Bangkok News
Bangkok news, politics, business, crime, and nightlife—stay updated with breaking stories, events, and expat updates from Thailand’s capital. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Bangkok news source.
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Thailand’s Covid-19 numbers, 2 from Bangkok, one in Phuket
Today at his daily press conference, spokesperson Dr. Taweesilp Visanuyothin reported 3 new cases of the coronavirus in Thailand, bringing the total cases to 3,031. No additional deaths were recorded, leaving the accumulated toll at 56. Dr. Taweesilp reveals that of the new cases 3 cases reported, two were a man and a woman in Nonthaburi province (north west of capital)…
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Unidentified foreigner arrested in Nonthaburi drug sting
77kaoded reports that police in Nonthaburi conducted a drug sting at a petrol station on Tiwanon Road late last week. They arranged to buy 20 grams of cocaine for 100,000 baht from a foreigner identified only as “Mike”, who arrived on a Yamaha motorbike. But as officers revealed themselves outside the petrol station toilets Mike realised his situation and ran off.…
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Bangkok sting results in seizure of 221 kilograms of marijuana
Talk about being left holding the bag… police in Bangkok’s Nongjok district confiscated bricks of dried marijuana weighing 221 kilograms on Friday. According to officers at the Lam Phak She Police Station, officers, the raid was a followup to a sting operation that resulted in in the arrest of 46 year old Manop Buakareem, who had delivered a kilogram of…
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University hospital unveils robots to assist in Covid-19 cases
A fleet of robots, designed and built with the assistance of Toyota Motor Thailand to reduce contact between Covid-19 patients and medical staff, was unveiled at Bangkok’s Ramathibodi Hospital yesterday. A a neurosurgeon at the hospital and head of the team that came up with the idea, presented them in a media briefing. “A prototype was developed in March, but…
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4 alleged gang members arrested, more than a million speed pills seized
Police today announced the arrest of 3 members of a drug gang at 2 houses in Bangkok, and a fourth in the southern Narathiwat province on the Malaysian border. More than a million methamphetamine pills were seized. Police say the houses were used to store drugs smuggled from Laos. A combined team of soldiers, police and officials from the Office…
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Tenants bailing out of pricey Bangkok offices amid pandemic
Bangkok’s high-end office district is looking more like a ghost town as the coronavirus pandemic seems to have many companies bailing out of their pricey office spaces. The increasing vacancy trend of Grade-A office space is expected to continue, possibly until a coronavirus vaccine is in effect, according to managing director of Phoenix Property Development and Consultancy, Surachet Kongcheep. Business owners have…
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Young student busted for big crimes
The Narcotics Control Board have announced the arrest of an 18 year old student at a private college in Nonthaburi province, just north of Bangkok, for possession of 10,000 ecstasy pills. “The student ordered 35,000 ecstasy pills by airmail from The Netherlands, paying in Bitcoin via the internet. He was arrested when the first shipment of 10,000 pills arrived. The…
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Former Future Forward members claim they’re behind political slogan campaign around Bangkok
Former members of the now defunct Future Forward party say they are responsible for projecting a political slogan on to some of Bangkok’s most iconic landmarks Sunday night, and say more’s to come. Coconuts reports that the political figures, now members of a group called “Progressive Movement,” shared a video of activists using projection equipment from within a van. The…
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“Bangkok’s tap water is safe for cooking” – Metropolitan Waterworks
When people travel to Thailand they’re always warned not to drink the tap water. Or cook with it. But improved sanitation over the past few decades has now improved the quality of tap water around parts of the country, especially in the capital. Now the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority say that it is safe to use tap water to cook rice.…
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Bangkok police hunt activists who projected slogans onto landmarks of 2010 protests
The slogan Seek the Truth (in Thai) has been projected onto several Bangkok landmarks in what appears to be a commemoration of the violent end to political demonstrations in 2010. That year, protests rocked Bangkok for 3 months between March and May, when over 100,000 supporters of former PM Thaksin Shinawatra (known as the “Redshirts”) descended on the city, demanding elections.…
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Ministries, business leaders meet to discuss further reopenings
A meeting this weekend, chaired by the director-general of the Department of Disease Control and secretary to the Covid-19 Center for Situation Administration, discussed suggestions and assessments of businesses ready to reopen, which will be forwarded to the PM Prayut Chan-o-cha for consideration early in the week. Representatives of the Interior Ministry and Tourism Ministry along with those of multiple…
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710 people caught violating curfew in one night, most in Phuket
The Royal Thai Police Operations Centre has revealed that there were 710 arrests made on Thursday night for violators of the national curfew. Officials searched 27,011 individuals and 20,568 vehicles with a final arrest number of 710, on last Thursday night alone. The arrests consisted of… 612 suspects left their homes during the curfew with no valid reasoning, out of…
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77 year old woman falls to her death in Bangkok
An elderly woman fell to her death from a tenth floor condominium in Bangkok’s Bang Khen district yesterday morning, after a worried relative took her in to keep her safe from Covid-19. Police say 77 year old Surinee Dokkaew was found dead at about 6am on the ground at the base of the 15 storey building on Chaeng Wattana Road.…
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Bangkok immigration police nab Chinese loan sharks
Bangkok immigration police have arrested 5 organisers and 73 employees at a building in Chom Thong district today, where alleged Chinese loan sharks were running an illegal finance firm. The company, “Thai Luck Trade” extended loans at interest rates far higher than the limit under Thai law. The company was registered as a merchant dealing in glasses, watches and cameras…
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BTS and MRT roll out better preventative and social distancing measures
Since there has been a lot of backlash and social media scuttlebutt about the lack of social distancing on MRT and BTS train systems, the MD of the Bangkok Expressway and Metro Public Company, Sombat Kitjalaksak, has moved to apply improved social distancing measures by prioritising access to services in the station, platform, train, both at normal times and rush…
