Thailand News Today | Thai Influencer harassed by pervert stalker
***A Thai influencer hopes that two years of being sexually harassed by an obsessive stalker is now over after seeking help from a lawyer.
The female influencer, Mintra Chuawangkham, aka Minton, met a Thai lawyer Ratchapol Sirisakorn, yesterday to discuss two years of hell after being hounded by a security guard with an alleged rape and drugs charge on his record.
Minton revealed at first she thought the security guard, named Nanthawat, was just a fan who liked her. But over time he became more obsessive and threatening.
The influencer made it known, that he not only threatened her but also her family. Nanthawat told her on July 15 that he would go to her sister’s school, which made her family worried.
The security guard also set up a series of fake social media accounts, after she blocked him on every platform, making fans confused and trying to ruin her good name and reputation.
He even created a fake Facebook account with her name and pictures and posted messages claiming he was her boyfriend. He also posted a nude picture of a woman who looked like Minton claiming it was her.
The influencer said the guard knew her personal details, home addresses of her and her parents, her sister’s school, ID card numbers, bank account, and working schedule.
Nanthawat stalked her at a public event and tried to get close to her, but then disappeared, sending threatening messages saying he would reveal personal information if she refused to be his girlfriend.
In a Facebook post, Minto reported the guard had been charged with drug and rape offences and was curious why his company didn’t check his background before employing him.
Nanthawat worked as a guard at a condominium in the Sukhumvit area in Bangkok. His security team leader admitted that the team hired him because they were desperate for staff. But he added that Nanthawant was fired on July 11 for his strange behaviour.
The lawyer informed the media that he and his client have gathered enough evidence and will file a complaint to the police.
***A Chinese man who wanted for trafficking Chinese people across borders to work in call centre gangs in Laos and Cambodia was arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok on Saturday.
Chief of Police Suwat Chaengyordsook received a call on Friday, July 22, warning him that a Chinese fugitive wanted on an Interpol ‘Red Notice’ would be travelling to Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok the next day. Zhou Dawei was wanted in China under suspicion of “trafficking people in and out of the country.”
Dawei was arrested by Thai police upon his arrival in Bangkok on Saturday and was interrogated at Suvarnabhumi Airport Detention Centre. Dawei confessed to bringing Chinese people into Laos and Cambodia to work in call centre gangs.
Chinese authorities informed Thai police that Dawei’s passport had already been revoked and requested that he be deported back to China to be prosecuted. Thai police put Dawei on China Southern Airlines flight CZ 3082 to Guangzhou at 5 pm yesterday, July 25. The Chinese authorities paid for his deportation.
Police chief Suwat said that Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is working hard to combat call centre scams and other cybercrimes in Thailand and Southeast Asia. Thailand is working closely with authorities in all ASEAN countries that are facing similar problems.
***Gang violence in the Greater Bangkok province of Pathum Thani has escalated with 17 teenagers being arrested by police after throwing small bombs at each other.
Thai news media reported that in the province to the north of Bangkok, on Soi Thammasuthee 23, in Muang district, explosions were heard 3 separate times related to gang wars.
The first two explosions in the area resulted in little to no response from the police.
The first time, at the end of last year on December 29, a few motorbike riding gang members were given a warning and had their details collected, but the second time was not even reported to the police and no action was taken.
Most recently, an explosion rocked the neighbourhood on July 19 in the wee hours. This time, the violence and explosives were caught on CCTV footage that was able to display what occurred.
At 1:25 am, about 50 people gathered up in the streets, writing 25 motorbikes. The confrontation appears to be between two rival gangs name the Goldfish Flats and the Sam Khok Mob. The gang members all appear to be teenagers, mostly between the ages of 15 and 19, according to police.
Armed with clear CCTV footage, police this time were able to track the people who attended the brawl and made a series of arrests in the case of this third explosion. Police took into custody 17 gang members in total, and charge them with 7 different crimes including being in possession of and carrying explosive devices. All 17 arrested have confessed to the charges.
During the arrest, police confiscated several motorcycles that bore the names of the two rival gangs, as well as evidence linked to the crime and the CCTV footage including clothes and helmets that were worn during the gang fight. They also seized a number of weapons including swords from the 17 suspects in the explosion.
***Heading down south to Phuket, an armed robber takes off with 160,000 baht from Phuket Tesco
Now, bank robberies are generally violent affairs, with lots of drama. But this wasn’t the case —when a stick-up occurred yesterday afternoon at a Tesco Lotus department store in Phuket.
The cheeky armed robber wandered into the store in the Rawai area of Muang district shortly before 1 pm and casually made off with 160,000 baht in cash as if he had just been shopping.
The robbery took everybody by surprise. So much so that the security guard, Tarakorn, thought the man, named Wiwat, who was wearing a black cap, grey v-neck t-shirt, and three-quarter shorts, had come to exchange some money.
The 43 year old robber made his escape on a red Honda Wave scooter, with his number plates covered by a plastic bag, down Wiset Road, and turned into Soi Suksan 1.
Police finally closed in on the thief, after tracking CCTV footage, and arrested the accused at Karon Subdistrict not far from the robbery.
Wiwat confessed to stealing the money, adding he needed the money to pay off his debts. He also admitted the gun belonged to his family.
***Airports of Thailand says the aviation industry is making steady progress in recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic and is forecasting a full recovery by the end of 2024.
The AoT believes that in a year and a half, airplane and passenger traffic will finally recover to the levels they were at in 2019.
The current prediction is that flight traffic will reach about one-third of the pre-pandemic levels by the end of this fiscal year, a total of about 45 million passengers, both international and domestic.
They expect a dramatic increase in travellers next year when they are forecasting a recovery of 77% of pre-pandemic travel, about 96 million passengers. Then the full recovery numbers in 2024 are expected to hit 142 million passengers in the skies above Thailand.
The International Civil Aviation Organisation and the International Air Transport Association agree with the AoT’s assessment, forecasting a full recovery for the aviation industry only in 2024.
The same cannot be said, however, of all the cargo warehouses, ground services, and even some airlines. With borders snapping closed at the onset of the pandemic and remaining that way for years, the travel industry and the aviation industry were among the hardest hit by Covid.
Cost-cutting efforts have reduced the number of flights and routes by up to half, making it difficult to immediately bounce back now that there’s more customer demand. Many aviation businesses are struggling to rescale back up and, even with the growing tourism, 2022 is expected to operate at a loss for the industry as a whole.
The AoT says they’re hoping that 2023 will finally see a return to profitability for the airline industry and the related businesses, but it still depends on many sectors’ performances, and whether key demographics like Chinese tourists return to travelling in Thailand in the numbers forecast.
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