Thailand News
Discover the most recent and relevant news from across Thailand on The Thaiger’s National News page. Covering a wide range of topics, including politics, business, crime, and lifestyle, our dedicated team brings you breaking news, in-depth analysis, and exclusive stories from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond.
Stay informed about the latest developments in Thai society, economy, and culture, as well as updates on travel, tourism, and expat life. With The Thaiger, you’ll never miss out on the essential news that matters to you.
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Bugging out
Public Health officials in Saraphi District, Chiang Mai Province, issued a public warning for villagers to stop eating malaeng laay (“striped bugs”, scientific classification not provided), after a middle-aged man died after downing three of the insects during a whiskey drinking session. News of the death was reported by Taan Jongkham, headman of Tambon Chompoo Mu 9, on August 25.…
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Home security of the second kind
PATTAYA: A group of five ladyboys took home security into their own hands in the early hours of August 25, beating senseless a drunken teenage punk who broke into their apartment and stole 2,000 baht from their communal piggy bank. The story, reported by Banglamung Police Inspector Pol Lt Col Sutham Chaosrithong, made national news the next morning. The five…
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Mini biker gang
Three boys are now safely back at home after a four-day bicycle adventure across Roi-Et Province. The mini-biker gang set off from the home of gang leader Tawee Senputtawong, 13, in the Kasetwisai District of the province with the aim of visiting his sister who is incarcerated on theft charges in a Juvenile Observation and Protection Center in Roi-Et Town.…
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Boyfriend banzaied
The Japanese have spent the past 60 years promoting a message of peace in the world. Unfortunately for one young Thai man, traces of the Samurai warrior ethic can still be found among the legions of salarymen toiling away in offices in Bangkok. In the early hours of August 17, Pol Lt Kiatsak Kasikun, the duty officer at Khlong Tan…
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Snatch gang in sticky situation
CHALONG: Over the years there have been several demonstrations in Patong by bar owners opposed to early closing times. Among the arguments most commonly proffered by the bar owners as to why they should be allowed to remain open later is that Patong is a lure to free-spending foreign tourists who want to revel late into the night. It is…
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Major embarrassment
A Senior Sergeant Major from the Border Patrol Police received a lesson in how victims of crime feel after an encounter with three attractive young women in Thung Song, Nakhon Sri Thammarat province. Officers from Thung Song Police Station were called to the JS Hotel. There, waiting for them wearing full dress uniform and a sorrowful expression, was Sgt Maj…
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Progress for pilgrims
CHIANG MAI: Chiang Mai’s famous Phrasingha Temple has unveiled its new 1.6- million-baht public bathroom, which the temple clergy hope will claim this year’s coveted “Toilet of the Year” award. Monks at the temple, which receives hundreds of Thai and foreign tourists a day and as many as 3,000 on Buddhist holidays, saw the need for improvements to its restroom…
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Unleaded, please
A determined thief learned the hard way that toy guns are not very effective in carrying out armed robberies, especially when the intended victim is packing real heat. At 12:15 am on July 11, Pol Lt Col Prayong Khotsakha, an Inspector with Udon Thani’s Muang District Police, received a report of an attempted robbery at a small gas station in…
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Tipple, piddle, topple
At first police thought it might be a case of suicide when local real estate magnate Siri, 52, was found dead in the early hours of the morning on the ground below the balcony of his home. After searching the man’s apartment and finding no signs of a struggle or break-in, police were coming to the conclusion that poor Siri,…
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A shagging dog story from Phattalung
PHATTALUNG: Wat Na Tom temple, hitherto a landmark of the faithful in Phattalung’s Muang District, last week spawned one of those scandals which, after hitting newsstands, has elicited sighs and perhaps uncharitable tittering. In this case, possibility of the latter is high: some 70 full-color photos support allegations by unidentified local people that the abbot of Wat Na Tom not…
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Leeches on patrol
A dose of tough natural justice was handed out recently by the denizens of a local swamp to a young ne’er-do-well from Ranong who was caught riding a stolen motorcycle. The 16-year-old youth was taking his girlfriend for a ride around Chalong Circle when officers directing traffic decided there was something a little suspicious in his bearing and signalled him…
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Bag snatcher bagged
CHALONG: A 16-year-old punk recently found out the hard way that crime does not always pay. At about 11 pm on June 7, Chalong Community Volunteer Police collared a boy name Ouan (not his real name), after an unsuccessful attempt to rob an 18-year-old girl late at night. The victim, Phuket Vocational College student Primrita Saisen, was returning home by…
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Plastic scam
Preparation is everything, even in the criminal world. And that’s where a gang from Hong Kong came a cropper recently, when one of their number tried to buy mobile phone top-up cards worth a million baht using a suspiciously clean credit card. Although the card had a working magnetic strip, it lacked such basic information as a signature, account holder’s…
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Er, what’s my name today?
