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.

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  • Truck with 4.2 million meth pills shot at police, killing one

    Truck with 4.2 million meth pills shot at police, killing one

    In Chaing Mai, police attempting to pull over a pickup truck suspected of carrying drugs were met with gunfire that killed one officer. The shootout took place last night in the Fang district of Chiang Mai when a police team attempted to stop and search the pickup that was believed to be transporting a large drug shipment. A Fang district…

  • UPDATE: Israeli escapee given slap-on-the-wrist fine

    UPDATE: Israeli escapee given slap-on-the-wrist fine

    Ohad Baruch, the Israeli tourist who violated Thai law and the emergency decree by fleeing his SHA+ hotel to Pattaya and Koh Samui while waiting for RT-PCR tests, has received a small fine and will face deportation. The punishment for violating the emergency decree is up to 40,000 baht and 2 years in prison, but today the Bangkok South Municipal…

  • Pattaya hotel raided for gambling, 42 people arrested

    Pattaya hotel raided for gambling, 42 people arrested

    A Pattaya hotel room was raided by police and 42 people now face charges for gambling, which is illegal in Thailand. Officers also seized tables, cards, and gambling chips with a total market value of roughly 500 million baht (the US$15 million). Firearms were seized from the dealers. Acting on a court warrant, police raided the Le Vernissage Hotel, a…

  • Israeli Covid-19 rule escapee facing charges, deportation

    Israeli Covid-19 rule escapee facing charges, deportation

    The Israeli man who broke Thai Covid law and left his SHA+ hotel in Bangkok before Covid-19 test results came back, is now back in Bangkok, in custody of Thong Lor Police and faces charges and deportation. The Israeli man, Ohad Baruch, was flown on the 9:40pm Bangkok Airways flight from Koh Samui Airport to Bangkok on Monday night after…

  • Credit card loaned to buy cosmetics used for 6.7 million baht spree

    Credit card loaned to buy cosmetics used for 6.7 million baht spree

    What’s your credit limit? Two people were arrested in Bangkok, accused of using a borrowed credit card to rack up 6.7 million baht worth of purchases. The pair were arrested by the Crime Suppression Division Police in Ramkhamhaeng Soi 68 in Bangkapi on Tuesday, though they deny any wrongdoing. The pair of alleged fraudsters is a 47 year old Thai…

  • 193 kg of crystal meth found in Australia-routed punching bags

    193 kg of crystal meth found in Australia-routed punching bags

    Drug traffickers attempted to ship about 1.2 billion baht worth of crystal meth out of Thailand and into Australia, but customs officials beat them to the punch, as it were. Authorities at the customs office seized a gigantic payload of more than 193 kilogrammes of crystal meth that was being smuggled out of Thailand stuffed inside punching bags that boxers…

  • Hong Kong officials seize heroin hidden in canned fruits imported from Thailand

    Hong Kong officials seize heroin hidden in canned fruits imported from Thailand

    Hong Kong’s Custom Department arrested two suspects on Monday after finding 22 kilograms of heroin in canned fruits shipped from Thailand. The cargo was delivered to a seaport in Hong Kong last Thursday and was declared as 40 boxes of canned rambutan and lychee. Officers searched the shipment and found that more than 72 cans from three of the boxes…

  • Pathum Thani noise complaint ends in multiple drug busts

    Pathum Thani noise complaint ends in multiple drug busts

    You can make some noise, or you can break some laws, but you should avoid doing both. After neighbours complained of a Pathum Thani condo in a luxury building making excessive noise, police checked it out and uncovered a drug-dealing operation. The investigation led to several arrests. The Department Of Provincial Administration joined the district chief of Klong Luang in…

  • Majority believe convicted criminals shouldn’t get a Royal pardon

    Majority believe convicted criminals shouldn’t get a Royal pardon

    In the wake of Minister of Justice Somsak Thepsuthin initiating a Royal pardon for many people convicted of corruption, drug trafficking, and other serious crimes, the National Institute of Development Administration polled 1,317 people and found overwhelming opposition to the proposed pardon. The NIDA poll was done by phone between December 13 and December 15 and respondents from around the…

  • Porn site raided after posting photoshopped image of exec

    Porn site raided after posting photoshopped image of exec

    A popular porn sharing site was raided and shut down by police today after sharing the wrong photo – a photoshopped image of a hospital executive. The offending image was discovered by the person whose face was photoshopped onto a pornographic image, and they filed a complaint leading to the bust. A Nonthaburi court issued a warrant to raid a…

