Crime News

Thailand crime news, breaking reports, investigations, and law enforcement updates—stay informed on drug trafficking, cybercrime, corruption, and public safety developments. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted source for crime news in Thailand.

  • Sponsored

    Long-term life in Thailand? 5 reasons private health insurance pays off in the long run

    Thailand is a great place for expats and retirees, offering a warm climate, affordable living, and rich culture. However, healthcare can be tricky for foreigners since they aren’t eligible for public health coverage, and private care can be expensive. Private...

  • Protester in a coma, police say riot officers used rubber bullets | Thaiger

    Protester in a coma, police say riot officers used rubber bullets

    Police deny claims that live ammunition was shot at protesters last night outside Bangkok’s Din Daeng police station. A young protester was reportedly shot in the neck and critically injured outside the station, but officers held a press conference outside the Metropolitan Police Bureau today and said only rubber bullets were used to control the crowd. The protester, who has yet…

  • Monk in Phitsanulok allegedly shoots and kills man at meditation centre | Thaiger

    Monk in Phitsanulok allegedly shoots and kills man at meditation centre

    A monk allegedly shot and killed a man, who he had a long-standing feud with, at a Buddhist meditation centre in northern Thailand’s Phitsanulok. The alleged shooter has been stripped of his monkhood and now faces murder charges. Sai Yoi police officer Suparerk Chanmee says the shooting at the Ratchathani Buddhist Meditation Centre was reported to the police around 10am this…

  • Bangkok man detained by police after allegedly assaulting woman | Thaiger

    Bangkok man detained by police after allegedly assaulting woman

    A man in Bangkok has been detained by police after allegedly assaulting a female Grab driver and then driving off. A video of the incident shows the man carrying a gun. The 36 year old man identified as “Sethawut” now faces charges of assault, criminal damage, and 2 weapons offences. Sethawut reportedly struck Grab driver Surang Sinkaew. It’s unclear what…

  • Police in Songkhla arrest 5 people, seize 1,000 kilograms of methamphetamine | Thaiger

    Police in Songkhla arrest 5 people, seize 1,000 kilograms of methamphetamine

    Police arrested five people who were allegedly involved in an operation to smuggle 1,000 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine from the southern province Songkhla, possibly across the border to Malaysia, although reports do not go into detail about which country the drugs were en route to. At around 2:39am on Friday, officers seized the drugs outside the Anan Motor Sales Company…

  • Police arrest woman jobless from Covid-19 for burglary | Thaiger

    Police arrest woman jobless from Covid-19 for burglary

    Police apprehended a woman in Nakhon Phanom who confessed to breaking into 8 homes in the area after the Covid-19 pandemic left her unemployed and broke. The 26 year old woman from Sri Songkhram district was caught with nearly 100 things she had stolen from the houses in the Muang municipal area where she lived in a rental house. Residents…

  • Thailand’s big, bad meth boom, in the middle of a pandemic | VIDEO | Thaiger

    Thailand’s big, bad meth boom, in the middle of a pandemic | VIDEO

      Caitlin Ashworth reports on Thailand’s burgeoning drug trade and the futile attempts to try and control it. 72 tonnes of a chemical called propionyl chloride arrives in a remote region of Laos. All professionally packaged and loaded ready for shipping. The containers full of the obscure chemical had made their way from Jiangsu, a coastal Chinese province north of…

  • Man allegedly steal employer’s Mercedes in retaliation for mistreatment; family returns car later, Ayutthaya arrest still follows | Thaiger

    Man allegedly steal employer’s Mercedes in retaliation for mistreatment; family returns car later, Ayutthaya arrest still follows

    Yesterday morning in central Thailand, Ayutthaya Railway Police arrested a young man for allegedly stealing his employer’s Mercedes-Benz and driving off to Hat Yai to have it pawned for 40,000 Baht. However, the man’s family had second thoughts about the alleged theft and returned the car a few months later. Around 10:15 am yesterday, Channarong Zainid, the Commander in Chief…

  • 1 killed and 3 arrested in Buri Ram, drugs also seized | Thaiger

    1 killed and 3 arrested in Buri Ram, drugs also seized

    Earlier this morning, a man was shot and killed by police in the northern Thai province of Buri Ram. Plus, 3 more people were arrested, 8,000 methamphetamine pills and 200 grammes of crystal methamphetamine were seized. 24 year old Thaweechai Songsee died from gunshot wounds. His last moments were in a rice field, says Wan Sae Tang from the Prakhon…

  • Phuket man shot in leg and hit with baseball bat, police investigate | Thaiger

    Phuket man shot in leg and hit with baseball bat, police investigate

    Phuket police are investigating an assault in Patong where a man was shot in the leg and smashed in the head with a baseball bat. The Patong Police learned of the assault through a 191 national police hotline just before 6 pm yesterday following a report from rescue workers where they took a wounded man to the Patong hospital The…

