Mae Sot
- Thailand News
Vegetable truck found smuggling 52 illegal immigrants in western Thailand
In a shocking discovery, a vegetable transport truck was found to be smuggling 52 illegal immigrants in the Mae Sot district of western Thailand. This startling revelation happened during a joint police and special border task force operation on the Mae Sot-Tak Road, at the Huai Hin Fon inspection point, in the Mae Sot district today. While on duty, officials…
- Crime News
Mae Sot officials probed for 30m baht bribes in migrant ID scandal
In Mae Sot district, Tak province, three Registration Department officials have come under scrutiny for allegedly accepting 30 million baht in bribes to issue identification cards to 700 Myanmar migrants over the last three months. Mae Sot’s mayor, Prasert Puanglakorn, has signed an order temporarily reassigning the implicated officials to non-active posts in other departments while the municipality conducts an…
- Hot News
Thai police criticised over Tesco forced labour inquiry
Thai police are being criticised over their inquiry into Tesco’s alleged forced labour claims after completing their investigation in only one day. According to The Guardian, Burmese workers who produced F&F jeans at VK Garment factory in Thailand’s western province of Mae Sot, between 2017 and 2020, were allegedly working under forced labour. Such labour allegedly included working 99-hour weeks…
- Economy News
Tesco slavery case – police interview 100s of Mae Sot workers
Police and labour officials in Mae Sot are interviewing more than 100 workers from the former supermarket supplier in the Tesco slavery case. Authorities are gathering information as they follow up on last week’s raid led by deputy national police chief Gen Surachate “Big Joke” Hakparn at the VK Garment (VKG) factory in the border town of Tak province. The…
- World News
Tesco slavery case – Thai police raid ‘sweatshop’
Thai police have raided the former Tesco supplier at centre of a slavery claims by Burmese workers. The VK Garment (VKG) factory in Mae Sot is subject of a UK lawsuit against the supermarket chain from 130 ex-workers who claim they were trafficked, raped and abused. Thai police and labour officials inspected conditions and interviewed employees at the factory over…
- World News
UK Tesco accused of using slave labour in Thailand
The UK’s Tesco supermarket chain is being accused of using slave labour in Thailand. According to a Guardian investigation, Burmese workers who made jeans for Tesco Lotus in Thailand, allegedly worked 99-hour weeks. And, their received wages were allegedly too low to make the cut legally. The investigation also found that their working conditions were considered quite harsh. Tesco faces…
- World News
River of Dreams – Lawless ‘zones’ on Thailand-Myanmar frontier
Thailand and Myanmar are friendly and close neighbours separated only by a strip of water, so the story goes. Along the Moei River, a fantastic US$15 billion (500 billion baht) city of the future, Shwe Kokko Yatai New City, is under construction. Development is well underway in Myanmar’s Karen state, perhaps the most unpleasant place in the world today, where…
- Crime News
A carjacking monk high on drugs drags police on high-speed chase
A carjacking monk high on drugs stole two cars and led police officers on a high-speed chase in the Mae Sot district in the northern province of Tak yesterday. In yet another day of shame for the Buddhist faith, the incident initially took place at Bor Luke Rang Temple in the Mae Sot district of Tak. The carjacking monk was…
- Thailand News
Burmese Junta spies pose as Buddhist monks & nuns in N Thailand
Alleged spies from the Burmese junta, disguised as Buddhist monks and nuns, were among 54 Burmese people arrested at a three-storey building in Tak province in northern Thailand on Monday, according to Channel3. On Monday, police, and officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Health, Mae Sot District Administrative Organisation, and Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) closed in…
- World News
Car bomb explodes near Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge – VIDEO
A car bomb exploded over the weekend near the first Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge, on the Myawaddy side of the Thai border, adjacent to Mae Sot district in Tak. Residents in Mae Sot reported they could clearly hear the blast, which happened late Saturday night. An ethnic anti-government Burmese group is suspected to have planted the explosive in a car parked…
