woman’s residence in Phuket and…
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Man turns himself in after fatal family feud shooting in Phatthalung
A 43 year old Thai man fatally shot his brother in law at his home in Phatthalung province yesterday. The perpetrator turned himself in to the authorities, while his wife attempted to delete CCTV footage of the crime. Phatthalung Police were alerted to a fatal shooting at a residence in the 11th precinct of Khok Sai district at 9.40pm yesterday.…
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Yala police officer critically wounded in midnight ambush
A police officer was critically injured in a late-night ambush while on patrol in Banang Sata, Yala province. The incident occurred around midnight close to a 7-Eleven store adjacent to Krung Thai Bank in Banang Sata sub-district. The officer, identified as Wacharaphong Chaiyaphan from the Banang Sata Police Station, was shot by an unidentified gunman and suffered a gunshot wound…
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10 year old girl shot dead over land concession conflict in Krabi
Police are searching for the gunman who shot dead a 10 year old girl on a palm plantation in the southern province of Krabi. The girl’s family believes the shooting was motivated by a dispute over land concessions. The fatal shooting took place in a palm plantation in the Khao Panom district of Krabi at about 8pm on Wednesday, April…
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Phuket tourism market edging towards recovery in 2024
Phuket’s tourism industry is undergoing an ongoing rebound, with last year’s airport passenger arrivals edging towards pre-pandemic figures according to a new report from consulting group C9 Hotelworks. While hitting 7 million, it was still short of the 9 million mark set in 2019. This year the trend is continuing with 1.62 million arrivals to date in February, compared to…
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Thai AirAsia to resume Bangkok-Hat Yai flights
Thai AirAsia officially announced that it will restart its route between Suvarnabhumi Airport and Hat Yai. Departing at 10.45am from the Thai capital and touching down in the southern Thai province at 12.10pm with flight FD4304, and returning from Hat Yai at 1.40pm, landing back in Suvarnabhumi Airport at 2.15pm with flight FD4305. Scheduled to kick off on July 1,…
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Security volunteer shot dead at father’s grave in Yala
A fatal shooting incident took a grim turn in Yala when a security volunteer was brutally assassinated while he was reading the Quran at his father’s grave. The 43 year old victim, Ruslee Daleng, was a ranger volunteer who received a fatal headshot at a Muslim graveyard situated in Tambon Than To of Yala’s Than To district. The Than To…
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Thai man suspected of beheading his father at home in Songkhla
Police suspected a Thai man of beheading his father at their home in a rubber plantation in the southern province of Songkhla. Sadao Police Station officers in Sadao district of Songkhla investigated a one-story house in the rubber plantation, yesterday, April 16, after being notified of the discovery of a dead body. The deceased was identified as 56 year old…
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British man fined 5,000 baht for naked stroll on Krabi beach
A British man faces a fine of 5,000 baht after a viral video, filmed by a Thai local, showed him walking naked with his friends along Ao Nang Beach in the southern province of Krabi. A resident of Krabi province witnessed the naked British man, later identified as 23 year old Joseph William Kershaw, and filmed him. The video was…
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Wildlife trafficker nabbed with protected macaques in Narathiwat
The Thai authorities recently apprehended a wildlife trafficker in a sting operation today, seizing two protected macaque monkeys confined in fertiliser bags. The suspect, 32 year old Haisu Salaere, was caught red-handed in Narathiwat province while attempting to sell the animals, which he admitted to capturing and training for obedience and tasks. Narathiwat police, in collaboration with the Provincial Police…
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2 foreign women caught stealing from souvenir shop in Krabi
A Thai vendor issued a warning to others after two foreign women stole souvenirs from his shop on Railay Beach in the southern province of Krabi on April 7. The owner of the souvenir shop, 45 year old Paithun shared CCTV footage of the theft on TikTok to alert other vendors in the area about the two foreign thieves. In…
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Kazakh woman nabbed for illegal online sex services on Koh Samui
Surat Thani immigration authorities recently apprehended a 35 year old woman from Kazakhstan for illegally selling sexual services online. The arrest occurred in a hotel room on the island of Koh Samui as part of a crackdown on foreign criminal activities in Thailand. The investigation, led by Police Captain Psathorn Saenyindee, was informed by a tip-off from a concerned foreign…
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Immigration officials gear up for Songkran rush at Thai border
The head of the Immigration Police and the chief of Immigration Division 6 recently inspected the Sadao and Padang Besar border checkpoints in Songkhla province. The inspection took place yesterday at 10.30am as part of a drive to ensure the readiness of the immigration facilities in anticipation of the increased flow of tourists during the Songkran festival, which marks the…
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Water crisis hits Koh Pha Ngan and Koh Samui, tap water rationed
On Koh Pha Ngan, a water crisis since late March has led to a stringent rationing of tap water which affected both locals and tourists. The rationing, operating on a rotational basis, leaves some areas parched on certain days while others savour the flow. A meagre 3,500m3 to 4,000m3 of water trickles through the pipes daily, barely meeting the island’s…
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Thai ferry fire: Authorities blaze into action saving all aboard (video)
The Thai authorities successfully rescued 97 passengers and 11 crew members after a fire broke out on an overnight ferry travelling from the mainland in the southern province of Surat Thani to Koh Tao. ThaiRath reported that the fire started in the engine room of the Koh Charoen 2 ferry at around 6.30 am today, April 4, when the boat…
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Foreign diver faces fine for touching whale shark in Thailand (video)
The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) fined a foreign tourist for touching a whale shark while diving at Mu Koh Surin National Park in the southern province of Phang Nga. Drama erupted among local travel agencies in the southern provinces of Thailand after a video and pictures of a diver touching the tip of a whale…