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Bangkok’s Chatuchak weekend market is reopening
Chatuchak, Jatujak, JJ, whatever you choose to call it, Bangkok’s legendary weekend market is reopening tomorrow. The massive indoor/outdoor market, popular with both Thai and foreign tourists, will reopen this weekend after weeks of being shuttered, but visitors will be required to observe physical distancing and wear face masks…. you know the drill. Walaya Wattanarat, deputy permanent secretary of the…
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Beware overcrowding and virus transmission – PM
Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha says packed crowds in public spaces are a concern when it comes to the transmission of the Covid-19 virus. The Bangkok Posts reports that Dr. Taweesilp Visanuyothin, the spokesman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, says the PM wants to see more measures put in place to reduce overcrowding. Just a few days ago, a…
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Gamblers arrested, police investigated for ‘negligence’ in Bang Chan
Not a lockdown, not a global pandemic, not a series of recent arrests will slow down the urge for some gamblers to gamble. Now officials from the Department of Provincial Administration in Bang Chan, north-east of Bangkok’s city centre, have raided more illegal casinos with some senior police in the area being side-lined to inactive posts. There were recent raids…
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Bangkok’s International Pioneers School distributes free meals in local community
Joining similar campaigns across the nation, Bangkok’s International Pioneers School has been giving away lunch boxes with fresh, healthy food and a bottle of water to the local community every day since April 27. On the first day all the food prepared by the school was finished within 20 minutes. IPS increased the quantity for the next day, but that…
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Repatriation flight from Germany arrives in Bangkok
Last night 110 Thai people, living abroad and having been affected by the Covid-19 travel restrictions and flight bans, arrived from Frankfurt, Germany on a specially-chartered Lufthansa flight. The flight number LH772 arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport where all the passengers passed initial screening with no high fevers detected and medical paperwork intact. Thai citizens, who weren’t in Frankfurt, had to make…
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Thousands of Thais to return by the end of May
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration has announced that all Thai nationals, stranded abroad during the peak of the outbreak, will be repatriated. The government is preparing to welcome around 7,000 returnees who will arrive by the end of the month. Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesman for the CCSA says that the centre is working closely with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs…
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Speeding ambulance ejects patient on stretcher into Bangkok traffic – VIDEO
A video that captured the moment a female patient was catapulted from an ambulance into busy city traffic has now been viewed over a million times. The Thai Examiner reports that the incident occurred as the ambulance, lights flashing, was speeding through Bangkok traffic, transporting the woman to hospital. As the driver accelerated along Pracha Uthit Road in the capital’s…
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Police chief transferred following raid on Bangkok gambling den
A police chief in Bangkok has been transferred to a dormant post following a raid on a gambling den in the capital. The Bangkok Post reports that the bust took place at a snooker shop in the Bang Chan area of the capital. 47 people were arrested, with the seizure of 49,300 baht in cash, which was being used for…
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Suspect in fatal Bangkok shooting absconds with family
A man was shot dead in a fight between two neighbours yesterday in Bangkok’s Bang Khen district, apparently over excessive noise, and the alleged killer has reportedly fled with his family. Police were alerted to a shooting incident at a house on Ruammit Pattana Road at 7pm. At the scene they found the body of 37 year old Phatcharaphol Phomaneesak…
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Bangkok authorities under fire for over-zealous tree pruning
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has come in for some flak after some over-enthusiastic pruning of the city’s trees. Some of the city’s green shade was cut back to bare, ugly stumps. A report in the Bangkok Post says trees along Witthayu Road, near the city’s famed Lumpini Park, have been chopped down to their lower trucks. A similar fate has…
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Online video platform TikTok assessing live streaming in Thailand
TikTok, the most downloaded app in the world for 2 years running and the world’s leading short-video platform, has announced a trial of its first live streaming series in Thailand as part of its push to develop platform experiences for users around the world. TikTok’s first live streaming in Thailand was hosted by Vuthithorn “Woody” Milintachinda, a celebrity and influencer,…
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3 people jump to their deaths within 24 hours
Unfortunately 3 people are reported to have jumped to their deaths yesterday, 2 in Bangkok and a third in Sara Buri, about 90 kilometres to the northeast. It’s believed the man jumped to his death from his 31st floor condominium in Ramkhamhaeng district at about 8:30 yesterday morning. The body of the man, who was not identified and who appeared…
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American creates bomb scare at Bangkok’s US Embassy
This morning at 8:3oam officers at Bangkok’s Lumphini Police Station were notified of a suspicious western man who placed a suspicious box in front of the US embassy. A bomb disposal team was sent to the scene but in the box there was only a Muay Thai doll, some clothes, A3 batteries, papers and a plastic bottle was found nearby.…
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Samut Prakarn shooting leads to one fatality
Last night at around 6pm, an army private is alleged to have shot and killed his father in law, in Samut Prakarn province (South of Bangkok). After police officers from Bangmeuang Station were informed of the multiple gunshots at a house in Sub Yang Yein housing estate in Mueang district, they quickly set up a blockade surrounding the area. The…
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Monk defrocked and arrested after allegedly shooting man in the testicles
A monk at Wat Mongkhol Nimit in Samut Prakan, just south of Bangkok, has been defrocked and arrested for shooting another man who was living at the same temple. Police arrested 46 year old Phra Apiram Ruengthip at his living quarters on Friday evening. The former monk claims he only shot in self-defense. Police say they seized an unregistered handgun…
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