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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Thousands join the pro and anti government protests in Bangkok
Protesters, from both sides of the political camp turned up in two different parts of the capital yesterday for their respective political rallies. Organiser of the anti-regime “Wing Lai Lung” (Run to Oust the Uncle), Tanawat Wongchai, told the crowds at Suan Rot Fai in Chatuchak, a northern suburb of Bangkok, that the run marked the start of the campaign…
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Bangkok man charged with girlfriend’s brutal murder
Bangkok police say they finally have enough evidence to charge a man in a murder case dating back to last year. Police arrested a Mr. Apichai, also known as “Ice,” at his home in Bangkok’s Phetkasem district. He’s charged with killing his girlfriend, allegedly hitting her in the head and stuffing her body in a chest. Police found the body of…
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Thousands gather for this morning’s protest running event in Bangkok
This morning’s fun run/rally/political event/marathon/jog/protest at Suan Rot Fai park in Chatuchak, a northern Bangkok suburb, attracted thousands of runners. The run was organised as a protest against Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and his government. The “Run Against Dictatorship” was organised by opposition political parties and activists calling for greater political freedom. The event was held less than 10…
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Guns, tanks and political speeches. Just another Children’s Day in Thailand.
Children’s Day has come and gone for another year. As usual, the media like to follow the Thai PM in the hope of a perfect photo of him and an unsuspecting Thai child. The prime minister certainly enjoys the annual interaction and appears more comfortable surrounded by children than performing in Parliament. It’s also a day that the Thai armed…
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Call centre raid in Bangkok – French citizens arrested
Ten French citizens have been arrested on charges of working illegally at an international call centre in Bangkok. Immigration officials were acting on a tip off and had already obtained a court-authorised search warrant to enter the building on Soi Thong Lor 25 in Wattana, central Bangkok. The building was a four-storey house modified for office work. Speaking to the media…
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Thailand’s top cop embroiled in the Surachat car-shooting case – Audio clip released
“Stay away from Big Joke shooting.” A leaked phone conversation reveals Thailand’s senior police chief instructing a deputy to distance himself from the Surachat drive-by shooting case. Former Immigration Chief Pol Lt Gen Surachat Hakparn’s white Lexus SUV was shot at eight times in a Patpong soi in Bangkok on Monday night. There was no one n the car at the…
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Surachat claims shots at his car were related to a 2 billion baht Immigration purchase
Thailand’s former immigration supremo, Surachat Hakparn, spoke to the media yesterday about the bullets fired into his car on Monday night. He was not in the car at the time. He speculated confidently that the shots fired at the white Lexus SUV, parked near a massage establishment in Patpong, Bangkok, were connected to a two billion baht purchase of a…
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71 year old ‘Robin Hood’ pensioner arrested over three year overstay
An American retiree has been arrested for overstaying his visa by nearly three years, according to the anti-farang Thai publication Naew Na. Immigration police in Bangkok arrested the 71 year old man, who they identified only as ‘Mark L’, in Sukhumvit’s Soi Mee Suwan 3 on Monday. The US pensioner had overstayed his visa by nearly 3 years. The enthusiastically smug…
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Bangkok taxi driver dies after flipping his car on toll road
A taxi driver has died after passing out on Bangkok’s Din Daeng tollway, crashing his taxi into concrete barriers and flipping the car over. Police and rescue workers arrived to find the driver, 59 year old Manas Mapradit, already deceased in the car, with his female passenger trapped inside. They managed to rescue the woman and take her to hospital. The…
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Police ramp up investigation into shots fired into Surachat’s car in Bangkok
Investigators yesterday combed the scene of a shooting where seven shots (below) were fired into a vacant car belonging to former Immigration supremo Pol Lt-General Surachat Hakparn. Deputy Police Commissioner-General Pol General Virachai Songmetta visited the crime scene where the white Lexus was shot at by two suspects on Monday evening. According to The Nation, the location was a massage spa…
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Bangkok authorities roll out the water trucks for free drinking water
As water authorities around Bangkok start rolling out a long-term solution to the increasing salinity of the water further up the Chao Phraya river, locals are being treated to free drinking water. The Metropolitan Waterworks Authority has is transporting tap water from the Mahasawat water factory, in a small district west of the main city unaffected by the saltwater problem,…
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Gunshots fired at Surachat Hakparn’s car were no joke – VIDEO
“Surachat says he was certain the shots had been intended to kill him.” Seven shots have been fired into the side of a car of former immigration police chief Surachet Hakparn’s wife. The former high profile poster boy for the government’s immigration policy, and championed by the deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwan, was in a restaurant in Bangkok’s Bang Rak district when the…
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Seawater v Freshwater in Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River. The seawater is winning.
