Thailand News
Thailand news, politics, business, crime, and lifestyle—get breaking updates from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond. Stay informed on Thai society, economy, tourism, and expat life with The Thaiger.
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Wai the need for violence?
PHITSANULOK: Religious institutions are intended to be places of peace and goodwill, but a temple in Phitsanulok recently proved to be anything but when a monk who thought a nun had disrespected him responded by beating her. At 9 am August 21, Maechi Phronchon Chomphukpan, 53, a nun at Wat Ban Khek in Nakhon Thai District, walked into the local…
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Bounty of bras reveals a sad tale
ROI-ET: Stories of men dying in strange circumstances while dressed in women’s clothing are not so unusual. A few years ago the BBC reported that an up-and-coming UK Conservative Party Member of Parliament was found dead with “a black bin liner over his head and wearing stockings and suspenders”. Police in Roi-Et Town, however, were initially left a bit flummoxed…
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Temples tricked by ladyboy’s lies
SAMUT PRAKAN: The life of a Thai ladyboy is full of challenges that most members of Thai society could hardly fathom – let alone deal with. On the bureaucratic front, this can be seen from the current debate raging on whether to let those who have undergone “sex reassignment surgery” use the title “Miss” on their ID cards. Before it…
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Rampant rapist eludes vengeful vigilantes, police
NAKHON SRI THAMMARAT: A group of irate villagers in Nakhon Sri Thammarat Municipality launched a vigilante squad July 31 to try to track down an inhalant-addicted rapist from whom not even dogs, pigs and banana trees were safe. A meeting was held at 1:30 pm that day at the house of Phairot Mathayawut, head of the local Volunteer Crime News…
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A severed engagement
PHUKET: On August 1 a man was admitted to Phuket International Hospital with an unusual injury: his penis was almost completely severed after his fiancee, suspicious that he was still seeing an ex-girlfriend, attempted to cut it off. The incident was reported to Capt Sathit Noorit, Duty Officer at Phuket City Police Station, who led an investigation team to the…
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Guns, drugs and an empty casket
NAKHON SRI THAMMARAT: When a funeral goes on for several weeks and is protected by a gang of armed men, you can usually bet that it’s for someone important. But a funeral in Thung Yai held for a fictitious money-spinning witch doctor left villagers confused when the funeral’s organizers started selling “lucky” lottery tickets. The funeral was reported to the…
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Conman captured at local cockfight
KAMALA: After a two-month search, a local trickster who conned a 55-year-old woman out of a million baht in a land scam was finally arrested – at an illegal cockfight in Nakhon Sri Thammarat. Lt Col Monsak Srisuwan from Kamala Police Station said that Phuket City Resident Benja Wongdara had been trying to sell a plot of land. K. Benja…
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Electrified fence at forest temple
LOPBURI: More than 200 people from Baan Nong Kam in Lopburi’s Muang District held a protest June 27 to drive out a local abbot, whom they accused of setting up an electrified fence to keep villagers away from his forest temple.One of the protest leaders, 58-year-old Charoen Wongpao, told reporters that Phra Khru Palatwiroj Ophaso, Abbot of Wat Suwanahong Forest,…
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Temple trots
NAKHON RATCHASIMA: A man known locally to villagers in Kham Thalay So District as Mor Thewada, (which, roughly translated, means ‘Angel of Mercy’ doctor) is under investigation after a patient claimed that his medicine gave him a nasty case of diarrhea. The story surfaced after a patient checked into Kham Thalay So Hospital suffering from a bad case of the…
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It’s no yolk! Egg theft ring cracked
NAKHON RATCHASIMA: Accounts of police breaking up rings of drug dealers, armed robbers and teenage motorcycle thieves are a fairly common occurrence in Thailand these days. Officers from Chalermprakiat District Police had a more unusual task at hand on June 20, however, when they managed to crack a ring of egg thieves who had been terrorizing chicken coops across Khorat.…
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Brownnose bloodsucker
NAKHON RATCHASIMA: A man was admitted to Bua Yai Hospital on June 7 with complaints of abdominal pains, which he said were caused by a leech that crawled up inside his anus while he was trying to catch fish for his wife’s dinner. Nong Chingpho, 43, told doctors that he had intermittent stomach pains for about a month, ever since…
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Cat burglar crash
PHUKET: Being a keen breeder of songbirds, 34-year-old Chalong resident Warathep Udomsap would have been used to being woken up by the dawn chorus coming from the bird cages he kept at the back of his house. At dawn on May 28, however, he was awoken by some much less appealing noises: a loud crash followed by anguished wailing. As…
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Thirsty thieves
KANCHANABURI: A man noted for his integrity, Acting Royal Thai Police Commissioner General Seripisut Temiyavej has spent the best part of his life fighting the twin scourges of crime and corruption. In an ironic twist of fate, however, Thailand’s top cop recently found himself the victim of a horrific crime when thieves broke into his riverside holiday home in Kanchanaburi…
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Miniature elephant or mammoth scam?