  • Second riot in Krabi Prison sees 14 injuries an massive fire

    Second riot in Krabi Prison sees 14 injuries an massive fire

    After a riot that broke out last night in Krabi Provincial Prison was declared to have been brought under control this afternoon, a second riot broke out with 14 injuries and a massive fire. The original riot broke out over alleged special treatment of an inmate who was brought off-site for Covid-19 treatment while others were cared for inside the…

  • Man arrested in Isaan for allegedly smuggling 550 kilograms of cannabis

    Man arrested in Isaan for allegedly smuggling 550 kilograms of cannabis

    Around 550 kilograms of compressed cannabis was seized from a pickup truck in the Isaan province Sakhon Nakhon, which is close to the Laos border. Officers from the Crime Suppression Division confiscated the cannabis and arrested a 34 year old man. Officer had received a top that a crime syndicate planned to traffic the cannabis from Laos and into Thailand.…

  • 9 prison escapees back behind bars, lotion the key to escape

    9 prison escapees back behind bars, lotion the key to escape

    The case of 9 prisoners who managed to escape a temporary detention centre has now been officially closed, with all inmates now back behind bars. The group had used a saw to hack through the bars of their room, then used their clothes to soften the barbwire atop the prison walls and climbed to freedom, albeit briefly. The governor of…

  • First victim of illegal sidewalk parking crackdown: Chiang Mai police

    First victim of illegal sidewalk parking crackdown: Chiang Mai police

    After slacking on enforcement while attention has been focused on Covid-19, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has told officers to take action on illegal driving and parking on sidewalks. They are partnering with the Royal Thai Police who are encouraging a nationwide crackdown on illegal sidewalk parking. But one of the first victims busted for it ended up being the police…

  • NIDA Poll: majority oppose legalising gambling and casinos

    NIDA Poll: majority oppose legalising gambling and casinos

    The National Institute of Development Administration released a poll recently that showed that the majority of Thai people are opposed to the legalisation of casinos and gambling. The NIDA poll showed that most people think that online gambling and video games with betting should also remain illegal. 1,318 people were surveyed by telephone between December 6 and December 8 for…

  • 40 year old arrested for sexually harassing 12 year old girl

    40 year old arrested for sexually harassing 12 year old girl

    In Bang Lamung, a 40 year old man identified as Mr Fai was arrested, accused of sexually harassing a 12 year old girl after breaking into her house. The Nong Prue Police received notice of the break-in that took place on Wednesday in the Pong sub-district. The father of the 12 year old girl called the police after catching the…

  • Anti-Corruption Commission says Vorayuth hit-and-run case “completed in 14 months”

    Anti-Corruption Commission says Vorayuth hit-and-run case “completed in 14 months”

    The hit-and-run case against Red Bull heir Vorayuth Yoovidhya is expected to be wrapped up within 14 months. Nation Thailand reports that the Office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission says the case should be complete by the end of next year. The incident is now 9 years old and many Thais wonder why it’s taking so long to prosecute the…

  • Man stabbed and killed his mother, wrapping plastic bags on her head

    Man stabbed and killed his mother, wrapping plastic bags on her head

    A man in Bangkok has been charged with the brutal murder of his mother after she was found stabbed and with plastic bags wrapped tight around her head and neck. The murder took place last night in the Lumphini district of Bangkok, where the 26 year old engineer killed his mother in a wild attack in the food court where…

  • Italian-Thai Development is in good health, CEO Premchai is not

    Italian-Thai Development is in good health, CEO Premchai is not

    Italian-Thai Development CEO Premchai Kanasutra has been sentenced by the Supreme Court to over 3 years in jail for poaching. Now officials at his company say operations will be unaffected while officials at the Corrections Department report Premchai is in poor health. The ageing tycoon was sent to Thong Pha Phum Prison yesterday, and doctors at the hospital there are…

  • Two arrested for allegedly kidnapping a woman, posting video her tied up on TikTok

    Two arrested for allegedly kidnapping a woman, posting video her tied up on TikTok

    A Burmese man and woman were arrested for allegedly kidnapping another Burmese woman, and then posting a video of her with her ankles chained and hands tied on the social media platform TikTok. The suspects allegedly abducted the woman, who is said to be a popular social media influencer among Burmese netizens, in Pathum Thani, which is north of Bangkok. …

