Northeast
- Business News
Northeast plans NEC to boost economy at mobile Cabinet meeting
Private sector representatives in the northeast are set to present a series of economic stimulation projects, including the establishment of the Northeastern Economic Corridor (NEC), during the mobile Cabinet meeting in Nakhon Ratchasima on July 2. Hatsadin Suwattanapongchet, Secretary of the Northeastern Industrial Federations, announced that the NEC, traversing Nakhon Ratchasima, Khon Kaen, Udon Thani, and Nong Khai, will emulate…
- Crime News
Former Thai policeman swindles gold shop, jailed for third time
A former Thai policeman was arrested in Bangkok on Friday night after he swindled a gold shop. The former policeman, 62 year old Thana Charoennakha, tricked a shop owner in northeast Thailand’s Mukdahan province. Police said Thana first asked the shop owner for a bank account number so that he could transfer money to buy some gold ornaments. The owner…
- Northern Thailand News
Rain flooding likely to dampen third quarter flood of tourism
Thailand has been ecstatic to finally welcome back tourists – mostly – but now, after the pandemic, a new threat to tourism has emerged. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said it expects a normally profitable third quarter to be muted by the flooding in 21 provinces across Thailand. The floods are expected to affect corporate travel especially. Much of…
- Northern Thailand News
Elderly northeast woman charged with theft after picking plants for curry
An elderly woman in northeast Thailand just wanted some fresh produce for her curry but ended up being charged with theft. The woman, 70 year old Chaweewan, had headed out on June 11 to pick a handful of galangal sprouts from her village in Phang Khon district of Sakhon Nakhon province. Chaweewan says the area is public land, but one…
- Northern Thailand News
Northeast Thai man shoots and kills ex-wife, and himself, after she refuses to re-unite
A man in Northeast Thailand has shot and killed his ex-wife after she refused to go back to him. The man, 35 year old soldier Akkhaphon Phonphan, shot his ex-wife, 34 year old nurse Naphaporn Nakkiew, at Khon Kaen Hospital in the early hours of this morning, before turning the gun on himself. According to Khon Kaen city police, Naphaporn’s…
- Northern Thailand News
Police investigate blast in Northeast Thailand that killed lecturer
Police in Northeast Thailand are investigating a blast that tragically killed a university lecturer in Sakhon Nakhon province’s city district on Friday. Police say the lecturer, 41 year old Pichai Srimanta, was killed when doing a research project to extract oil from plastic waste at a garbage dump, where the explosion happened. A worker who witnessed the tragedy said the extraction…
- Northern Thailand News
Gambling suspects arrested at northeast Thailand resort
Police arrested 18 gambling suspects at a resort in Thailand’s northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima yesterday. The suspects reportedly used all 10 rooms of the Lake Pine resort to operate 2 gambling websites. Officers seized 10 desktop computers, 5 notebook computers, 30 mobile phones, and 12 bank account books, according to Police Colonel Wiwat Jitsophakul from the Crime Suppression Division.…
- Northern Thailand News
Man in northeast Thailand stabs wife on train
A man in northeast Thailand stabbed his wife on a train yesterday, after suspecting she was romantically involved with another man. Police said the woman, 31 year old Ratchanok Yimsa-ngob, had decided to go and live with her grandmother in a different district of Nakhon Ratchasima, and the couple was headed there on the train. Along the trip, Ratchanok and…
- Northern Thailand News
Man shoots and kills hospital patient in Thailand’s Northeast
A man shot and killed a hospital patient in Pak Khat district of Bueng Kan province in Thailand’s Northeast yesterday. Police arrested the 21 year old shooter, and he remains in custody during the investigation. A video posted on social media shows an armed man in a blue T-shirt, entering the hospital’s emergency room. The man is then seen shooting…
- Northern Thailand News
Songkran, and traffic, are in the air as Bangkok dwellers head ‘upcountry’
The spirit of Songkran is in Thailand’s air, as is heavy traffic, as Bangkok residents make road trips ‘upcountry’ to the Northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima and beyond. Motorway 6, or M6, in Pak Chong district, is not yet open to public travel. It will be open to drivers for two periods: April 11 to 14, and after Songkran from…
