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.
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The perils of not wishing to be idle
RASSADA: Nhu Pakjaroong, 59, whose surname means “stop and relax”, was the sort of woman who refused to stay idle, said acquaintances. Rather than sit at home and look after her grandchildren, the resident of Soi Namchai in Tambon Rassada Moo 1 invited two friends to go out and scavenge the neighborhood for saleable junk. That, as it turned out,…
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Rough justice for knicker nicker
SAMUT PRAKAN: Stealing women’s underwear might be considered nothing but a prank in some countries, but it is a serious crime in Samut Prakan’s Muang District, where residents of Tambon Bangpoomai took the law into their own hands and nearly beat to death a man after he was caught pilfering panties. Yoybangpoo District Police reported the man’s arrest, which occurred…
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Croc makes good pillow and a snappy companion
PHICHIT: Some people like to argue about which breed of dog makes the best four-legged home security system, but a coffee vendor in this province has found that his 70-kilogram pet crocodile is just as effective at keeping burglars at bay as any Rottweiler, Pit Bull or Doberman. Prayoon “Khiat” Thong jorn, 43, bought the crocodile for 3,000 baht as…
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The Poodle Poo incident on Soi Green Soda
KARON: The owner of two Karon beer bars has filed a complaint with the Chalong Police against a neighbor who, she says, threw dog excreta at her. Yindee Sutipakdi, 39, filed the complaint against 22-year-old Piyathida Muangbang, after the latter drove up to her home on a motorcycle and hurled a bag containing poodle poo at her. The two women…
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Monkey man says he’s there to stay
KAMALA: A man living alone in a tree high up in the Kamala Hills has drawn so much interest that the local tambon president has had to order improvements to the path leading to his jungle hideaway, lest his many curious visitors continue injuring themselves in their efforts to reach him. News of the modern-day Tarzan hit the headlines on…
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Monkey on your back
CHIANG RAI: Having a monkey on one’s back might sound like the very definition of hardship, but for a dog in Mae Sai it is a labor of love. Guests at the Kung Pao 38 Restaurant in Mae Sai are greeted by a rather unusual welcoming committee when they arrive: a four-year-old Labrador retriever and “Jockey”, an orphaned baby monkey…
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The young lad and the sea
PATONG: A 15-year-old German boy tried to drown himself at Patong Beach after his parents forbade him to see again a ladyboy he had met on Soi Bangla. On the evening of September 12, the boy – whose name was not released because he is a minor – was ordered to stay in his room by his parents, who feared…
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Rapist gets just desserts
PRACHIN BURI: A 24-year-old textile factory worker in Prajantakham District bit the tongue off a 16-year-old boy who tried to rape her. The victim, given the pseudonym “Bee” in a Thai press report, was riding her motorbike home from work at about 10 pm on August 24 when the boy, also on a motorbike, pulled up beside her and asked…
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Runaway groom
TAK: Many are the tales of the foreign man who comes to Thailand, falls in love with a Thai woman and ends up destitute and deserted. But according to an August 4 report, an elderly American man has turned the tables by sweet-talking his way into the lives of at least two Thai women with talk of riches and marriage…
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The morning after
NAKHON PATHOM: The 47-year-old host of a wedding ceremony in Nakhon Chaisri District currently stands accused of twice raping a 98-year-old neighbor while drunk. A report of the alleged rape was made on July 18 by Nakhon Chaisri District Police Deputy Superintendent Surapoj Phisuttiwong, who identified the alleged rapist as Udon Som-in, a native of Ubon Ratchathani Province. Udon was…
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Bosom buddies
NAN: As humans continue to invade, bomb and terrorize one another, perhaps we could all learn a lesson from a diverse group of animals that get along wonderfully together at Wat Nadai. There, a macaque, a dog, a cat and a chicken all co-exist peacefully in a temple sala. The star of the show is six-year-old Jao Jor, a female…
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New Abbot fails flock
PHANG NGA: The new Abbot of Wat Yan Yao is on temporary leave after some 150 villagers staged an angry protest calling for him to step down. The reason? He banned gambling and drinking at the temple, famous for its former tsunami victim identification center. The monk, Wichjit Phuttawichito, agreed to temporarily step down to appease the villagers, who were…
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Fine behavior
BANGKOK: The daughter of a retired police general ran amok at Dusit Police Station after suffering the indignity of seeing her boyfriend fined for driving without a license. The incident occurred at about 11 pm on June 26. Kwanreuthai Taensawat, 31, and her 25-year-old brother Supakorn were in a pickup truck being driven by her boyfriend, Thongchai Khombaramee, when it…
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Rabbiting abbot
SARABURI: Ever wonder why clergy refer to non-clerics as “laypersons”? Perhaps it’s because those who are not in the priesthood seem to find it easier to get laid. But 59-year-old Phra Prapat Thammarat, Abbot of Wat Rongsaeng in Nongkhae District, apparently didn’t view his position as temple head as any reason not to bring his girlfriend back to his temple…
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Monk war
NONG KHAI: A dispute over alms collection routes turned violent when three novices from Chansamakee Temple were set upon by an armed gang of monks and novices from a rival temple. Police were notified of the “Monk War” on the morning of May 29. Arriving on the scene at the Kokmang-ngao community in Tambon Meechai, they found 17-year-old novice Vitthaya…
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Return to sender!