  • Bangkok mother and son arrested for fraud | Thaiger

    Bangkok mother and son arrested for fraud

    Yesterday, a mother and son were arrested in Bangkok after the son allegedly pretended to sell discounted AirPods online while using his mother’s account for transferring funds. The unnamed 33 year old son had posted on Facebook that he had AirPods for sale at 5,500 baht a pop, a sale from their “normal” retail price of 8,900 baht. However, the…

  • Phuket murder suspect charged with attempted rape | Thaiger

    Phuket murder suspect charged with attempted rape

    Yesterday, Phuket police charged Teerawat Thothip, the 27 year old accused of killing a Swiss tourist, with attempted rape. The commissioner of Provincial Police Region 8, Kitrat Phanphet, says there is enough evidence to substantiate an attempted rape charge against Teerawat. Last Saturday, Teerawat was arrested following the police’s discovery of Nicole Sauvain-Weisskopf’s body 2 days prior. Kitrat says the…

  • Kratom legalised, over 8,000 people will have charges cleared | Thaiger

    Kratom legalised, over 8,000 people will have charges cleared

    With kratom being removed from the list of illegal narcotics in Thailand officially on August 24, the Office of Narcotics Control Board says charges will be dropped or cleared for over 8,000 people. The ONCB announced that about 1,000 people who had been convicted of use, sale or possession of the plant traditionally used in herbal medicine will have their…

  • Fingerroot candy/zinc mix not a Covid cure, says Royal Thai police | Thaiger

    Fingerroot candy/zinc mix not a Covid cure, says Royal Thai police

    Kingrachai/fingerroot flavoured candy mixed with zinc cannot help Covid sufferers and is fake news, says the Royal Thai Police. Further, the Food and Drug Administration and the Ministry of health verified that this candy/zinc mix is fake news as the product belongs to the category of chewing gum and candies. Also, there is no data to support the claim that…

  • Police ‘ready’ to investigate Thailand arms dealer in plot to kill Myanmar UN envoy | Thaiger

    Police ‘ready’ to investigate Thailand arms dealer in plot to kill Myanmar UN envoy

    Following the arrest of two Burmese men in the US who were allegedly working with an arms dealer in Thailand to attack, and potentially kill, Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations, the Royal Thai Police are preparing to assist in the investigation. The deputy spokesperson for the Thai police told reporters that the US has not contacted them, but they…

  • Phuket officials rush to restore visitor confidence following tourist murder | Thaiger

    Phuket officials rush to restore visitor confidence following tourist murder

    Officials on the southern island of Phuket are pulling out all the stops in a bid to restore tourist confidence, following the murder of Swiss national Nicole Sauvain-Weisskopf last week. The victim, who’d been visiting Phuket under the island’s sandbox scheme, was found dead at Ao Yon waterfall last Thursday. The Bangkok Post reports that the murder has left local…

  • Pattaya suspect refuses to exit car, livestreams police encounter | Thaiger

    Pattaya suspect refuses to exit car, livestreams police encounter

    Viral videos or live streams of encounters with the police have become a common occurrence in the United States and a few other countries, but on Friday a transgender person in Pattaya refused to exit her car after being stopped by police and live-streamed the whole event. The woman was a suspect after reports of a drug dealer in a…

  • UPDATE: Suspect in Swiss murder in Phuket is a “Thai man” | Thaiger

    UPDATE: Suspect in Swiss murder in Phuket is a “Thai man”

    UPDATE TO OUR PREVIOUS ARTICLE New details have just emerged in Thai media about the suspect detained today in the murder of the 57 year old Swiss traveller in Phuket found yesterday. The newly obtained information says the suspect is in fact a 27 year old Thai man, and not a 33 year old Burmese man as previously reported (in…

  • UPDATE: Phuket police claim they have arrested a suspect in the murder of the Swiss Sandboxer | Thaiger

    UPDATE: Phuket police claim they have arrested a suspect in the murder of the Swiss Sandboxer

    UPDATE: In later reports today Thai media have variously described the suspect as a 33 year old Burmese, a 27 year old Thai and, with Thai PBS, not sure… but police will make a statement in a media conference later. “Police say there will be a press conference tomorrow about the murder of the Swiss tourist. They insist the suspect…

  • Man arrested for stealing just over 1,000 baht in Wichit, Phuket | Thaiger

    Man arrested for stealing just over 1,000 baht in Wichit, Phuket

    Recently, a man was arrested for allegedly stealing just over 1,000 baht from a wallet that was left on a counter in a “Super Cheap” store in Wichit, Phuket. 50 year old “Mr Sutchai” was arrested earlier week, around 2 pm, says Wichit Police. The police say Sutchai took the wallet out of a shopping trolley that had been forgotten…

  • PM calls for expedited probe into “Sandbox” traveller’s death; victim’s timeline released | Thaiger

    PM calls for expedited probe into “Sandbox” traveller’s death; victim’s timeline released

