Northern Thailand News
Stay updated with the latest Northern Thailand news at The Thaiger, your ultimate source for regional information. Keep informed on local events, business developments, and lifestyle stories in popular locations like Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, and Pai.
Our in-depth coverage includes famous monuments such as the White Temple and Doi Suthep. Whether you’re a resident or a visitor, The Thaiger’s Northern Thailand news page is your essential guide to exploring this culturally rich region. Delve into the vibrant community and diverse culture with our expertly curated content, designed to keep you connected and well-informed.
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Sponsored This Christmas, give the gift of health: essential options for expats in Thailand
The holiday season is here, bringing warmth, joy, and a chance to reflect on the year gone by. As an expat in Thailand, this Christmas is a great time to invest in something that truly matters: health. Whether for you...
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Miracle at Tham Luang – The Thailand cave drama unfolds, a year on
On June 23, a year ago, only a few northern Thai locals and serious cave enthusiasts knew much about the Tham Luang Caves in Mae Sai district, about an hour’s drive from Chiang Rai. But on that sunny afternoon, following their regular football practice, a group of 12 players and their coach, decided to have a quick excursion to the…
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26 year old Thai gored to death by wild elephants in Buri Ram
FILE PHOTO: Expert Vagabond A Buri Ram man has been gored to death by a wild elephant in his tapioca plantation. The incident happened late yesterday (Wednesday). His wife told police she “played dead” to escape harm from the marauding elephants. None Din Daeng police were informed that 26 year old Surasak Phijaranakhonburi had been fatally gored on his left side…
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Syrian nabbed in north eastern Thailand on four year overstay
PHOTO: NawawNa.com A Syrian national has told immigration officials that arrested him in Mukdahan that he didn’t know how to get an extension to his visa. 45 year old Ghassan Bajbouj was arrested after he presented his passport to Pol Capt Wilailuk Thawacharee at the Friendship Bridge 2 checkpoint in Bang Sai Yai in the north eastern Thai city. His…
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4,500 endangered baby turtles seized from passenger van in Thailand’s northwest
Customs officials and soldiers have seized more than 4,500 endangered baby turtles along with tropical fish from a passenger van in Tak, northwest Thailand. The van was stopped on the Mae Sot-Tak highway in Mae Sot district. northwestern province Thai PBS reports that the seized turtles include 586 Indian star tortoises, 75 common snapping turtles and about 3,800 Japanese turtles.…
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‘Magic cards’ contain dangerous radioactive materials
The Thai Office of Atoms for Peace is warning of excessively high levels of radiation from the so-called “energy cards” or ‘magic cards’ that distributors claim can cure illnesses and help relieve aches and pains. The Office of Atoms for Peace of Thailand in Chatuchak district, Bangkok, Thailand, was established in 1961 as the Office of Atomic Energy for Peace.…
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Chiang Rai woman shot in market car park by spurned ex-lover
PHOTO MONTAGE: Chiang Rai Times A 27 year old Thai woman, Sawitree Phromwong, was allegedly murdered last week by a scorned ex lover after he confronted the woman and her new boyfriend at the Pa Sak market in Chaing Rai. She was sitting in the back of a car when shot. The man then jumped back into his car, along with…
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Toon thanks the north-east for amazing support
PHOTOS: facebook.com/pg/kaokonlakao Bodyslam lead singer, and mega charity runner Artiwara “Toon” Kongmalai, has expressed gratitude for the support and donations his Foundation received from Isaan residents at the end of the two day running event to assist small public hospitals in the north-east. Toon, other Thai celebrities, local north-eastern identities and leading officials, ran a staged 187 kilometre route from Nong…
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Police seize illegal mosquito repellents and fake nutritional supplements
The Consumer Protection Police Division and the Food and Drugs Administration has raided illegal factories producing dangerous mosquito repellent and fake nutritional supplements. Investigations are underway to find the people responsible. Officials confiscated illegal Kwang Thong (golden dear) brand mosquito repellent coils factory in Nakhon Ratchasima, north-east Thailand, where 1,300 boxes of coils containing more than 10,000 packages were confiscated. The…
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North-East Thailand immigration purge nets 2,200
PHOTO: Buriram Times North-eastern Immigration police in Khon Kaen have netted around 2,200 foreigners over a variety of immigration offences since the start of June. 622 entered the country illegally 31 for overstaying their visas 73 for working without permission 16 were wanted on arrest warrants 1,245 committed other offences 287 had been refused entry They also joined forces with…