- World News
Prayut promises aid to Burmese refugees amid border fighting
After fighting flared between ethnic Karen rebels and the Burmese military and locals took refuge by fleeing across the border into the Mae Sot district of Tak, PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has pledged to aid and care for every refugee. The humanitarian gesture was offered yesterday as the prime minister commanded local authorities to provide food rations and medical treatment to…
- World News
UNHCR weighs Thailand to accept 3,000 Myanmar refugees
More than 3,000 Myanmar refugees in Thailand’s border province Tak, are seeking shelter inside the kingdom after they left their houses to flee the ongoing violence between Myanmar’s military and the armed wing of the Karen National Union. Now the UN’s refugee agency is calling on Thailand to give them “urgent access” to the refugees. Hundreds fled the Karen state…
- World News
Karen refugees returning to Myanmar as fighting eases
After fleeing Myanmar amid conflicts between the military junta and rebel forces, thousands of Karen refugees are choosing to return to their homes, according to a military source. The refugees were being housed in a temporary shelter in the Mae Sot district in Tak province. This is seen as a positive step in the ever-evolving conflict, as fighting between the…
- Crime News
Alleged launderer for drug kingpin arrested, 70 million in assets seized
A man alleged to be a money launderer for a major drug trafficking ring has been arrested. The alleged money launderer was linked to alleged drug kingpin “Nu Chen” and police seized about 70 million baht worth of assets at his house in central Bangkok. Police impounded 2 cars, 2 title deeds, 18 kilogrammes of gold bars, US $10,000, and…
- Thailand News
Families call on Thai authorities to help teenagers stuck in Myanmar under work contract
A group of parents and grandparents say their teenage children were trafficked to work in Myanmar and are now calling on Thai authorities to bring them back home. The families in Tak’s Mae Sot border district say 10 teenagers, between the ages of 16 and 19, were promised jobs at a casino just across the border in the neighbouring country,…
- World News
16 apprehended near Myanmar border
From yesterday to today, 16 people were apprehended today near the Myanmar border in Tak, a northern Thai province The apprehended include 11 illegal migrants, 3 Thais who assisted the migrants, and 2 Chinese nationals who had escaped from quarantine. A concealed army patrol saw a pickup truck pull up close to a natural border crossing in the Wang Takhian…
- Covid-19 News
Hospital in northern Thailand closes to visitors after 2 patients test positive for Covid-19
A hospital in the northern province of Tak has had to shut its doors to visitors after 2 patients treated at the facility subsequently tested positive for Covid-19. Nation Thailand reports that Mae Sot Hospital is now closed to visitors until Monday. It’s understood that 19 staff members have had contact with 2 patients who tested positive for the virus.…
- Bangkok News
Thailand News Today | Bangkok protest fallout, northern fire bans | March 1
Coming up today… the fallout from yesterday’s latest protest violence in Bangkok, the first vaccine in Thailand who got it, and a major drug haul along the Mekong. But first we’ll start up north where Lampang Province is joining other northern provinces todday by putting a total fire ban in place from today, March 1, until the end of April.…
- Covid-19 News
Border officials on alert for Burmese coup protesters fleeing military crackdown
Border police have increased patrols in the northern province of Chiang Rai amid concerns that Burmese protesters may try to cross into the Mae Sai district. This follows a military crackdown in the Burmese border town of Tachilek as the army tries to quell anti-coup rallies. According to a Bangkok Post report, Sompong Chingduang from Thailand’s Immigration Bureau says the…
- Thailand News
Thailand News Today | Pattaya bank scam & Burmese coup update | February 2
CORRECTION: In the first story Jett referred to a Chinese man losing 130 billion baht. The correct amount was 130 million baht. We apologise for the error. Hundreds, perhaps more than 400, investors have been defrauded by a bank manager at a Kasikorn bank branch in Pattaya. The manager, named in a police report as “Mr. Gob”, was promising investors…
- Covid-19 News
Mae Sot schools close after just 1 hour reopening when 5 students were found infected
