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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PM vows to “spare no one” in fatal casino shooting
PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has says he will “spare no one” if Monday night’s fatal shooting shooting in a Bangkok gambling den involved illegal police activity. He was reacting to the shooting death of Watthanaset Samniangprasert, an interrogation inspector at Samae Dam police station in Bang Bon district, and 3 others, 1 of them a woman, at a gambling den in…
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New electric ferries have a test run on Bangkok’s klongs
The Bangkok Marine Department has completed a test run of a new electric boat on Saen Saeb klong. The tests have been part of the development for a replacement of Bangkok’s deisel-powered, noisy and dirty canal and river ferries. Marine Department Director General, Wittaya Yamuang says the tests of the eco-friendly passenger boat on Saen Saeb canal was all over…
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Independent panel recommend re-instatement of ‘Boss’ charges
Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya is likely to not only face charges of “reckless driving causing death” but also drugs charges involving Cocaine use. In another dramatic twist in the ongoing “Boss” saga, an independent panel has recommended the reckless driving charge be re-instated along with new charges of Cocaine abuse. Nearly 2 weeks ago the deputy attorney-general, and an acting police…
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Independent panel reviews Boss case to see if it can be re-opened
PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has asked the independent panel examining the dismissal of charges relating to the 2012 hit-and-run case against Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya if it can be re-opened. Prosecutors abruptly decided not to arraign Boss on a charge of “reckless driving causing death” after the other charges relating to the incident had lapsed due to the statute of limitations. “I’ve…
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Facemask business dispute leads to shooting
Bangkok police say a business rivalry over facemasks was the reason behind a gunfight that left a man injured in the city’s Bang Khae district. Officers at Lak Song Police Station were informed early this morning that a yellow Porsche was fired at many times in front of a Bang Khae home. The injured man was sent to hospital. Initial…
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Red Bull witness drank with other biker before his death: police
In the latest development in the case of Red Bull scion Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya, police in Chiang Mai now say the key defence witness who died Thursday in a motorcycle accident was seen drinking with the other motorcyclist involved before the incident. Officers say they used CCTV video to trace the route of the 2 motorcyclists to a karaoke bar.…
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Road carnage mounts as couple killed in Nonthaburi crash
Thailand’s road carnage continues to mount: police and rescue services were called in Nonthaburi, just north of Bangkok, after an incident in which an Isuzu pickup truck collided with a barrier then crossed over a metal fence at 6:30 yesterday. 2 people, 45 year old Adisak, and his 46 year old wife Suchada, were thrown out of the vehicle and…
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Protesters attempt to “wash away” government double standards
Continuing the wave of anti-government demonstrations which has swept the country for nearly 2 weeks, protesters calling themselves “Democracy June 24” gathered outside Government House in Bangkok yesterday and symbolically washed dishes carrying various political messages. The last dish, carrying a photo of PM Prayut Chan-o-cha was dramatically smashed when protesters were “unable” to scrub it clean. (October 24 is…
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Police say “Boss” tested positive for cocaine due to dentistry
Police are claiming that illicit drugs, including cocaine, found in the blood samples of Red Bull scion Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya in the infamous fatal 2012 hit-and-run case were for his dental treatment. A parliamentary committee invited officials yesterday for questioning regarding case. A spokesman for the committee told a press briefing that the panel questioned officers who handled the case…
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Facebook post from Bangkok restaurateur shows the power of social media
A Bangkok restaurateur has been left surprised by the power of social media, after his online complaint led to workers rushing back to fill a gaping hole they’d left outside his premises 3 months ago. Donald Woo, a Hong Kong expat who runs a noodle shop in the capital, took to Facebook to voice his frustration after workers abandoned a…
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Key witness in the Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya case dies in motorbike incident
One of the key witnesses of the 2012 hit and run incident, involving Red Bull heir Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya, died this morning as a result of a motorbike incident in Chiang Mai. He was one of two main witnesses identified by police in the case. The incident happened this morning just after 2am in the main city area of Chiang…
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Pro-monarchy students plan Bangkok rally
A group of pro-royalist vocational students and their supporters are planning a rally at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument today, possibly provoking a confrontation with pro-democracy students. The student group, calling itself “Vocational Students to Protect the Nation” said on their Facebook page that they will be demonstrating at Democracy monument and voice their opinions on the current surge of pro-democratic student…
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Leaked memo shows Thai police preparing to arrest protesters
A leaked internal memo shows riot police have been ordered to mobilise and prepare detention facilities to accommodate arrested student protesters. The police memo, dated Friday, orders the heavily armed Border Patrol Police to be “on standby” for student-led anti-government protests in Bangkok. Although a provision of the Emergency Decree banning public gatherings was removed last week, police say it…
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Bangkok sees first ever student-led LGBT pride march – VIDEO
After more than a week of anti-government protests across the nation, a different kind of demonstration was held in Bangkok today – Thailand’s first ever student-led “pride march”. Young protesters demanded state teachers stop discriminating against LGBT students, more progressive health and sex education, and a revision of restrictive haircut rules. Students marched along Ratchadamnoen Avenue to the Ministry of…
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Bangkok restaurant refusal to serve foreigners goes viral – VIDEO
The Fullmoon Terrace and Bar, in Lat Phrao in the north east suburbs of Bangkok, is refusing to serve foreigners. It’s not a good look, especially when there have been no locally-transmitted cases of Covid-19 for over 2 months and the man was wearing a mask and being quite pleasant about the whole matter. The Thaiger wouldn’t have been as…
