Bangkok News
Bangkok news, politics, business, crime, and nightlife—stay updated with breaking stories, events, and expat updates from Thailand’s capital. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Bangkok news source.
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Doubt over ‘majority support’ in survey about drilling near Si Thep historical park
Locals are up in arms about results from a public hearing into oil drilling project near the Si Thep historical park in Phetchabun province (just north of Bangkok). They are expressing doubt and concern over results of a public hearing that appear to show support for the project. Thai PBS reports that Mr. Prachuab Narkthien, chairman of the club of…
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94 motorcycles seized, 88 arrested – BKK road racing clampdown
Police have arrested 88 motorcyclists and seized 94 motorcycles last night for illegally modifying their bikes for road racing. Pol Maj Gen Nithithorn Jintakanon, traffic police chief of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, called a late night media pack at the Metropolitan Police Division 3 at 11.30pm to announce the arrests. Police set up road checkpoints in Metropolitan Division 3 last…
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“X-Ray Outlaw Foreigner” arrest numbers hit 8,400
by Kittipong Maneerit More foreigners detained and likely to be deported. Seems to be a never-ending supply of illegal foreigners hiding in Thailand. X-Ray Outlaw Foreigner has been an almost weekly campaign to round up and deport overstaying and illegal foreigners over the past two years. Another 490 foreigners were caught this week in the latest Immigration Police dragnet involving…
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Earth Hour next week, everyone invited to join Bangkok by switching off lights
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration is inviting Bangkokians to join in “60+ Earth Hour 2019”, by turning off electrical appliances and lights for one hour from 8.30-9.30pm on Saturday, March 30. The rest of Thailand is also invited to join in the annual environmental initiative. The BMA has participated in Earth Hour since 2008 by encouraging Thais to switch off lights to…
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Two Suvarnabhumi crimes solved by Surachate
PHOTOS: Thai Rath Lt-Gen Surachate Hakparn, the high-profile immigration chief, has announced the solving of two cases at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok. One involved a Thai woman using a passport illegally by adding extra pages. The other was the arrest of members of a Mongolian pickpocketing gang who had been preying on tourists at the airport and on the city’s…
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Grab rider attacked by local motorcycle taxi driver – police admit the law is not clear
MONTAGE: Facebook/Patiharn Sarikapun Police near Khao San Road admit the law regarding the use of Grab Bike and similar ‘disrupting’ public transport services, is still unclear. They are calling on motorcycle taxis drivers, Grab riders, taxi drivers and Uber to keep calm and contact police if there are any disputes rather than taking matters into their own hands. Daily News…
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75 year old mauled to death by pitbulls in Nonthaburi
PHOTO: Sanook A family have returned home to find the 75 year old Grandmother had been attacked and mauled by the family’s six pit bull terriers. The woman, named Iat, was lying in a pool of blood outside the house in Bang Bua Thong, Nonthaburi, on the west side of the Chao Phraya, Bangkok. Sanook reports that she had been…
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BKK taxi driver returns 400,000 baht to Danish tourist
Usually maligned, it’s great to post a good-news story about Bangkok’s taxi drivers. A capital city cabbie is being praised after returning a bag containing 400,000 baht to a Danish tourist. T News reports that Somsri Ralat picked up the Danish tourist and his Thai wife at BKK airport and was taking them to their Hotel in Bang Yai yesterday…
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Thailand releases Burmese migrant activist, will deport him
PHOTO: Facebook/Ye Min- Migrants workers wearing T-shirts with the image of Ye Min wait for his release in front of the court in Samut Prakan, Thailand A prominent Burmese migrant activist Ko Ye Min, one of founders of the Aid Alliance Committee in Thailand, has been released from jail pending deportation by a Thai court. “Ko Ye Min was freed…
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Porsche driver charged with reckless driving after death of two women
Bangkok Police have charged a Porsche driver who crashed into a motorcycle, killing two women, one of them also losing her unborn baby and being rushed to hospital, only to die soon after. The accident also damaged a roadside motorcycle-repair shop. The original report from The Thaiger HERE. Police announced that Somkiat Pakdeenok had been charged with reckless driving causing…
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Reduce Bangkok’s motorcycle death toll by 82% – add dedicated lanes
