A man with a rather colourful past is now in police custody in the Bang Lamung district of Chon Buri province. The suspect, a former US gangster, who speaks five languages, allegedly robbed a 7-eleven shop of 5000 baht using a BB gun last week.

37 year old “Roger” Phayungsak Wasuwat, was taken by police to the convenience store branch near the Bang Lamung bus station for a reenactment yesterday. The actual crime took place in the wee hours of Thursday morning.

Police say his arrest at a rented house followed three days of intensive investigation. The suspect has been charged with armed robbery, weapons offences and using a vehicle to flee.

“Roger” admitted to the crime and offered up an apology and a wai. He says he bought the BB gun online. He lost his job because of the Covid-19 coronavirus crisis and had no money for food and for his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder medication.

He told police that he continually needs to take the PTSD drugs and see a doctor regularly.

After robbing his local 7-Eleven, he threw the gun and his clothes in a bin and went back to his “normal life” until he was apprehended.

Daily News reports that “Roger” was brought up in California where he was a prominent member of a gang. He could speak five languages and spent 30 years in the US. When he returned to Thailand, he got a job working for a Pattaya tour company, but that shut down due to the Covid-19 outbreak, leaving him broke and unemployed.

SOURCES: thaivisa | Daily News

For years, Pattaya has struggled to shed its seedy image as a haven of sex tourism, which started in the 1970s when it became a rest and relaxation spot for US soldiers during the Vietnam War. It’s continued to develop into a much more diverse city with world standard attractions offsetting the seedier bars and walking streets.

Now it faces a much bigger threat.

Pattaya’s beaches are deserted, go-go bars sit empty and cabarets have shut their doors as business has ground to a standstill after worldwide travel restrictions due to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.

As one of the world’s most famous, perhaps infamous, tourist hotspots, the economic devastation is almost total. Business owners say haven’t seen anything like it for four decades. One cabaret owner said…

“Our organisation has halted business 100%. Pattaya is a tourist city, we rely mostly on them. The whole city is affected by the virus.”

In normal times, his theatre, featuring high-kicking dancing girls with elaborate feather headdresses and sequined dresses, sees more than a thousand tourists daily. Now there are literaly none. While the cabaret isn’t planning on laying off its staff for now, the future seems grim. Thailand overall depends on tourism for around 12% of its GDP (some reports claim up to 17%), but in Pattaya, nearly the entire economy runs on visitors, either semi-permanent or on holiday.

Pattaya saw over 15 million visitors in 2018, according to a 2019 government report, already a 20% drop from the previous year.

“I would say that this is the worst that has ever hit Pattaya. And during the past two to three weeks, so many businesses have already folded, have already gone bankrupt, closed down due to the coronavirus.”

SOURCE: Reuters

A crane collapse in Chon Buri’s Banglamung district this morning has severely injured three and damaged six adjacent buildings. Authorities rushed to the scene after they were notified at 10:30am of the incident in the Naklua subdistrict, near Soi Sukhumwit Pattaya and Soi Esso. Officers, emergency responders and reporters arrived find the collapsed crane which had fallen and badly damaged six buildings, many of them residential.

Three people have been seriously injured, including 65 year old Thanomsri Pimsawat, a twelve year old boy and the crane driver, 31 year old Tanakorn Homjit. They have all been taken to local hospitals. Officers plan to interview Homjit once he’s able to speak to them.

The crane stood in the construction lot of a large project near the apartment complexes that were damaged. The name of the project has not been released, pending a full legal investigation by police, the building owners and the construction firm itself.

The cause of the collapse is unclear, and police are still investigating the scene.

SOURCE: The Pattaya News