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Some secondary students use Wai Khru to make ‘controversial’ floral tributes
High school students have used an annual Wai Khru ceremony to make political statements via they floral tributes. The students were from the Chumphol Phon Phisai School in Nong Khai, north-east Thailand, and Phitsanulok. The floral protests came to the attention of the current Thai deputy PM and defence minister Prawit Wongsuwan who was said to have ‘taken offence’. He…
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Toon’s running again, pounding the pavement for Thailand’s hospitals
PHOTO: Kao Kon La Kao Foundation Artiwara “Toon” Kongmalai has started his latest series of charity runs, kicking off in north-eastern Nong Khai province to raise funds for small hospitals to help them buy much-needed equipment. Artiwara and his entourage started at 5am under the title of “Kao Kon La Kao – Kao Tor Pai Duay Palang Lek Lek –…
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2.2 million meth pills seized in Chiang Rai cross-border interception
In the game of ‘catch me if you can’ between drug smugglers and Thai police, this was another successful interception of a large drug cache making its way into Thailand. Authorities intercepted 2.2 million methamphetamine pills and 11 kilograms of crystal meth (ice) in the hills north of Chiang Rai. The Nation reports that Narcotics Suppression Bureau report that the…
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Roi Et tractor driver injured after sedan embeds itself in the driver’s cabin
PHOTOS: Asok Jaturapak Piman Rescue Foundation A tractor driver has sustained injuries after colliding with a sedan in Roi Et in north-eastern Thailand. Rescue workers headed to the accident scene on Jatura – Patumrat Road in Jatura, Roi Et yesterday. Rescue workers arrived to find a sedan embedded in a tractor off the main road. The tractor driver, 45 year…
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Drug smugglers get away but police seize their pickup stuffed with meth pills and ‘ice’
PHOTOS: The Nation Drug smugglers have abandoned their pickup and a huge cache of drugs following a high-speed chase through the hills of Chiang Rai early yesterday morning. Once soldiers caught up with the pickup the driver and passengers had fled but left 2.2 million methamphetamine pills and 11 kilos of crystal methamphetamine (ice). According to The Nation, the Chiang Rai-based…
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Sixteen AK-47 rifles found in north-east Thailand water well
by Wijit Choonhakitkajorn – The Nation Sixteen AK-47 rifles in four fertiliser sacks were found behind a palm plantation in a well in Surin’s Buachet district, in Thailand’s north-east, right on the Cambodian border. Police in Cha-ngok village in Tambon Sadao were alerted by the village headman who says that one of his villagers had found the arms cache in…
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Bangkok Airways Samui Half Marathon, second in the Thailand series
The “Bangkok Airways Samui Half Marathon”was organised to promote Koh Samui tourism and to ensure that participants recognise the importance of a healthy lifestyle. Last Sunday’s event was divided into 3 categories – a fun run of 5 kilometres, mini marathon of 10 kilometres and half marathon of 21 kilometres. All runners had an opportunity to enjoy the scenery of the…
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Weather warnings issued for Thailand’s north, central, east and upper south
Residents from the upper south to the north of the country are being warned to brace themselves for heavy monsoonal rains over the next couple of days. The Thai Meteorological Department announced in an alert this morning that there is a monsoon trough across the North and the upper Northeast for Thursday and Friday. “The confluence of the southeasterly wind…
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Buri Ram villagers urged not to harm wild elephants
FILE PHOTO Buri Ram provincial officials are asking villagers living near a Thai national reserve forest not to harm wild animals, including elephants, that may wander out of the forest. Officials say they’ve spotted a large herd of 32 wild elephants in the Krapod mountain, part of the restricted area. Sa Saengsawang, the director of the province’s national resources and…
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Two arrested in Nakhon Sawan attempting to smuggle over 4 million meth pills
PHOTO: The Nation Two Kanchanaburi men have been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle 4,459,000 methamphetamine pills from the North to central regions. The Narcotics Suppression Bureau chief held a press conference to announce the arrest of 32 year old Weerachon Inpiam and 23 year old Thanapol Jaihor. Chinnaphat said police have seized 4,459,000 methamphetamine pills and frozen the two…
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Dinosaur footprints found in north-eastern national park