PHOTOS: Daily News Dedicated motorcycle lanes might be the answer to lowering the death toll around Bangkok’s congested streets. A leading engineer has suggested that Bangkok should introduce motorcycle lanes. The Engineering Institute of Thailand’s Dr Thanet Wirasiri says that Thailand has some of the most dangerous driving conditions in South East Asia – and things were getting worse all…
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Bangkok now in the Top 10 list for most expensive Asian locations for expats
Bangkok has, for the first time, made it into the list of Asia’s top 10 most expensive locations for expats. A rise in average rental prices this year caused by an influx of expats from China and an increase in tourism traffic have hit expats and put the city in 10th place on the annual list, with an average US$3,880…
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Porsche/motorcycle crash – one dead, another woman loses baby
PHOTOS: Thai Rath | Sanook A Porsche Cayman S has been involved in a collision with two women on a motorcycle at 3am this morning (Saturday). The incident happened in Putthamonthon Sai 3 Soi 5. Thai Rath reports that the carnage happened as the vehicles collided outside a car repair yard. A friend of the women says that 24 year…
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Ten-wheeler blacks out Bangkok neighbourhood
by Kornkamon Aksorndech Businesses and homes in Bangkok’s Lat Krabang area, east of the city centre, have been without electricity this morning after a 10-wheel truck got tangled in power lines on Ramkhamhaeng Soi 129 shortly after 9am. The Metropolitan Electricity Authority officials had the downed lines reconnected within three or four hours and replaced a utility pole that was…
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Man attacks waitress in BKK bar after complaining about loud music
A western man has attacked a female receptionist in a Bangkok bar. The incident occurred last Monday in a bar located on Sukhumvit Soi 1. Thaivisa reports that the man, allegedly living in a condo nearby, strolled into the bar to complain about the loud music. When staff informed him that no music had been playing as the bar was empty…
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Thai arrested for allegedly scamming 3 women out of 212,000 baht 9 years ago
PHOTO: Pol Lt-General Surachate Hakparn, in his capacity as head of Thailand Action Taskforce for Information Technology Crime Suppression, at the press conference announcing the arrest A 60 year old Thai man is now in custody in Bangkok’s Khlong Sam Wa district after allegedly duping three women out of 212,000 baht with a false promise of jobs abroad nearly a decade…
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Two Nigerians arrested, one still at large, over investment scam
PHOTO: INN News Immigration chief Lt-Gen Surachate Hakparn has announced the arrest of two Nigerian scammers who posed as officials at a financial institution to defraud investors. They were also found to have overstayed their visas. Arrested were 55 year old Emmanual Olichagew and 41 year old Friday Ochiaga at a rented room in Bangkapi, Bangkok. Surachate says that a…
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Bangkok Police announce two major drug busts
by Khanathit Srihirundaj The police keep seizing the drugs but the manufacturers keep pushing even more out the back doors of their factories hidden in the jungles of the Golden Triangle and north eastern Myanmar. But police in Bangkok today reported that a large haul of narcotics has been seized, including more than 200 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, or “ice”,…
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He’s an Aussie now. Hakeem al-Araibi becomes Australian citizen.
PHOTO: Hakeem al-Araibi says “I’m an Aussie now” and is happy to be safe Hakeem al-Araibi, the former Bahraini football player and refugee caught up in a diplomatic tug-of-war in Thailand between Australian and Bahraini officials for two and a half months, has become an Australian citizen. He became an Australian citizen along with 200 other people at a ceremony…
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Police wrestler avoids jail but gets a hefty fine
PHOTO: Daily News Bangkok’s Dusit Court has fined a Honda City sedan driver 8,500 baht for four offences related to an incident caught on video last week. The video showed Pol Lance Corporal Thanakit Wiboonphan trying to clamp a car parked illegally in a no standing zone. Not happy about the situation, the driver argued and wrestled with the traffic policeman.…
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Top 5 Phuket (and Thailand) hotel trends for 2019
by Bill Barnett Moving through high season in 2019, hoteliers are starting to look for strategies for the rest of the year in order to not be reliant only on volatile mass markets. The following is C9 Hotelworks read on key trends for the year. Pressure On Demand – Good Hotels Perform, Others Left Out Diving into the numbers, the reality is that…
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Bangkok woman gives birth in the back of a taxi!