- Thailand News
Thailand’s latest ganja product: marijuana infused fish sauce
There are few products left in Thailand that haven’t yet been infused with cannabis since Anutin Charnvirakul’s marijuana mystery tour began. The latest product, marijuana infused fish sauce, debuted at an event in the northeastern province of Khon Kaen last weekend. Yum? As we have said many times before, products are currently allowed to contain a maximum of 0.2% THC,…
- Thailand News
Buriram battle: 50 youths shoot guns, throw explosives and glass bottles
A 50 man fight broke out in the middle of the street at 1am this morning after the annual Red Cross music festival held in the northeastern province of Buriram. Two groups of young men, approximately 50 in total, started out by arguing and chasing each other on motorcycles and then began throwing glass bottles, homemade grenades and shooting guns…
- Northern Thailand News
Khon Kaen still enforcing unpopular alcohol ban at least 2 more weeks
Khon Kaen’s governor announced yesterday that the province will continue its highly strict, unpopular ban of alcohol from all restaurants for at least two more weeks. After two weeks, the ban will be reevaluated. Even though Thailand has allowed bars to reopen as temporary restaurants, Khon Kaen enforces stricter laws, and doesn’t even allow restaurants to serve alcohol. Alcohol can…
- Northern Thailand News
Agency reports deteriorating air quality in Thailand’s North and Northeast
Air quality in Thailand’s North and Northeast is deteriorating mostly due to farmers burning waste, and villagers lighting fires in forests. Thai PBS reports that the air quality “may” pose a risk to people’s health. The country’s Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency said that on Tuesday there were 1,060 ‘hot spots’ across Thailand. 110 of the hotspots were in…
- Northern Thailand News
Northeastern deputy principal accused of flirting with female students
Yesterday and today, a Facebook page posted chat screenshots of the deputy principal of a Northeastern school offering to change a female student’s grades and buy her a phone if she visited him at his house. The names of the man and the school are not mentioned, but a hashtag trended on social media about the school’s colours and location,…
- Northern Thailand News
Army general and two others swindled over 43 million baht in fraud case
An army general and two other people were charged yesterday with colluding to defraud others. The three swindled over 43 million baht from two companies between December 2017 and August 2018. They offered the companies services that didn’t exist. One of these fake projects involved telling a firm they could land it a state contract by installing LED lights in…
- Northern Thailand News
Six police in Thailand’s Northeast allegedly demand money to release drug dealers
Six cops in Nakhon Phanom, a Northeastern province in Thailand, allegedly demanded a drug dealer to pay them money in exchange for releasing his accomplices. A Facebook page posted a photo of a man and a woman with a sack that had 200,000 methamphetamine pills in it, with an audio clip of a man who claimed to be a drug…
- Northern Thailand News
Northeastern cave forced to close for a week after tourists test positive
Nakee Cave in Nakhon Phanom, a Northeastern province, will be closed until Thursday now that seven people who visited tested positive for Covid-19. This included tourists, and tour guides. Authorities might make exceptions for tourists who already booked air tickets, or have arrived at the site, who can try to get permission from authorities to enter. Authorities will then look…
- Northern Thailand News
Police in Northeast find almost 2 million meth pills after car flees checkpoint
Police in Khon Kaen, a Northeastern province in Thailand, found almost 2 million meth pills in a car that drove away from them right before they began to search it at a checkpoint. The police eventually caught up with the driver when he jumped out of the minivan and ran into a sugarcane plantation (these drug couriers ALWAYS run off…
- Northern Thailand News
Kids aged 3-5 in one Northeastern school get exam points deducted if they cry
Kids aged three to five years old taking an entrance exam to one preschool in Maha Sarakham, a Northeastern province, get three points deducted from the exam if they cry during it. The school’s director told Thai PBS the policy was created to make sure the exam was fair because when some children cried, it distracted other children. The director…