  • Tycoon Premchai sentenced to 3 years, 2 months for poaching

    Tycoon Premchai sentenced to 3 years, 2 months for poaching

    Thailand’s construction tycoon Premchai Karnasuta was sentenced to 3 years and 2 months in jail without parole by the Supreme Court today for poaching and hunting a black panther in Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary in Kanchanaburi in February 2018. The Office of the Attorney General rushed out the announcement earlier so hurriedly that it underreported the sentencing of Premchai…

  • Wounded man flees to police station, says employer beat him, forced him to drink urine

    Wounded man flees to police station, says employer beat him, forced him to drink urine

    A man, badly bruised and face swollen, reportedly showed up to a local police station claiming his employer has been abusing him for more than a decade, beating him with a PVC pipe and forcing him to drink dog urine. The 29 year old worker, identified as Fah, told police he managed to escape. Welts, wounds, and bruises were all…

  • Chiang Mai street vendor with busty top files sexual harassment complaint with police

    Chiang Mai street vendor with busty top files sexual harassment complaint with police

    The Chiang Mai street vendor who went viral for her revealing cardigan-style top just filed a sexual harassment complaint with Thai police. The 23 year old known as Nong Olive is known for wearing an open chest shirt, showing her cleavage and midriff, while making Thai-style pancakes, which is a popular street food known in Thai as “khanom Tokyo.” Nong…

  • Three arrested in human trafficking crackdown near Myanmar border

    Three arrested in human trafficking crackdown near Myanmar border

    Three people are accused of being involved in a transnational human trafficking operation where Burmese migrants were promised help entering Thailand for jobs and later forced into labour, even prostitution. The suspects were arrested in Tak’s Mae Sot district, which borders Myanmar. The suspects allegedly lured migrants into Thailand by helping them cross the border illegally, evading immigration checks and…

  • Burmese woman rescued by DSI after 13 years of forced labour

    Burmese woman rescued by DSI after 13 years of forced labour

    The Department of Special Investigation rescued a Burmese woman in Bangkok who has been held in forced labour for 13 years. The rescue was carried out yesterday by the DSI and was revealed today by the Director-General of the DSI. The 26 year old woman was held in a house on Soi 11 in the Pakamas housing estate, located in…

  • Customs department seizes 897 kg of meth headed to Taiwan

    Customs department seizes 897 kg of meth headed to Taiwan

    At Bangkok port today, customs department officials intercepted and seized nearly 900 kilogrammes of crystal meth bound for Taiwan. An informant tipped off customs officials that a gigantic stash of crystal methamphetamine was being moved today and customs responded and tracked down the illegal drug shipment. Customs officials found 24 cardboard boxes that were suspect and, when they were all…

  • Junior police officer facing attempted murder for allegedly shooting at a Bangkok bus

    Junior police officer facing attempted murder for allegedly shooting at a Bangkok bus

    A junior police officer is facing attempted murder charges after he fired a gun at a passenger bus in Bangkok’s Bang Chan district on Tuesday. A video of the incident shared on social media shows a motorcyclist, cutting off the bus, forcing it to stop. He walked up to the bus driver and then went back to his motorcycle where…

  • Former Deputy PM Suthep indicted over construction contracts

    Former Deputy PM Suthep indicted over construction contracts

    The National Anti-Corruption Commission has filed an indictment against former Deputy Prime Minister and protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban accusing him of irregularities in police constructions contracts. The charges were filed yesterday in the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders and are regarding projects to build police stations and housing over 10 years ago. Suthep who has been jailed…

  • Bomb attack damages vehicles carrying ballot boxes from local election in Yala

    Bomb attack damages vehicles carrying ballot boxes from local election in Yala

    A bombing in the Deep South province Yala damaged several vehicles carrying ballot boxes from a local election. After the polls closed on Sunday for the Bannang Sata tambon administration organisation elections, eight vehicles were used to take the ballot boxes to the district office. As the vehicles drove on a rural road at around 7:55pm, a parked motorcycle exploded. A…

  • Survey reveals most respondents oppose legalising pornography in Thailand

    Survey reveals most respondents oppose legalising pornography in Thailand

    A new survey is revealing that a majority of respondents oppose legalising pornography in Thailand. The National Institute of Development Administration, or Nida Poll, conducted the survey over the phone between November 22nd and the 24th. The 18 years of age and older respondents with varying levels of education and occupations seemed to point towards a vast majority of Thais…