    PM Prayut Chan-o-cha ordered authorities to expedite the investigation into the case of the Swiss government official who was found dead, possibly raped and murdered, in a creek in Phuket after entering Thailand under the island’s new “Sandbox” reopening scheme. Thailand’s national police chief Suwat Jangyodsuk has flown down to Phuket and is now investigating the case along with detectives…

  • Nonthaburi doctor arrested for allegedly collecting “commission fees” | Thaiger

    Nonthaburi doctor arrested for allegedly collecting “commission fees”

    Yesterday, the hospital director for Bang Kruai Hospital, which is located in central Thailand’s Nonthaburi province, was arrested for allegedly trying to supplement his income with a 35% “commission” from a contractor over the hospital’s 280,000 baht computer system. Counter Corruption Division police and the Office of Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission officials arrested 53 year old Dr Wichai Rattthanaphanphani for…

  • Body of Swiss national in Phuket identified as foreign government official | Thaiger

    Body of Swiss national in Phuket identified as foreign government official

    Officers have announced the identity of the Swiss national who was found dead in a Phuket creek as 57 year old Nicole Sauvain Weisskopf, a woman who entered Thailand last month under the new “Sandbox” reopening scheme. According to the Bangkok Post, Nicole is the assistant protocol chief of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland. Another report in Thai media says…

  • Dr Boon, THG group must clarify Pfizer deal controversy | Thaiger

    Dr Boon, THG group must clarify Pfizer deal controversy

    Trouble is deepening for Dr Boon Vanasin, the President of Thonburi Healthcare Group, who has been accused of a large stock purchase before lying about his company procuring Pfizer vaccines that caused the stock to soar. The Chairman of the Crime Victims’ Assistance Club has filed a complaint with the CyberCrime Investigation Bureau against Boon for sharing that fake news…

  • Body found in Phuket of Swiss woman presumed murdered | Thaiger

    Body found in Phuket of Swiss woman presumed murdered

    The body of a 57 year old Swiss woman who arrived in the Phuket Sandbox July 13 was found stashed at the rocky base of a waterfall today, with authorities believing she was raped and murdered. Her body was found about 1 kilometre inside the Ao Yon waterfall area in Wichit, lying face down in the shallow, rocky water. Police…

  • Drugs found inside monk’s pillow at Suvarnabhumi Airport | Thaiger

    Drugs found inside monk’s pillow at Suvarnabhumi Airport

    Today, crystal methamphetamine and opioid patches have been found inside packages destined for Australia. The crystal methamphetamine was found inside a monk’s pillow. The drug pillow and other drug package were discovered by Thailand’s Office of Narcotics Control Board at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport. The drugs were found in 2 parcels and contained 490 grams of crystal methamphetamine secreted away…

  • Phuket’s BigGym allegedly closes 2 branches for good, doesn’t reimburse members | Thaiger

    Phuket’s BigGym allegedly closes 2 branches for good, doesn’t reimburse members

    Yesterday, in Phuket, a joint complaint was filed by 36 gym goers after the fitness centre, BigGym reportedly closed 2 branches, allegedly without notifying their patrons that they were about to shut down. The complainants say they lost over 3.5 million baht in membership fees. The members filed their complaints against BigGym with the Phuket City Police. One member,” Mr…

  • Officers surprise drug suspect with birthday cake in Nakhon Si Thammarat | Thaiger

    Officers surprise drug suspect with birthday cake in Nakhon Si Thammarat

    Officers in Nakhon Si Thammarat surprised a man who was detained on drug charges with a birthday cake. Police who arrested the man looked at his ID card and noticed it was his birthday. The 33 year old man claims says he had never blown candles on a birthday cake before. The man was driving his motorcycle when he noticed…

  • 20 year old arrested for online alternative vaccine scam | Thaiger

    20 year old arrested for online alternative vaccine scam

    A 20 year old man was arrested in Prachin Buri province after allegedly swindling at least around 50 people online in a fake vaccine scam. The man was arrested by the Technology Crime Suppression Division on Tuesday after using Facebook to collect orders for Covid-19 alternative vaccines that didn’t exist. This is the second vaccine scam in the province in…

  • Phuket police arrest 2 men and seize more than 160,000 methamphetamine pills | Thaiger

    Phuket police arrest 2 men and seize more than 160,000 methamphetamine pills

    Police in Phuket arrested two men on drug charges and seized more than 160,000 methamphetamine pills. Officers from the Tha Chatchai station searched a two-storey home in Mai Khao and found thousands of methamphetamine tablets, known by the Thai street name “ya ba,” which translates to “crazy drug.” Officers say they found 60 orange pills which were branded with the…

  • Air Asia technician arrested for allegedly stealing electronics | Thaiger

    Air Asia technician arrested for allegedly stealing electronics

    Bangkok Police have arrested a technical who worked for Air Asia for allegedly stealing multiple pieces of electrical equipment. The thefts had been discovered after Air Asia had noticed the equipment was missing. Officials then checked CCTV and saw 27 year old Preecha Inthachai allegedly putting items in a bag. Don Muang police then arrested Preecha and searched his home…