- Covid-19 News
Covid cluster linked to bar puts pressure on Isaan healthcare system
CORRECTION: An earlier report incorrectly gave the location of the bar, Ekkamai487. The bar is in Ubon Ratchathani. A recent Covid-19 cluster from a local bar is putting pressure on the healthcare system in the Isaan province Ubon Ratchathani. Out of the 315 new cases reported today in the northeastern province, 48 are linked to the local gastropub Ekkamai487. Under…
- Environment News
4.4 billion baht Supreme Court corruption case about futsal courts
The Supreme Court of Thailand has accepted a major corruption case to go to trial regarding low-quality futsal courts nearly 10 years ago worth 4.4 billion baht. The wide-reaching case regarding poorly built playing areas for futsal, a game similar to football that is popular in Thailand, will require Thailand’s chief whip, Wirat Rattanaseth, to cease his MP role while…
- Northern Thailand News
470 kilograms of marijuana seized in Isaan; reportedly smuggled from Laos
Police in the Isaan province Nakhon Phanom seized 470 kilograms of compressed marijuana valued at around 10 million baht and arrested a 26 year old man on drug charges. Officers in the province’s Sri Songkhram district stopped a Mitsubishi Pajero which was travelling from Ban Phaeng, a district along the Mekong River bordering Laos. Police searched the vehicle and found…
- Northern Thailand News
Man shot and killed at Isaan rice field
A man was shot and killed at a rice field in the Isaan province Maha Sarakham. Yesterday, a villager walking in the rice field found the man’s body and she called the police. Reports say the man was shot five times. One wound was in the neck, one in the back and three shots in the torso. Officers identified the…
- Thailand News
Thai monk beheads himself with guillotine in attempt to reach nirvana, followers could face charges
A monk, apparently ‘seeking nirvana’, has beheaded himself with a handmade guillotine in the northeastern province of Nong Bua Lamphu. Police are now investigating to determine if any of the monk’s followers should be charged for helping the abbot with his untidy path to enlightenment. The monk, Dhammakorn Wangphrecha, reportedly spent 5 years planning his death and believed it would…
- Northern Thailand News
Girl in a coma after being struck by skyrocket launched from temple
A 10 year old girl is in a coma and in critical condition after a piece of a wooden skyrocket struck the girl in the head. The firework was launched during a cremation ceremony at a temple in the Pak Thong Chai district of the Isaan province Nakhon Ratchasima. The girl was waiting to be picked up at the nearby…
- Northern Thailand News
Thai Public Health Ministry starts cannabis cultivation project in Buri Ram
A cannabis cultivation project is being launched by Thailand’s Public Health Ministry in the Isaan province Buri Ram. 6 cannabis plants will be given to each member of the local Non Malai Community Enterprise as a pilot project on commercial cultivation of cannabis, according to the director of the ministry’s cannabis research group, Kitti Losuwannarak. Cannabis flowers and buds will…
- Northern Thailand News
Monk arrested on drug charges, allegedly told police methamphetamine was a merit gift
Police arrested a 45 year old Buddhist monk for allegedly getting high on methamphetamine at a temple in the Isaan province Buriram. The monk allegedly told police that a follower gave him the drugs as a merit gift and convinced him to take it. Satuek district police say they received a complaint from the Baan Kok Mueng temple’s abbot claiming…
- Northern Thailand News
Man dies searching for shells while another dies in marathon
A man has died while searching for shells off Jomtien Beach, just south of Pattaya, after running out of oxygen. The man reportedly ran out of oxygen 9 metres underwater, when using scuba diving gear in deep waters. Rescue divers arrived at the scene and found 10 fishing boats about 1 kilometre away from the beach where local fishermen were…
- Northern Thailand News
Isaan woman saves her husband from elephant attack
A woman saved her husband from a wild elephant attack by screaming and banging objects together, driving the elephant away with the loud noises. 33 year old Supat Klonsalab, a rubber tapper in the Isaan province Bueng Kan, is being treated at a local hospital. Luckily, his injuries from being stomped by the elephant are not severe. 37 year old…
