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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  • 10 million meth pills, 398 kg of ‘ice’ seized in Bangkok. Six arrested.

    10 million meth pills, 398 kg of ‘ice’ seized in Bangkok. Six arrested.

    Bangkok police have arrested six suspects and seized a large drug haul of 10 million made-in-Myanmar methamphetamine pills and 398 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine or “ice”. A haul that size led the national police chief, Pol General Chakthip Chaijinda, to hold a press conference this morning (Friday) at the Royal Thai Police headquarters to announce the seizure. Chakthip said police…

  • Bangkok Airways Phuket Half-Marathon announced

    Bangkok Airways Phuket Half-Marathon announced

    A press conference was held at Limelight Avenue hosted by the Phuket Provincial Police Commander Maj Gen Teeraphol Thipjaroen, Phuket Vice Governor Prakob Wongmaneerung and Deputy Director of the Phuket Office of Tourism Authority of Thailand, Montri Manator. The media gathering was called to announce the Phuket Half-Marathon to be held on August 5. The marathon is part of Bangkok Airways…

  • Bangkok bus engulfed in flames

    Bangkok bus engulfed in flames

    Early morning traffic was held up as a Bangkok bus was engulfed in flames on the busy Sukhumvit Road today. No one was injured in the incident. Jor Sor 100 traffic radio station reported that the fire started at 9.31am on Sukhumvit Road in front of the Gateway Ekamai shopping mall. Police closed a section of the inbound Sukhumvit Road,…

  • One night in Bangkok – 45 arrested for drugs and 91 for street racing

    One night in Bangkok – 45 arrested for drugs and 91 for street racing

    It’s been a busy night in Bangkok with nearly 140 people detained or arrested over street racing and others testing positive for illicit drugs at just one late night venue. Ninety-one motorcyclists and pillion riders were arrested las night (Friday) in an ongoing crackdown on street racing in the capital. Pol Maj-General Surachet Hakpal, the deputy commissioner of the Tourist…

  • Storms hit Bangkok and Central regions

    Storms hit Bangkok and Central regions

    The Big Mango got a battering last night whilst rains are expected sometime on Phuket during Saturday and Sunday, but not the torrential rains that hit Bangkok. Heavy rains and strong winds hit several areas of the capital last night. A bus stop on Vibhavadi-Rangsit Road, outside the head office of petroleum giant PTT, collapsed as a result of strong…

  • 100 million worth of heroin seized at Bangkok shipping port

    100 million worth of heroin seized at Bangkok shipping port

    PHOTO: Thai Customs Department You can’t accuse Thai Customs officials of sleeping on the job. Yesterday (Sunday) they seized 28 kilograms of heroin with a street value of around 100 million. The heroin was hidden in rubber pillows bound for Hong Kong. Customs officials staffing X-Ray machine at the Klong Toey port say they noticed something suspicious amongst the shipment…

  • Vendors hit back at criticism of Bangkok’s Mae Klong market

    Vendors hit back at criticism of Bangkok’s Mae Klong market

    by Kachorn Phonimthai Vendors at Mae Klong, also known as Rom Hup – one of Thailand’s landmark markets – have defended its quirkiness and surroundings after coming under criticism online. They have spoken up to defend the world-famous market after several foreigners made critical comments on a BBC News video clip titled “The train that drives through a market”. Uploaded…

  • Three die, three injured, in Bangkok apartment blaze

    Three die, three injured, in Bangkok apartment blaze

    Three people have died and three others injured after a fire broke out in a Bangkok apartment early today (Tuesday), trapping 24 tenants. The fire started at the 15-storey Ratchathewi Apartment building on Soi Phetchaburi 18 off Phetchaburi Road in Ratchathewi district at about 2am. Ten fire engines responded to the emergency call. However, as the soi is…

  • Earth Hour saves power, lowers emissions – Bangkok

    Earth Hour saves power, lowers emissions – Bangkok

    Bangkok saved 2,002 megawatts of electricity as a result of observing the 2018 Earth Hour last night (Saturday). Deputy Bangkok Governor Chakkapan Phewngam revealed the results, explaining further that the figures meant savings of 7.9 million baht and the reduction of 1,026 tonnes of carbon monoxide emissions. In the capital, the Earth Hour event was held at Central Plaza Grand…

