Hot News
Thailand hot news, breaking stories, crime, politics, tourism, and business—stay updated with in-depth reports and exclusive interviews on the latest events across the country. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Thailand news source.
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SATURDAY MORNING HEADLINES – All your news in 3 minutes
Welcome to your weekend. Your Saturday ‘Boat Lagoon Weekend’ is on tonight from 6pm. Plenty of fun and food for all ages. For our weekend headlines, just click on the heading for the full story. Here are today’s main Phuket and Thai headlines… Two Thai men wed in Queensland Australia Two Thai men have been among the first same-sex couples…
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Koh Phangan bars closed for selling drugs to tourists
An Army division in Surat Thani has invoked Article 44 to order two pubs at the popular tourist destination of Koh Phangan to be closed indefinitely after they were found selling drug to foreign tourists. Colonel Kriangkrai Srirak, deputy commander of the Fifth Infantry Division, said he invoked Article 44 to order the indefinite closure of Reggae Bar and Bello…
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18 year old alleged killer arrested in Thalang crackdown
An 18 year old, who allegedly shot a 17 year old couple on December 23, killing the girl, has been arrested along with 33 other people who illegally posses guns and bullets plus another 20 people involved in drug-related cases. This follows a police crime crackdown measures during Christmas and New Year period. The arrests were made between December 22…
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TUESDAY MORNING BRIEFING – All your local news in 3 minutes
Welcome to your Tuesday in Phuket. Another excellent day on the way with only a 10% chance of rain later on. The forecast says ‘Mostly sunny’. Back to work and school following your day off (if you were lucky enough to have a long weekend). Here’s today’s main headlines… Change.org calls for General Prawit to step down An online campaign…
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Marijuana valued at 2 million Baht – crackdown in Phang Nga
Phang Nga police have arrested 6 local fishermen with 456 kilograms of dry marijuana leaves. The 6 fishermen include 31 year old Boonkum Bohmuang, 27 year old Rachan Thong-Iad, 25 year old Sakrit Thong-Iad, 36 year old Thalerngsak Thanyupak and 37 year old Manoch Thintalay. After being informed about the drugs being transported by boat through the Andaman Sea, an…
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Major narcotics sting reveals 27 drug networks
A crackdown on 27 drug-dealing networks across Thailand has delivered 734 arrests and the confiscation of a huge amount of illicit drugs. This, according to the Royal Thai Police’s Narcotics Control Coordinating Center. The stings all took place between September 2 – 11. The suspects included 15 alleged narcotics producers, 52 alleged drugs distributors and 256 persons accused of having…
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17 year old using BB gun to rob locals and tourists
Last night (September 11), Phuket police arrested a 17 year old from Had Yai, Songkhla, in Soi Hongyok-Utit, Phuket Town. He’d already committed 4 or 5 robberies and claimed that he robbed people after taking drugs. At the scene police found a black BB gun, a red plate, green and grey Yamaha motorcycle, a helmet, two mobile phones, a shoulder…
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Opinion: Need to revise drug laws
PHUKET: The recent arrest by Region 8 Police of two men for posing as officers of the law and trying to extort money from the families of teenage boys found drinking krathom leaf extract is just the latest reminder of the need for Thailand to reconsider and revise its draconian drug control laws. It might strike some as futile to…
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Excuse Buster: Alternatives to the ‘white devil’
PHUKET: “This may seem exaggerated and far-fetched, but sugar is the most dangerous drug of the times and can still be easily acquired everywhere,” says Paul van der Velpen, the head of Amsterdam’s health service. This is the same Amsterdam where the sale of cannabis is legalized. Research that refined sugar is one of the main reasons for our current…
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Shooting suspect arrested in Phuket
PHUKET: A suspect wanted for shooting and injuring a boat crew member last week was arrested yesterday in Rassada. The victim, named Suchat Hetthong, was injured when a heated argument led to a shootout at his home near Koh Sirey Bridge (story here). “Our investigations led us to arrest one of the suspects, named Parin Supalak, 18, at his rented…