In some places a person who frequently changes his or her name might fall under suspicion of illegal activity. But in Ubon Ratchathani Province’s Phibun Mungsaharn District it is the pillars of society – school teachers and other career bureaucrats – who change their names most often. Teachers in the district have been heading for the local registrar’s office in…
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Errant abbot
An abbot in Lampang was nabbed by a group of villagers while he was sneaking back into the wat at 4:30 am after a tryst with his paramour, a local widow. The 50-strong mob confronted the 43-year-old abbot, who was described as being “a bit on the chubby side”, and his 49-year-old paramour as she was dropping him back at…
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Sneaky thief
BANGKOK: After waking up to find that their house had been broken into, a high-society couple in Bangkok were left more than a little confused when they discovered that the thief had ignored a selection of diamond and gold jewelry – instead making off with more than 20 pairs of shoes. The crime scene, an elegant European-style house that had…
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Funeral firefight
An all-night funeral vigil ended in a hail of gunfire when a fight broke out because one of the guests was unable to speak Southern Thai – after being ordered to by a local drunk. The unfortunate incident took place at the funeral of Aree Khaemungkhalo, whose pals were up drinking through the night of April 2-3 in order to…
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Double your pleasure
Wichai Hengjarernsook is in the junk business, and so not a man to overlook a bargain when he sees it. The 24-year-old native of Samut Sakhon’s Baan Paew District, where women are far-famed for beauty, couldn’t decide which of two identical twin sisters in his village he wanted to wed. So, being an astute businessman, he popped the question to…
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His wife’s a real bitch
Disappointment famously prompts extreme measures in victims. Disappointed of proper stage effects for his fiddling, Nero burned Rome; of artistic ambitions, Van Gogh cut off his ear; and of the American colonies, George III went mad. In Lampang Province, a 39-year-old man disappointed with women fell in love with a real bitch, – a two-year-old poodle named Olé – and…
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Death of drinker
CHALONG: Probably the last thing Surasak Tayan expected as he sat drinking cola late one night outside a PTT filling station’s 7-Eleven convenience store was that his modest attempt at humorous self-deprecation would be the death of him. But it was. K. Surasak was frustrated because, at 3:30 am, he couldn’t buy a decent drink. Unfortunately, in expressing his disgust…
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The hazards of rescue work
THALANG: Three Kusoldham Rescue Foundation workers had to call in rescuers themselves at about 3 am on March 10, after being assaulted by a group of more than 20 girls and ladyboys at the PTT filling station in Baan Lipon, Tambon Srisoonthorn. Chaiya Pariensati said he and two other rescue workers were on duty when they noticed a young woman…
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Money no object for party guy
THALANG: Police arrested a young drunk who ordered a feast of food and drinks at a sing-song joint in Tambon Srisoonthorn and then couldn’t pay the bill. Upon questioning, the man admitted to police that he had done this before. Forty-five times. News of the penniless party guy reached Thalang Police at about 1:30 am on February 27, when a…
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Crack of doom
PATHUM THANI: Readers living in Thailand may occasionally experience the frustration of having to deal with a sudden infestation of red ants, roaches, or termites. What can be more annoying than discovering that savory breast of barbecued chicken you left on the table moments ago is swarming with feisty red ants? Discovering your house swarming with glistening, newly hatched cobras,…
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Growing pains in the B30 medical scheme
PRACHIN BURI: Admirers of the government’s 30-baht medical scheme may wish to consider, after reading the following, whether reform is necessary. Prachinburi resident Chaluay Pantam, 37, has watched with increasing alarm over the last two years as a ping pong ball-sized lump on his right shoulder grew into a Quasimodo-like hump “weighing more than 20 kilograms.” In the meantime, the…
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Not a lot of joy, really
PHUKET: The time-honored teenage tradition of joyriding is alive and well in Phuket – and two young men are dead as a result of it. In the first incident, at about 1 am on January 20, a young man who had just started working at a car care shop in Koh Kaew decided to take his boss’s black Toyota Altis…
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Bungled burglary boys
CHON BURI: After arresting three teenagers for passing a counterfeit 1,000-baht note, Pattaya Police were stunned to learn that two of them had just stolen it from a nearby bank. After a tipoff by a vendor at the To Rung Mae Wilai Market, police arrested two homeless boys, 15-year-old “A” and 14-year-old “B” [real names withheld because they are minors],…
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Triple play
KOH CHANG: The guests, it has to be said, were taken aback by the wedding invitation card, which announced the nuptials of bridegroom Yeuifa Meelaap and two brides: Vassana Uysap and Jenny Saibua. A wedding for a threesome was unusual, and all the more so when one realizes that the groom was also a woman. Talking to reporters, the trio…
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Bottled up
PRACHUAB KHIRI KHAN: From this peninsular province comes a cautionary tale about the perils of leaving bottles standing on the floor. Nuy (not his real name) had just finished his ablutions when he slipped on the wet floor of his bathroom and plonked down firmly on his backside. This is the kind of embarrassment many of us suffer from time…
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Deep throat dentistry
BANGKOK: A 19-year-old student spent three agonizing days with a toothbrush lodged in her stomach – after she accidentally swallowed it and nobody would believe her. The student, whose name and address were not reported, felt an itch in her throat on the evening of December 5. Rather than visit the hospital, she decided to use her standard-sized Colgate-brand toothbrush…
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Taking leave
SONGKHLA: A 23-year-old Marine private on leave from a posting in Narathiwat apparently misunderstood the meaning of “R&R”, by shooting himself in the head during a drunken game of Russian Roulette. On the evening of November 22, Pte Juthipon Singmanee, posted to the Chulabhorn Army Camp in strife-torn Narathiwat Province, was home during his leave of duty, socializing with four…
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