  • Briton dies on bus from Bangkok to Phetchabun

    Briton dies on bus from Bangkok to Phetchabun

    A Thai passenger was horrified to discover Thursday night that he had sat for hours next to a dead British passenger on board an air-conditioned bus from Bangkok to Phetchabun. 61 year old Michael Richarddeen was discovered dead in his bus seat at 7.30pm when the Bangkok-Phu Rua bus stopped at a Phet Prasert bus parking point on Saraburi-Lomsak…

  • Bangkok’s Great Driveway Drama – surrounding markets ordered closed

    Bangkok’s Great Driveway Drama – surrounding markets ordered closed

    The Bangkok governor has ordered the immediate temporary closure of five markets operating in Seri Villa housing project in Prawet district, in a bid to find an acceptable solution to the decade-long dispute between residents and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) over the presence of the markets. https://www.facebook.com/phuketgazette/videos/1620839177993904/ Governor Asawin Kwanmuang said on Wednesday that he would set up a…

  • Seeding the skies over Bangkok to ‘make’ rain to help with smog

    Seeding the skies over Bangkok to ‘make’ rain to help with smog

    The Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation Department is preparing to seed clouds above Bangkok in an attempt to ease the capital’s smog problems. Haze has spread over the capital over the past few days, causing a health hazard for vulnerable people, and leading Agriculture and Cooperatives minister Grisada Boonrach to order that rainmaking operations be carried out. Two of the…

  • UK to shift visa approvals from Bangkok to New Delhi

    UK to shift visa approvals from Bangkok to New Delhi

    United Kingdom Visa and Immigration (UKVI) will relocate its visa approval centre from Bangkok to New Delhi, starting in June this year. The move is part of UKVI’s longstanding global strategy to modernise its visa operations and consolidate visa decision-making in large regional hubs, said a press release issued by the British Embassy to Thailand on Friday. There will be…

  • Jealous man arrested over murder of wife in Bangkok

    Jealous man arrested over murder of wife in Bangkok

    By Kittipong Maneerit A man has confessed to killing his bar-worker wife last Thursday over jealousy and a money dispute. 27 year old Mingkwan Rattanapetch known as Saranya, was strangled inside her apartment in Bangkok. Her husband, 22 year old Noppadon Singhachote has told police that he got angry when Saranya quarrelled with him over money and threatened to leave…

  • Unseasonal rain hits Bangkok

    Unseasonal rain hits Bangkok

    Several parts of Bangkok were deluged on Wednesday morning because water pumps were undergoing maintenance and a flood-drainage system isn’t yet completed, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s Flood Prevention Centre said. The centre, seemingly caught off guard by the unseasonal early-morning rainfall, issued a statement explaining its unpreparedness. Specifically, it said it was seeking funds to build a pumping well on…

  • No Michelin Three Star restaurants in Bangkok

    No Michelin Three Star restaurants in Bangkok

    The inaugural Michelin Guide Bangkok on Wednesday announced 14 one-starred and three two-starred restaurants at its debut at Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok. No restaurant was awarded the ultimate accolade of three stars. Making its debut at the Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok on Wednesday, the first edition of the Michelin Guide Bangkok announced the 14 restaurants that have been awarded one…

  • Bangkok’s Number Two. Who’s Number One?

    Bangkok’s Number Two. Who’s Number One?

    PHOTO: skyscrapercity.com Euromonitor International has released its annual Top City Destinations Ranking for 2017 covering 100 of the world’s leading cities in terms of international tourist arrivals. This year’s report includes forecast data up to 2025 and incorporates future travel trends to give further insight on how travel trends are borne out of the opportunities and challenges that cities face.…

  • LIVE stream from Bangkok for today’s ceremonies

    LIVE stream from Bangkok for today’s ceremonies

    There is an English language stream. Select at the bottom right of the screen.

  • THURSDAY: Watch the Royal Cremation processions and ceremonies here. Live from Bangkok….

    THURSDAY: Watch the Royal Cremation processions and ceremonies here. Live from Bangkok….

    To watch in English, click the button at the bottom the screen and select ‘EN’.

  • Bangkok says farewell to the “Father of the Land”

    Bangkok says farewell to the “Father of the Land”

    All roads lead to Bangkok from today for the start of the Royal Cremation Ceremony of the much-revered HM the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej. People have travelled by buses, private cars, trains and planes during the past days in the hope of getting as close as possible to the “Father of the Land” one last time. The late monarch reigned…

  • The 60 million Baht scam. Police make arrests in Bangkok.