All 15 schools in Mae Sot district of Tak province have been ordered to close again just 1 hour after the first day of school reopenings in the province, as 5 children tested positive for Covid-19. Mae Sot City Municipality Office issued an urgent order to close all schools in the district after a vendor tested positive for Covid-19. At…
- Thailand News
Australian man wanted for allegedly sexually abusing children in Thailand
A 44 year old Australian man is wanted by Thai police for allegedly sexually abusing children in Thailand. Adam James Fox financially supported some migrant children in poverty stricken areas and allegedly sexually abused them. Adam James Fox is wanted for allegedly sexually assaulting or abusing at least 3 Burmese boys, all under 15 years old, at his home in…
- Covid-19 News
Mae Sot plans field hospital for Covid-19 patients fleeing from Myanmar casino outbreak
A field hospital will be set up in Tak’s Mae Sot district bordering Myanmar to treat Thai returnees for Covid-19 as many are fleeing the neighbouring country due to an outbreak at a Myawaddy casino where around 200 to 300 Thais worked. The local communicable disease committee agreed to convert the municipality’s sports stadium into a field hospital to treat…
- Covid-19 News
21 Thais test positive for Covid-19 after allegedly crossing the Thai-Myanmar border illegally
21 Thai returnees tested positive for Covid-19 after they were detained for allegedly crossing the Thai-Myanmar border illegally, fleeing from a Covid-19 outbreak at the Sky Complex Casino where they had worked. The returnees are now in quarantine at a Mae Sot district hospital. Around 300 Thais work at the casino in the neighbouring country’s Myawaddy town just across the…
- Thailand News
Thailand News Today | German Embassy, More STV tourists, Thanathorn in trouble | October 27
Today’s latest Thai news from The Thaiger, hosted by Tim Newton with full, echoey sound! Sorry about the minor audio issues! From Bangkok to Berlin – protesters deliver letter to German Embassy Protesting students last night submitted a letter to the German Embassy, to be passed on to the German Government. The protest started around 4pm when the rally gathered…
- World News
3 Chinese casino workers arrested with 8 million baht after illegal crossing from Myanmar
Officers from the Thai police and military have arrested 3 Chinese nationals after they crossed illegally into Thailand from the Burmese town of Myawaddy. Thai Residents reports that the 2 women and 1 man were workers at a casino in Myanmar and were arrested in possession of 8 million baht. Officers detained them as they were getting into 2 cars…
- Thailand News
Thailand News Today | Bangkok protests, Special Tourist Visa, Prisoners slippery escape | October 16
Thailand news on The Thaiger. Posted daily around 5pm, Thai Time. Hosted by Tim Newton. Train-car collision kills 1, second fatal railway crossing incident this week A passenger train collided with a car, killing a woman and injuring 2 others at a railway crossing in Phetchaburi’s Khao Yai district last night. At last night’s incident, police found the Toyota Vios…
- Crime News
Mae Sot immigration chief transferred after inmate escape
Following the escape of 2 inmates, the immigration chief in Tak’s Mae Sot district has been transferred while an investigation takes place. The 2 Uighur inmates escaped by using soap to corrode the iron cell bars. They rubbed dish soap on the cell bars routinely. Over time, the iron started to rust and they were able to break the bars.…
- Covid-19 News
Residents in border areas accuse officials of lax control over Burmese drivers
Residents in the Mae Sot district of Tak province, bordering Myanmar, have criticised what they see as lax checking of Burmese truck drivers arriving from the Covid-hit neighbour next door. Concerned residents are calling for the Friendship Bridge to be temporarily closed in light of a surge in virus cases in Myanmar. The bridge, which spans the Moei River, connects…
- Thailand News
Thailand News Today | No STV tourists, Boss in Dubai, border fears in Tak | October 13
Daily news about Thailand. Latest information, and tourism and visa news. No one in Guangzhou applied for the Special Tourist Visa, Foreign Ministry In a stunning revelation yesterday, it turns out that not a single person from Guangzhou, China, actually applied for the new Special Tourist Visa. That’s the sad and bizarre truth, according to Thai media outlet Siamrath. Around…