TAK: A mother in Sam Ngao District paid the ultimate price for letting her curiosity get the better of her – when she opened a parcel addressed to her daughter that turned out to be a letter bomb. The victim, 56-year-old pig farmer Phayao Ruamsuk, had collected the parcel, which was addressed to her daughter Kannitha. Kannitha, 22, had married…
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Navel neglect
NAKHON NAYOK: The recent spate of incidents involving insects laying their eggs in human orifices took a new and disturbing turn on May 8, when the mother of a newborn found 10 maggots living inside the bellybutton of her two-day-old son. Mother-to-be Chananthida Kusonsarng, 25, was admitted to Nakhon Nayok Hospital on May 3 when her waters broke earlier than…
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Relatively dangerous
PHUKET CITY: A family sitting around a table in their home at 33 Surin Rd dived for cover when somebody lobbed a fragmentation grenade into their living room at 2 am on April 30. Homeowner Krongkwan Niemsa-ard told police that she believed she was the intended victim, because the grenade hit her on the arm and then rolled under her…
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Bad moon writhing
SURAT THANI: Tourists arriving on the island of Pha-ngan in Surat Thani Province are to be issued with stickers reminding them that “free sex” is illegal, following government concern over visitors having sexual intercourse in public places. The decision follows pleas by Khon Kaen Senator Rabiabrat Pongpanit to stop tourists on the island from humping in public during the island’s…
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Going Coconuts
RAWAI: A young welder from Nakorn Sri Thammarat died of a broken neck on April 27 after he fell from a coconut tree in Rawai. Sompoj Petcharat, 23, was part of a team working at a bungalow colony off Yanui Rd. Being thirsty, he decided to scale one of the many coconut trees in the area to quench his thirst.…
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In very poor taste
KATHU: Police arrested a 66-year-old English language teacher from Canada on charges of sexually molesting a minor, after the man allegedly enticed his five-year-old student to perform oral sex on him by covering his penis with honey. At 9:40 pm on April 18, a team of Kathu District Police officers led by Pol Capt Serm Kwanimit entered the home of…
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Boared to death
PHAYAO: An elderly hunter in Chun District was gored to death by a wild boar after shooting its mate and stealing their four babies, his neighbors said. In late March, Wun Sisan, 68, shot a female boar and collected its piglets to sell to villagers to raise at a cost of 1,500 baht each. About 10 days later, in the…
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Abbot defrocked for bad habit
NAKHON PATHOM: An abbot and well-known fortune teller was defrocked after offering to perform a lewd “good-luck” ritual on a young woman in a short-time hotel. The woman, 20, told police she had gone with her boyfriend to pay respect to the monks at Wat Maeng Mum Hill Temple (Temple on Spider Hill). While there, the woman’s boyfriend had his…
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Not-so-lucky charm
PHAYAO: A Phayao man is behind bars after allegedly stealing the preserved corpse of a stillborn baby boy from Phayao Hospital to use as a lucky charm. Jakree Tiemkaew, a 35-year-old builder from Tambon Ban Dam in Muang District, was taken into custody on February 22 after he took the tiny corpse to a local glass cabinetmaker and asked to…
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Target practice
PATTAYA: Though few people may know this, it’s actually against Thai law for three people to ride on the same motorbike. Three young men on a drinking spree in Pattaya learned the hard way that even if the police tend not to enforce the law rigorously, there are other perfectly good reasons not to pile so many on a single…
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Costly cat nap
BANGKOK: Just like the felines they are named after, cat burglars are known for their stealth, cunning, and grace of movement. But a cat burglar who successfully scaled his way into a Siam Commercial Bank office early one Sunday morning shared another another trait with cats that turned out to be his undoing – cat napping. Police arrested would-be bank…
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For your nose only
BANGKOK: Doctors performing the wrong operations on their patients are the stuff of medical malpractice lore, so perhaps it was inevitable in plastic-surgery-obsessed Thailand: a woman who went in for cosmetic eye surgery emerged from the operating theater with a nose job instead. Nattha Masa, 40, paid the Ruamphaet Clinic in her home province of Samut Prakan 8,000 baht to…
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Bargirl swallows rock
RAWAI: A Patong bargirl swallowed a Frenchman’s diamond ring after he refused to pay her and a friend for services rendered after an all-night menage-a-trois in Rawai. Chalong Police received a complaint from a 62-year-old Frenchman identified as Mr Patrick, who fingered Tawan, a 28-year-old bar girl, as the jewelry-gulping culprit. Mr Patrick told the police that on the evening…
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Another fine mess
BANGKOK: Unscrupulous police officers extorting money from the public hardly constitutes news in Thailand – but it is noteworthy when the police themselves become victims of malfeasance. Between March and October this year, Pol Sgt Tarntip Preak-kratok managed to skim off nearly 3 million baht in fines collected by the Nongkam Police Station, where she was employed as a desk…
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Thinner can be a blast
SAMUT SAKHON: As any drug-taker driven to extremes by the government’s War on Drugs Part III can tell you, taking a few deep breaths of paint thinner can give you a buzz. The downside of breathing in thinners is that it may also knock your judgment a teeny bit off kilter, to the point where you forget that it can…
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