    The 60 million Baht scam. Police make arrests in Bangkok.

    A 45 year old Taiwanese man wanted for a high-profile electronic card information theft linked to a “call centre scam” has been arrested in Nakhon Ratchasima. Suspect Chi Min, wanted on a Sikhiu Court-issued arrest warrant since September, was arrested at a Muang Nakhon Ratchasima restaurant late on Thursday afternoon. Police also seized 270,000 Baht in cash, five bank account…

  • More Phuket – Bangkok flights on offer during Royal Funeral week

    More Phuket – Bangkok flights on offer during Royal Funeral week

    Thai Airways and Thai Smile Airways will increase their roundtrip daily flights during the Royal Cremation of His Majesty the Late King Bhumibol Adulyadej. The additional domestic flights will be operated from October 23 to 31 to meet the transport needs of passengers attending the ceremony. Thai Airways will add 11 flights between Bangkok and Phuket and five flights between…

  • Things you need to know if you’re travelling to Thailand and Bangkok in October

    Things you need to know if you’re travelling to Thailand and Bangkok in October

    During this month there will be a lot of small and larger changes as Thailand gets ready to bid a sad, final farewell to the much-loved and revered HM King Bhumibol who passed on October 13 last year. Most of the changes will be around Bangkok, especially the Sanam Luang Park area around the Grand Palace. But there will also…

  • Phang Nga family pleas for Bangkok bombing suspect to be sent back for trial

    Phang Nga family pleas for Bangkok bombing suspect to be sent back for trial

    The family of Wanna Suansan, from Phang Nga, (Wanna is a suspect in the Ratchaprasong/Erawan Shrine bomb case), is calling for her return to Thailand after she has given birth and raised 2 children in Turkey’s immigration prison over the past 2 years. Right before the bomb, which happened in the middle of Bangkok at Ratchaprasong intersection on August 17,…

  • Bangkok’s polite bank robber

    Bangkok’s polite bank robber

    by The Nation “I’m sorry, I have financial problems,” That’s what a lone gunman told a teller of a Thanachart Bank on Rama III Road on Thursday before escaping with 270,000 Bt in cash. The man, aged about 30, spent about one minute robbing the Bang Khlo Laem branch at about 8.52am. A witness told police that the man wore…

  • Go Team Phuket! Blitzing the waves in Bangkok

    Go Team Phuket! Blitzing the waves in Bangkok

    The Phuket team blitzed the Asia Flow Tour 2017 in Bangkok over the weekend. Asia Flow Tour is an annual surfing contest series around Asian countries and had its second stop in Bangkok last Saturday, August 26. The small but tightly knit Asian flow board riding community got together for the event to decide who gets to represent Asia…

  • Perth to Bangkok flight aborted

    Perth to Bangkok flight aborted

    Saturday’s Thai Airways flight TG484 from Perth to Bangkok was cancelled after an airport’s jet bridge accidentally hit the plane’s left engine cowling. Thai Airways announced in a press statement that the accident happened at 9.15am Perth time. It said after the plane’s doors were closed and it was ready to take off, the jet bridge hit the engine cowling,…

  • Is Bangkok’s property market cooling off? No, says Bloomberg.

    Is Bangkok’s property market cooling off? No, says Bloomberg.

    An update on the Bangkok property market from Bloomberg. “We’re still undervalued as a country, compared to Singapore and Hong Kong. And China, in a lot of major cities.” Click the chart to watch the Bloomberg report on Thailand’s biggest property portfolio. PHOTO: fazwaz.com

  • High drama in Bangkok with no-show from Yingluck

    High drama in Bangkok with no-show from Yingluck

    Yingluck did not show up at the Supreme Court today to hear the verdict over the Rice Pledging Scheme case. Deputy PM Gen Prawit Wongsuwan confirms that he has been informed about Yingluck’s no-show in the court on a claim that she suffered from a disorder in the inner ear. He says the court has issued an arrest warrant against…

  • Two years and no convictions. Erawan Shrine bombing, Bangkok.

    Two years and no convictions. Erawan Shrine bombing, Bangkok.

    Only one person has been interrogated about the horrific Ratchaprasong bomb of August 2015 and it is now feared justice may not be reached for several more years. Yesterday marked the two-year anniversary of the deadly bomb attack at the famous Erawan Shrine tourist destination in Bangkok, which killed 20 people and injured 125 others. Internet Law Reform Dialogue (iLaw)…