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Checkpoint nets nearly 100kg of marijuana
PHUKET: Tah Chat Chai police officers seized nearly 100 kilograms of marijuana at Phuket’s northern checkpoint on Tuesday. Col Prawit Suttiruengarun told the Phuket Gazette that the police arrested a Trang man after ordering the vehicle to stop for a routine search. The man, who police have identified as 37-year-old Annop Dueramare, reportedly attempted to drive away after the officers…
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Rise in Phuket’s troubled teens
PHUKET: The director of the Phuket Juvenile Observation and Protection Center (JOPC) said she believes teenagers across Phuket are becoming more aggressive. Rawee Kuhamooka told the Phuket Gazette that every year JOPC staff have to work harder to control their detainees. Ms Rawee’s comments come after a riot at the center earlier this month left the building’s grounds, cafeteria, therapy…
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Phuket drug ring found weapons online
PHUKET: Four Thai men have been arrested after drug raids in Chalong uncovered crystal meth, guns, bullets and marijuana, police confirmed. At a press conference yesterday, Phuket Provincial Police Commander Teerapol Thipjaroen and staff announced that the arrests had been made by following online leads. “Mr Teerapong Rithirak, 23, was caught on June 23 in Chalong, while trying to sell…
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Russian man found hanged in Patong hotel room
PHUKET: Police are investigating the death of a Russian man who was found hanged by the neck in a room at a Patong hotel yesterday. Hotel staff found Ivan Romankin, 29, at about 5:20pm, hanging from a steel beam. Patong police refused to release the name of the four-storey hotel. They suspect Mr Romankin had been dead for six hours…
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Songkran crime sweep nets hundreds of suspects
PHUKET: More than 1,500 arrests related to drug, illegal firearms, gambling and other criminal activities were made in Phuket and the surrounding provinces between April 1 and 17. “In the raids, a total of 171 suspects were arrested for firearms offences. A total of 165 unregistered guns were seized along with 750 rounds of ammunition, as well as two bombs…
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Australia set to legalise cultivation of medical cannabis
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Australia set to legalise cultivation of medical cannabis Phuket Gazette / Reuters PHUKET: Australia is expected to legalize the cultivation of cannabis for medical or scientific purposes with a bill introduced to parliament on Wednesday – the first step towards doctors eventually prescribing it to patients…
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Phuket drug dealer busted with 11kg of marijuana
PHUKET: Police arrested a 22-year-old man for possession of about 11 kilograms of marijuana, an illegal firearm and other drug paraphernalia at a location near Bangkok Hospital Phuket yesterday evening. “We received a tip-off that Subinnimit Rakvet, 22, was dealing marijuana in the Talad Yai area, making deliverers on his Kawasaki Ninja motorbike,” said Maj Ritthichai Choomchuy of the Phuket…
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Police pursue 83 arrest warrants for Phuket riots
PHUKET: Police are pursuing those named in the 83 unserved arrest warrants issued last month for suspects wanted in connection with the Thalang Police Station riot in October (story here). Officials have been collecting videographic and photographic evidence against the suspects, resulting in charges for assaulting officers, blockading traffic and arson, confirmed Region 8 Police Commander Tesa Siriwato on Tuesday.…
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Three types of marijuana to hit Uruguayan pharmacies in 2016
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Three types of marijuana to hit Uruguayan pharmacies in 2016 Phuket Gazette / Reuters PHUKET: Uruguayans will be able to choose from three varieties of state-sanctioned cannabis when marijuana starts being sold in pharmacies in the small South American country next year, the National Drug Board…
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Region 8 Police seize more than 100 guns in crackdown
PHUKET: Region 8 Police sized more than 100 firearms, including one weapon of war, in a week-long crackdown ahead of tomorrow’s Loy Krathong festivities (story here). “Region 8 Police and local officers in Surat Thani, Nakorn Sri Thammarat, Chumphon, Ranong, Krabi, Phang Nga and Phuket conducted massive raids to get guns and drugs off the streets this week,” said Chalermkiat…