PHOTO MONTAGE: Thai Rath So you’re on your way to hospital with a passenger in the back of your taxi who says she’s going to have a baby – soon. Ahead there’s a lot traffic. Taxi driver Pratheep Manop said he picked up a woman aged about 25 – 30 from Pahonyothin Soi 48. She wanted to be taken to Wipharam…
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Chachoengsao man killed by grenade explosion on Facebook Live
PHOTO: M79 grenades and launcher A man was killed by a grenade explosion at a border patrol police base in Chachoengsao whilst trying to catch wild chickens. Chachoengsao is directly east of Bangkok. The 28 year old, Apisit Kerdlarpphol, was killed after entering the prohibited army training zone and broadcasting his exploits live on his Facebook page. Police say they discovered…
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88 arrested and being sent to ‘attitude adjustment’ on March 11
88 motorcyclists have been arrested along with 92 bikes, illegally modified, seized. The arrests relate to road racing in the, now, weekly Bangkok roadside crackdowns. This week police set up checkpoints on roads under the jurisdiction of Metropolitan Police Division 2. A media conference was held this morning, just after midnight, to announce the results of the operation. Police say…
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34 year old found hanged from Bangkok pedestrian walkway
A 34 year old man has been found hanged from a pedestrian bridge in the Bangkok’s Wang Thong Lang district.Passersby found the man hanged from the rail guard the bridge earlier today (Saturday). The body of 34 year old Thanet Nakduang was spotted just after midnight by a passerby walking over the pedestrian walkway in front of Soi Pradit Manutham 6…
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Bangkok rolls out new ‘user-friendly’ bus stop signs
The Bangkok Governor says the installation of 30 new “user-friendly” bus stop signs around the city will help save people from getting lost. Aswin Kwanmuang says the idea was presented during Bangkok Design Week last year by a civic group called May Day. Both sides of the signs show the numbers of the buses on the route, emergency phone numbers and…
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Shooting yourself in the foot, literally – Suvarnabhumi police station
A gun cleaner has shot himself in the leg outside Bangkok’s main airport police station. The 40 year old gun cleaner, Damrongkiat, a trader who sells uniforms and insignia to police and cleans their weapons, had already worked on three guns at the time without any problems. Next it was a Glock 9mm. Damrongkiat says he forgot to remove the…
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Bangkok gold shop thief gets away with jewellry valued at 3 million baht
by Kittipong Maneerit A gold shop at a Big C in Rama 4, Bangkok’s Khlong Toei district, was robbed yesterday afternoon.Police are searching for a man in his mid-30s, wearing a shaggy wig, who stole gold ornaments worth a combined 3 million baht.The thief is described by police as about 35, 170 centimetres in height, heavyset and wearing a wig…
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Bangkok’s Asoke overpass closes for maintenance
BKK motorists, put these dates in your diary. The busy Asoke Overpass at Bangkok’s Phetchburi-Ratchadapisek intersection will be closed from March 9 to September 4. A source at the BMA says the overpass will be closed for maintenance and upgrades to the structures capacity. They say the six month closure will allow major strengthening of the 40 year old overpass,…
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Constitutional Court dissolves Thai Raksa Chart party and bans party members
The Thai Constitutional Court has ordered the dissolution of Thai Raksa Chart Party for naming Prince Ubolratana, a member of the Royal Family, as its prime ministerial candidate. The Court claims this action undermined Thailand’s constitutional monarchy. The court has also banned all 14 members of the party’s executive board from politics for 10 years in a stunning decision that…
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