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Leaked documents reveal the reasons behind prosecutors dropping “Boss” charges
In a carefully staged leaking of a document, the alleged “new evidence” has now been revealed which the Office of Special Prosecutors for Criminal Litigation claims was behind the dropping of the charges against Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya in a fatal road death in Bangkok in 2012. Meanwhile, the Thai PM has demanded an investigation into the dropping of charges and ordered a…
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Transport Ministry says they still want to negotiate the 24 billion baht Hopewell pay-out
Driving out to Don Mueang Airport it’s difficult not to notice the new BTS line that now extends from Mo Chit and past the airport. It looks finished and, apparently, will open before the end of the year. But running alongside are the remnants of an earlier, and very expensive, attempt to build a link out to Don Mueang, at…
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Female doctor resigns after hospital attack; director suggests “gold shop security”
The director of Vibharam-Chai Prakan Hospital in Samut Prakan, just south of Bangkok, says he may need to upgrade security to that used by gold shops to protect hospital staff. His remarks come just days after violence erupted at 2 hospitals in the area. 2 gangs were fighting after 1 of their members died. A female doctor resigned after the…
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Bangkok “sadist” arrested for man’s death, woman’s abduction
Bangkok police have arrested a man for the abduction of a woman and the death of her boyfriend in the city’s Lumpini Park Tuesday night. Authorities say he is a sexual sadist who preyed on sex workers in the downtown area. Police say a woman, identified as 35 year old Natchada Kiengkaiwaykin, was lured into his Volkswagen van. Her boyfriend,…
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American busted for fraud in Bangkok
An American man in Bangkok has been arrested and faces charges of defrauding a Thai investor out of 300,000 baht. Immigration police arrested the 37 year old for allegedly conning the victim into investing in an application to search for condominiums, jobs, cleaning and other services. The man, identified only as “Matthew”, was arrested under a warrant obtained by immigration…
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6 escaped buffalo rescued by Buddhist nun
6 buffalo who broke loose from a Bangkok slaughterhouse and onto city streets this morning will be saved by a nun who owns a farm for rescued farm animals. Phakjira Hatthakitchamroen, who owns Punissarapab Farm in the western province of Ratchaburi, is collecting funds to buy the animals from the slaughterhouse in the Srinagarindra area. They were spotted wandering On…
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Bangkok police seize fake drugs, cosmetics, supplements in factory raid
Police and officers of the Food and Drug Administration seized 119 items made using hazardous substances and sporting fake labels in a raid on an illegal factory near Bangkok’s Pratunam intersection. The products were valued at 200,000 baht. The FDA reported the production of illegal healthcare products, which led police to Tofu Skincare based in the capitol’s Ratchathewi district. The…
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Video catches Thai immigration officials asking for a bribe
Officers from an immigration office near Bangkok have been “suspended” after a Facebook video showed an immigration official asking for money to help “speed up his visa process”. The caption read… “This is real, such a shame, when will the cheating stop”. “Thailand is good, foreigners get Visas to work in the country. They go to the Nonthaburi Immigration for…
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Bangkok slum fire injures 3, damages 5 homes
A fire in central Bangkok’s Khlong Toei slum area last night injured 3 and damaged at least 5 houses with many more reportedly losing their possessions. It took firefighters around 30 minutes to bring the blaze under control. An initial police inspection indicated that the the blaze may have been started in a house whose residents made a small fire…
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Protesters start a hunger strike out the front of Government House
A group calling themselves the New Life Network is staging a hunger strike at the front of Government House, again calling for PM Prayut Chan-o-Cha to stand down and dissolve parliament. They are complaining that the economy is getting worse and that the gap between Thailand’s rich and poor is widening. They say the situation has deteriorated since the military…
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Staff injured, property damaged as gang rampages through 2 Bangkok hospitals
Gang members have gone on a rampage through 2 Bangkok hospitals, injuring medical personnel and causing significant damage to property. Violence first erupted at Vibharam-Chaiprakan Hospital in Samut Prakan, just south of the city, when doctors were unable to save the life of one gang member who’d been injured in a fight a few hours before. His death led to…
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Smaller protest group outside Army HQ in Bangkok last night
A much smaller group of activists gathered outside the Royal Thai Army headquarters on Ratchadamnoen Avenue, Bangkok last night in protest against an opinion expressed by the now-former deputy spokesperson. The protesters, part of the ‘Free Youth’ group who protested in Bangkok at the Democracy Monument on Saturday afternoon, rallied outside the main gate of the Thai army HQ early in…
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Police say they are gathering evidence to arrest ringleaders of Saturday protest – VIDEO
Whilst the police attending the mostly-peaceful protest, on Saturday afternoon and evening around Bangkok’s Democracy Monument, they didn’t intervene and break up the crowd. But they were taking plenty of photos. Now Bangkok Police have announced that they were gathering evidence to press formal charges against the leaders of the pro-democracy protest. Chief of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, Lt. Gen. Pakkapong…
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Huge anti-government protest at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument
Anti-government protesters congregated at the Democracy Monument in the heart of Bangkok late yesterday afternoon to demand the dissolution of the current Thai Parliament, demanding a new Constitution and the removal of PM Prayut Chan-o-cha and his government The protest was organised by the Union of Students of Thailand and “Free YOUTH”, and was held in contravention of the emergency decree,…
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Suvarnabhhumi Airport sees huge jump in traffic
Despite a continued and near-total ban on international arrivals, Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport is seeing a spike in traffic after the government eased lockdown measures and allowed domestic travel. The airport’s general manager says that from July 1-15, Suvarnabhumi saw 3,205 flights (1,604 incoming and 1,601 outgoing) or an average of 214 per day. “The total number of passengers using…
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