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Six busted in Vegetarian Fest anti-drug campaign
PHUKET: Six people were arrested on Tuesday as part of an island-wide anti-drug and crime campaign during the Vegetarian Festival. Three Thais and three Russians were apprehended in Patong after officers received separate tip-offs from police sources. Russians Evan Klepinskovski, 29; Nikola Klesko, 30; and Maxim Fedorenko, 27, were each arrested for possession of more than four grams of marijuana,…
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Books: New T. C. Boyle an emotional dud
PHUKET: Since 1982, T. Coraghessan Boyle has written 15 novels, of which I’ve read ten. The first two – Water Music and Budding Prospects – are among the funniest novels ever written. The latter is about marijuana growers in northern California; the former, improbably enough, about 18th Century explorer Mungo Park’s expeditions up the Niger River. Boyle’s tone has since…
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High schoolers use e-cigarettes to vape marijuana – U.S. study
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community High schoolers use e-cigarettes to vape marijuana – U.S. study Phuket Gazette / Reuters PHUKET: Nearly one in five high school students who said they used electronic cigarettes to vaporize nicotine also used them to vaporize pot, according to a survey of nearly 4,000 Connecticut teens.…
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Post Office continues to deliver illegal drugs to Phuket
PHUKET: Illegal drugs are continuing to be delivered by the Thai Postal Service, despite concern being raised nationally early last month, said the Thalang District Chief last week. The confirmation came on Saturday morning as officers arrested Siriphop Jaitrong, 35, as he was picking up 5.4 kilograms of kratom leaves from the Pa Khlok Post Office. Thalang District Chief Veera…
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National park pot dealer busted with 2.5kg
PHUKET: A Khao Lak-Lamru National Park employee was snagged with more than two kilograms of marijuana during a sting operation on Monday. Kathachai Panboonthong, 36, confessed to police that he had been dealing drugs to international tourists and teens in the area for a ‘long time’, Takuapa District Chief Manit Pianthong explained. “When we searched his motorbike we found 2.5kg…
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Kratom culture
PHUKET: The arrest of a low-ranking Royal Thai Navy officer for smuggling a large shipment of kratom, Mitragyna speciosa, into Phuket’s primary party town of Patong this week is only a flake on the epidermis of a complicated, political and cultural battle against the illegal drug. The use of the substance in a number of wild concoctions has infiltrated many…
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Alleged Aussie drug dealer netted in Patong
PHUKET: An Australian alleged drug dealer was arrested in Patong on Tuesday in possession of cocaine and marijuana. Named by police as Miki Michael Lee, 48, the Aussie was caught in a rented room on Soi Nanai with 1 gram of cocaine and 29.3g of marijuana. “Our undercover officers informed us that Mr Lee was selling cocaine and marijuana to…
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Special Delivery: Drug network uses social media, post office
PHUKET: Enormous quantities of drugs are being shipped to Phuket through the Thai Postal system as island dealers buy in bulk through online social media platforms. “It has become more difficult catching drug dealers after they started using social media applications such as LINE and Facebook to buy and sell their products,” Director of the Narcotics Control Board (NCB) Sithisak…
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Hungarian dope smuggler arrested in Phuket
PHUKET: Hungarian national Kocsis Szabolcs Laszlo, 41, was presented to the press in Bangkok by Immigration Bureau commissioner Sakda Chuenpakdee yesterday after his arrest in Phuket on March 15. Mr Laszlo was wanted for allegedly smuggling 35 kilograms of marijuana from the Netherlands to Hungary on seven occasions, Lt Gen Sakda explained. The Immigration Commissioner said that police had arrested…
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Russians and Iranians nabbed in drug raids
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Russians and Iranians nabbed in drug raids The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A Russian and three Iranians have been arrested along with 496.52 grams of crystal meth worth 1.5 million baht in Bang Lamung district in Chon Buri and Phaya Thai in Bangkok, the Police…
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