PHOTO: Thai PBS Footprints from a dinosaur that inhabited north-eastern Thailand 140 million years ago, have been discovered in the north-east. About a dozen of the footprints are thought to be from a Theropod dinosaur which existed on Earth during the Cretaceous period which stretched from 146 to 65 million years ago. Thai PBS reports that they were found embedded…
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5,000 Buriram citizens register for medical marijuana possession
by Tanakorn Sangiam The 90 day registration period for persons in possession of marijuana, without facing prosecution, end this Tuesday, May 21. 5,000+ persons in Buriram, north-east Thailand, have already registered their possession during this period. A community seminar on marijuana planting and management also took place yesterday to prepare Buriram province as a key manufacturer of medical marijuana. About…
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Two construction workers win big in the National Lottery
PHOTO: Daily News Two Thai construction workers have won big in this week’s national lottery. Two wins but two very different methods used to select the winning number, 926526. Wathida Trinet had been visiting Khon Kaen but works in Wang Noi to the north of Bangkok, according to Daily News. There she noticed a gecko clambering over the house number “526” and…
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15 year old girl arrested for trying to bury her baby alive
A 15 year old girl is now in protective custody in Nakhon Ratchasima, north-east of Bangkok, just one day after her newly-born baby boy survived being buried alive in a local field. A villager found the baby in a cassava plantation about one kilometre from Ban Nong Kham village in Tambon Thalad on Wednesday. The infant was taken to the…
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Weather warnings out for parts of the country
The annual monsoon is here. Bangkok, along with 55 other provinces in Thailand, have thunderstorms forecast over the next 24 hours. The Thai Meteorological Department have issued the warnings this morning. Storms are predicted in the central and northern regions and waves in the Andaman Sea forecast up to two metres, according to the TMD. Seree Supratid of Rangsit University’s…
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Thai troops kill four drug couriers and seize large haul of ketamine
Thai troops have shot and killed four alleged drug couriers and seized more than 300 kilograms of ketamine. The incident happened last night in a corn plantation near a bordering river in the Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai. Acting on a tip-off that the drugs were to be smuggled from Myanmar for delivery to a Thai customer in Ban…
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Thai government desperately needs a ‘clean air act’
by Pratch Rujivanarom Environment campaigners are urging the government to approve a clean-air act to solve the country’s chronic smog problem and honour citizens’ right to breathe clean air. Dr Wirun Limsawart, a policy analyst at the Society and Health Institute and member of the Clean Air Network Thailand, said at a press conference there was no more time for…
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Thai customs seize medical cannabis oil at Laos border
by Kamthon Kongsombat Nong Khai customs officers have charged a Lao citizen with trying to smuggle medical cannabis oil into Thailand via the First Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge. 45 year old Pornpirom Wichit was arrested in Mueang Nong Khai district after 65 bottles of cannabis oil, estimated to be worth around 195,000 baht, were found in his luggage. Nimit Saeng-ampai, head of…
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Summer storms take their toll on the north-east this year
It’s been a tough year for residents as a result of summer storms in Thailand’s north-east region. More than 5,000 homes were damaged and 16,000 residents affected by summer storms in Nakhon Ratchasima over the past three months – the assessment from the provincial disaster prevention and mitigation office head Pornchet Saengthong. “Summer storms in this northeastern province this year…
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Study links Northern and Southern smog with rising cases of respiratory disease
A medical report has pointed to serious health threats from air pollution in Thailand’s smog-prone areas, and the country’s far north north and deep south have been found to be hotspots for asthma and other major respiratory diseases. Higher death rates from three main respiratory diseases – asthma, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – in the northern region highlighted…
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Northern Thailand suffers whilst officials play the blame game
Excerpts from an article at ttrweekly.com Inflicting immeasurable damage to the health of residents and incalculable losses on the economy and tourism, the northern smog clings to the hilly landscape making a mockery of government assurances that it has the crisis under control. Provincial and district officials appear to be preoccupied with the task of deciding a date when residents…
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