The Office of National Water Resources is holding an urgent meeting today, with other Bangkok water agencies, including the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority to discuss the worsening salination problem in the Chao Phraya river. They note that that the back flow of seawater into the river is now threatening the city’s tap water supply. High tides, rising sea levels, a worsening…
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Finnish man arrested over Suvarnabhumi bomb threat
PHOTO: Skytrax Police report that an investigation has been opened into a bomb threat made to Suvarnabhumi International Airport. A man remains in detention over the matter. The threat was made on the evening of January 1, with a call implying that a bomb had been placed inside the airport The airport regularly receives bomb threats, and has security protocols in…
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Rival demonstrations scheduled for January 12 in Bangkok
Over 10,000 people have registered for the “Run Against Dictatorship” in Bangkok on January 12, while government supporters say they are planning a rival event on the same day. The two events point to increasing political tension in Thailand, which has seen violent street protests and even coups in recent decades. Critics say the general election in March was manipulated to…
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Vietnamese woman arrested using someone else’s passport documents
The Immigration Police have arrested a Vietnamese tourist posing as someone else. Immigration Police at Suvarnabhumi Airport report that on December 31 a foreigner, holding a passport with ID that didn’t look anything like her, tried to check in with the dodgy documents. Officials intervened and apprehended the girl when she was trying to use the passport to check-in with an…
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EssilorLuxottica fraud linked to merger friction of the Euro eyewear giants
PHOTO: Global Retail Alliance Latest info on the fraud at a Thai factory making lenses for the multinational eyewear conglomerate, EssilorLuxottica. The newly merged Italian-French manufacturer of ophthalmic lenses, frames and sunglasses says it was the target of a 190 million euro (6.3 billion baht) fraud at a Thai factory as an ongoing power struggle over the 2017 merger of the…
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EssilorLuxottica announces a 6.3 billion baht fraud at a plant in Thailand
EssilorLuxottica has reported a 213 million US$ (6.3 billion baht) fraud in on of its plants in Thailand. EssilorLuxottica is a French-Italian multinational corporation based in Paris with subsidiaries and manufacturers around the world. Essilor Luxottica, a global designer, manufacturer and distributor of ophthalmic lenses, frames and sunglasses, has announced that its subsidiary Essilor International recently discovered fraudulent fund transfers in one…
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Late night party blamed for major road incident east of Bangkok
PHOTOS: Khaosod English Police are still investigating the events that led up to a major traffic incident last Friday. A woman in Samut Prakan, east of central Bangkok, has been seriously injured after crashing her pickup truck into a power pole, causing a series of incidents. The driver, 25 year old Siriprapha Photmoo, remained unconscious in hospital over the weekend. Police…
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159 people dead after first three days of Thai holiday campaign
PHOTO: VOA 159 people have died in the first three days of the Christmas/New Year holiday 7 day safety campaign. During those three days there has been 1,504 crashes resulting in 1,549 injuries. The numbers take into account last Friday up to midnight Sunday night. The capital, Bangkok, has registered the highest death toll and the highest number of drink-driving…
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Three Bangkok police fired after proof of extortion emerges
UPDATED STORY Three policemen who worked out of the Thonglor Police Station, on the eastern edge of Bangkok city, have been suspended from their duties las Friday, pending a full enquiry. Thai Rath reported that the three had been relieved of their duties after allegedly receiving a bribe from a French businessman. The three policemen were identified as Maj. Phitsanupol…
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And they’re off! Hundreds of thousands leave Bangkok for New Year break
PHOTO: Eleven Media Group Hundreds of thousands of Bangkok residents have already started heading out of the capital, headed to various Thai provinces to welcome in 2020 in the company of friends and family. The long weekends starts from tonight with many Thais being granted a public holiday on Monday, in addition to the Tuesday and Wednesday public holidays. It…
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Central “deeply appalled” by Nazi pics at their Christmas display
UPDATE: The family of one of the people in the photo, has contacted The Thaiger and asked us to remove the photo. We have blurred one of the faces to comply with their wish after a discussion on the matter. “Three French hens, Two turtle doves and a pair of Nazi’s in a Bangkok shopping centre”. A cultural collision, a…
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Solar eclipse today across Thailand. Here’s how to watch it.
CAUTION: Looking at the sun directly and without proper equipment is dangerous and can cause blindness. Read more, along with some guidelines for viewing the solar eclipse, HERE. How it will look in your area below… The skies will darken across Thailand around midday today. The further south you are, the darker it will get as the moon moves over…
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Samut Sakhon temple Abbot accused of sexual abuse of up to 19 temple novices
PHOTO: Police The acting abbot at a temple in Samut Sakhon has been arrested following allegations that he held captive and sexually abused a list of young novice monks. It’s been reported that the youngest was only 8 years old. Samut Sakhon is just to the east of Bangkok, facing the Gulf of Thailand. 40 year old Phra Khru Sangkharak Saksit…
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Dream Group scales back their Asia hotel expansion plans
New York-based Dream Hotel Group’s plans to expand in Asia have turned into somewhat of a nightmare. The Group has closed its regional office in Bangkok shortly after hiring new executives to push forward with expansion earlier this year. A Pattaya ‘Dream’ has also failed to eventuate this year. The push in Asia, which kicked off last year with the establishment…
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Shock closure of factory outside Bangkok leaves 1,000 workers unemployed
PHOTO: pcr.co.th A thousand workers have lost their jobs following the sudden closure of the Pongpara Codan Rubber Company, in Samut Sakhon province, just outside the Thai capital. Thai PBS World reports that employees discovered they were out of a job when they arrived for work at the automotive parts manufacturing company yesterday morning, only to find it closed. They…
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Thanathorn’s “flash mob” enjoys widespread support amongst Thais
The public is split over what is now being called the opposition’s “flash mob,” and “Skywalk Rally” organised by the Future Forward Party in central Bangkok on December 14, but supporters slightly outnumber opponents, according to a survey by the National Institute for Development Administration, or NIDA Poll. The poll was conducted on December 16-17 and included 1,277 Thai adults…
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Fakes valued at 50 million baht found in raids in Saraburi
PHOTO: INN News That’s another 50 million baht worth of counterfeits off the streets. The Department of Special Investigation has seized counterfeit goods in a series of raids, with a street value of around 50 million baht and including some 158,000 items. In this case, the fakes were mostly brand name eyeglasses and clothing accessories. The DSI, Department of Intellectual Property…
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Rescuers claim former transport minister tried to flee accident scene
PHOTO: Saichon Srinuanchan Thawee Kraikupt, a former transport minister and the father of government MP Pareena Kraikupt, was involved a car crash in Ratchaburi province, just west of Bangkok, that injured a 16 year old boy. His daughter Pareena was recently found guilty of illegally occupying some 700 rai of government land and forced to return most of it to…
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