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German and Canadian charged for illegal kung fu course (video)
Police arrested a German and a Canadian man for illegally conducting a Shaolin kung fu training course on Koh Pha Ngan, an island in the southern province of Surat Thani. Pha Ngan Tourist Police and Immigration Police arrested 37 year old German man Somphet Daoheuang and a 34 year old Canadian man Arbely Natalie Rubalcava Rojo at a yoga training…
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DSI: International scammers caught in massive call-centre bust
The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) has dismantled a notorious call-centre syndicate operating from Nakhon Si Thammarat province. Led by DSI’s acting director-general Police Major Yutthana Praedam, the crackdown unveiled a web of deceit spanning across Thailand, China, and Russia. A total of 71 suspects, comprising 52 Chinese nationals and 19 Thai accomplices, were arrested during the raid orchestrated by…
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Female off-duty ranger shot dead in Narathiwat province
Amidst the hustle and bustle of the Dusongyor market in Chanae district, Narathiwat province, southern Thailand, tragedy struck when a lone gunman fatally shot a female para-military ranger. Without warning, the assailant drew a 9mm handgun and fired a fatal shot into the 30 year old off-duty ranger’s head, killing Nurisan Phromsri instantly. The sudden gunfire sent shockwaves throughout the…
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Worker fatally crushed by garbage truck in Nakhon Si Thammarat
A tragic incident unfolded yesterday when a refuse collection worker, was fatally crushed by a garbage truck operated by the subdistrict administrative organisation (SAO) of Kamlon in Nakhon Si Thammarat. The accident occurred in the area of Moo 1, Kamlon subdistrict, Lansaka district, Nakhon Si Thammarat province. Despite desperate shouts for the driver to stop, visibility issues led to the…
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Aussie arrested in Koh Pha Ngan after joyride on stolen motorcycle
Police arrested an Australian man for allegedly stealing a motorcycle from a rental shop in Koh Samui and taking it on a joyride to Koh Pha Ngan in the southern province of Surat Thani. The manager of the Fanta Group Car Rental Shop in Koh Samui, Jurairat Janrung, filed a complaint with Bor Phut Police Station on March 3, reporting…
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Thai government promises aid following 44 insurgent fires in South
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin declared on Saturday that the government is stepping in to offer aid and reparation to the victims of the 44 incendiary incidents that swept through Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat, and Songkhla the previous day. In the quest for justice, Srettha has assigned the task of investigating this string of fires to the acting national police chief, Kittirat…
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Thai police arrest man for selling protected langurs on Facebook
Thai authorities apprehended a 31 year old man in Narathiwat for illegal wildlife trade involving two protected langurs. Basam Saleh, who was caught following an online sting operation, confessed to purchasing the animals from a local and attempting to sell them through a Facebook group. In a significant crackdown on wildlife trafficking, Thai police successfully nabbed Saleh for the possession…
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Thailand police arrest woman tied to 50 million baht fraud case
Royal Thai Police swooped to arrest a 55 year old woman implicated in a public fraud case involving over 50 million baht in damages, in Songkhla, a southern province in Thailand. Tawanna Tarawasant is implicated in a public fraud case involving over 50 million baht in damages. The arrest took place in the district of Rattaphum, specifically in the Khuan…
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Rouble trouble: Russian woman fined for assaulting pregnant Thai
The violent Russian woman who blamed her period for assaulting a pregnant Thai woman in Koh Pha Ngan has been fined 500 baht and handed a suspended 15-day jail sentence. Immigration authorities in Surat Thani are deliberating whether to revoke her visa due to the criminal offence. Alena Kupriyanova, the Russian woman in question, confessed to kicking the shop owner,…
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Scientists spooked by ghost shark sighting off Thailand coast (video)
Scientists have been spooked by the ghoulish discovery of a ghost shark swimming off the Andaman coast of Thailand. Researchers revealed the ghost shark is a new species named Chimaera supapae. It boasts a formidable head, oversized eyes, and delicate, feather-like fins. Chimaeras, commonly known as ghost sharks, belong to the family of cartilaginous fish, sharing kinship with sharks and…
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Thai woman fights for justice after ex-husband’s acid attack
A Thai woman from the southern province of Songkhla sought assistance from multiple news outlets after suffering an acid attack by her ex-husband after the case had been ignored by police for five months. The 28 year old victim, Kritsada Kaewkwan, urged several media outlets to publish her story to draw attention from officers at Sabayoi Police Station in Songkhla. Kritsada…
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Thai woman abandons 7 year old daughter at Krabi bus terminal
A Thai woman abandoned her seven year old daughter at a bus terminal in the southern province of Krabi on March 18. The girl is now safe in the care of her father. Vendors by the Transport Company Limited bus terminal in Krabi sought help from Mueang Krabi Police Station after they found the girl, Nam, wandering around the place…
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Russian woman blames period for assault on pregnant Thai shopkeeper
A Russian woman accused of assaulting a pregnant Thai shopkeeper on the island of Koh Pha Ngan, located in the province of Surat Thani, claimed that she did it because she was on her period. The woman, identified as Alena, was escorted to court today, March 20, by local Thai police. The authorities are considering requesting the immigration bureau to revoke…
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Pregnant Thai woman seeks justice after Russian assault in Koh Pha Ngan
A pregnant Thai woman turned to social media for justice after a Russian woman kicked her yesterday at a coffee shop in Koh Pha Ngan, an island in the southern province of Surat Thani. The Thai victim, known only as Ploy, shared pictures of the Russian woman with blonde hair on a Facebook group called Facebook Koh Pha Ngan, yesterday,…
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