TAK: Taking a break from bashing his cousins in the Karen National Union, a sergeant major from the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) reportedly crossed the Thai border recently with an unusual piece of merchandise, one he came to hawking at an extraordinary price. Sgt Maj Tinai, from the DKBA 999 Division, claimed to be in possession of none other…
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Man bites dog
“When a dog bites a man, that is not news, because it happens so often. But if a man bites a dog, that is news.” PATHUM THANI: The above quote, often attributed to 19th-century New York Sun editor John B Bogart, is the standard maxim given to young journalists to remind them what is newsworthy and what is not. It…
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Thieving teens
PHUKET CITY: A gang of young thieves was collared by Phuket’s finest recently as they carried away vehicle parts from a city parking lot. While wayward teenagers pilfering spare parts from parking lots hardly constitutes news these days, in this case the choice of venue chosen by the young hoods was noteworthy: the vehicle impound lot of the Phuket City…
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Chancy chat at chick shop
TRANG: An employee at the Trang branch of Tesco Lotus had a lucky escape April 19 when an angry KFC worker attempted to shoot him at point blank range with a shotgun. The cartridge, however, misfired. About 10 am, Sombun Sikhajan, 31, was working in the tape section as usual when Phichet Kanmak, 33, who worked at the store’s branch…
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A professional disagreement
PETCHABUN: In any profession, accepting the rise of a younger generation can be difficult; no one likes to see their skills being surpassed by up-and-coming youngsters. Going by a recent incident in Phetchabun, the world of hired killers is no different, apart, perhaps, from being a bit more dangerous. In the early hours of April 14 Maj Kittiphong Phromsuwan, an…
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All a-bout love
RAYONG: Many Thais are fond of a wager and high stakes betting on muay Thai bouts is certainly nothing unusual. The organizers of a charity Thai boxing night in Rayong, however, claimed to have a world first when two Assistant Village Chiefs went head to head in the ring to fight – not for a large sum of cash, but…
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Hitman hit
NAKHON SRI THAMMARAT: A gunman-for-hire listed on the Police Region 8 most-wanted list was whacked, not by zealous cops or victims’ relatives out for revenge, but by his long-suffering companion as he lay asleep in bed. At 10 am on March 30, Chawang District Police Inspector Lt Col Sompong Prohmreuangchart received a report of a shooting at house number 134…
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Fists of fury
LOP BURI: Not used to being on the receiving end of beatings, officers in Lop Buri’s Baan Pong District Police Station were given a nasty shock when a speed-crazed former World Boxing Association (WBA) flyweight world champion contender stormed into the station in frenzy in the morning of March 5. Police told reporters that Sgt Maj Ithipol Sawatdee was sitting…
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Pot luck with the spirits
UDON THANI: When two clay pots covered by a white sheet were found by the side of the road in Ban Pon Sawan village bear Udon Thani city on February 19, villagers nervously began to hypothesize what could be inside. The sheets, tightly tied around the pots, were covered in cryptic inscriptions, so no one dared to open the pots…
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Of monks and munitions
KALASIN: Police arrested 38-year-old monk Phra Phornphanom Sommai February 26 after villagers reported seeing him shouldering a gun while sitting pillion on a motorbike speeding through Nong Hua Ling village, Kuchinarai district. When police caught up with him, they found that he was drunk, said Maj Somchai Phukongchana, Investigating Inspector at Kuchinarai District Police Station. Police then went to search…
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Invincible amulets?
KALASIN: Hubris often comes before a fall, but the demise of one superstitious man in Kalasin province perhaps came more predictably than most. The body of the man in question was found in a small shack in a forest of this northeastern province. Maj Phabun Titiyan, an Inspector at Kalasin Muang District Police station, said that the victim had been…
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A self-made man
SONGKHLA: No one would claim the life of a laborer in Thailand is easy; having to toil in the midday sun while others make all the money is sure to rankle. This is presumably the reason why casual-laborer-for-hire Thanongsak Rakngam, 31, a native of Songkhla province, decided to turn to a more easeful occupation. Thinking that police work looked like…
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Centipede on steroids
RAWAI: Villagers in Rawai were dumbfounded when a huge centipede, reportedly half a meter in length, was spotted near a public waterhole in Village 2. At 1 pm on February 6, villagers in the area of Baan Thai Mai (New Thais Village, or “Sea Gypsy” village) on Wiset Rd were seen crowding around a 20-meter-tall sugar palm tree. All were…
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Members only
RAWAI, PHUKET: Outraged residents of Village 2 are demanding the immediate removal of numerous Sivaleung (Shiva’s member, or lingam) statues that decorate a newly-built spa, claiming that the phalluses will embarrass tourists and other passers-by. On January 20 Aroon Solos, President of the Rawai Tambon Administration Organization, paid a visit to the Suppaya Spa (Suppaya means “Assets of the Supreme…
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A really dumbo idea
PHITSANULOKE: A drunk was left with critical head injuries after being slammed into a tree by an elephant he was teasing. The unfortunate event transpired on the morning of January 17. A crowd of curious villagers had gathered near the entrance to Wat Muang Hawm (“Temple of the Fragrant Mango”) in Tambon Kaengsopha, Wangthong District, to see an elephant that…
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Bad news for the Tiger of Thalang
THALANG: Being the leader of a youth motorbike gang in Phuket is always dangerous. Occupational hazards include bullets and blades from members of rival gangs, police who will eventually make a charge stick, and carelessly-driven pickups that can quickly put an end to motorcycling mayhem. Despite the obvious risks, gang leader Kroekkriat Jantananon, from Baan Liphon in Thalang, would no…
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Chick or cheat?
PATONG: A front-page headline in the December 30 edition of a daily Thai-language newspaper shocked readers with the horrific news that a mother had murdered her newborn child and left its lifeless corpse to rot in a field behind a row of low-rent apartments. The headline for the initial report, roughly translated, read: “Wicked brutality: Mother kills child, stuffs in…
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