Police
- World News
Fight over “El Chapo’s” legacy leaves 16 dead in Mexico
The war to protect drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s legacy burst into a gun battle between rival Mexican gangs and left 16 dead on Thursday, authorities said. The 16 people, heavily armed and wearing bulletproof vests, died in a six-hour shootout near the rural town of Tepache in the northwestern province of Sinaloa. “A van with seven bodies was located” after the initial clash,…
- Crime News
Red Bull heir gets away with murder, anti-corruption officials say police neglected their duties
Nothing has been done to Red Bull heir Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya who crashed his Ferrari into an officer and killing him back in 2012 and then speeding off. Now anti-corruption officials are saying that officers investigating the fatal hit-and-run accident neglected to fulfil their duties. An investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Commission found intention to exempt Yoovidhya from prosecution on charges…
- World News
Dixie chicks changes name due to racist connotations
After the US has exploded with protests and calls for racism to be seriously addressed, the country music group Dixie Chicks has chosen to drop “dixie” citing its racist connotations. The word “dixie,” was used to describe the confederate states in the US that supported slavery as it was derived from Jeremiah Dixon, whose name came to signify the 11…
- World News
Australian fugitive caught hiding in air vent on a ship
Australian police reported that a 31 year old man, who was facing alleged sexual assault charges in Sydney, attempted to leave Australia on a yacht… but ended up ditching the yacht and hiding in an air vent on a cargo ship. On Saturday, the man set off from New South Wales (a state in eastern Australia) in his own small yacht,…
- Crime News
UPDATE: Pregnant woman killed in hit-and-run, driver surrenders
UPDATE: Today, the car mechanic who ran over and killed a pregnant woman on Sunday handed himself over to the police. Police in Bangkok’s Min Buri district had previously issued an arrest warrant for 48 year old Kawin Sathorn, for running over a woman who was 5 months pregnant. The 21 year old victim, Nadiyah, was on a motorbike with her…
- Northern Thailand News
Garbage collectors find a bag full of meth
One person’s trash is another person’s treasure. A black rubbish bag thrown into rubbish bins wasn’t your typical garbage. Police say the bag, picked up by a garbage truck in Northeast Thailand, was full of methamphetamine pills. Along with 78,000 methamphetamine pills, police say the bag contained 2 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, or ice. Police say the bag may have…
- Crime News
Pregnant woman dies in hit-and-run, police search for driver
A pregnant woman was killed in a hit-and-run road accident over the weekend. Bangkok police are looking for the driver of a black Volvo that sped off after hitting a motorcycle from behind. The woman was 5 months pregnant. She was riding on a motorcycle with her boyfriend when the car hit them from behind. Thai media says the woman…
- Crime News
Police arrest 5 allegedly involved in loan shark app
Police have arrested 5 people who allegedly ran a loan shark business in Pattaya. The smart phone app “True Cash Pro” illegally gave out loans whilst imposing excessive interest rates. Authorities say the business had around 10,000 borrowers and over 100 million baht in circulation. Police started investigating the online scam after receiving complaints about the company demanding people pay…
- World News
Riot in Germany causes multiple injuries and arrests
After investigating a potential drug trafficking ring in downtown Stuttgart, Germany, police came under attack as riot broke out against them. The brawl resulted in 24 arrests and 19 police officers wounded, according to city officials who reiterated their support of its law enforcement. The Mayor condemned the protests saying they were unacceptable and that neither alcohol nor the desire to protest…
- Bangkok News
Experts say just arresting teens doesn’t stop street racing
It’s going to take more than simply arresting street racers to stop the so-called ‘dek waen’ motorbike riders from speeding through city streets, police say. The next step in eradicating the illegal races is to crack down on the mechanic shops and garages that juice up the engines. Young dek waen racers took off again last week after the nightly…
- Covid-19 News
Thousands of curfew violators arrested in 72-day span
Police arrested more than 40,000 people for breaking the nightly curfew which lasted 72 days. An average of 582 people were arrested per day during the restriction period, police say. Many people intercepted simply didn’t have a good reason for being out of their home late at night, according to police. They say a common reason for breaching curfew was…
- Crime News
224 arrested in another Mae Sot gambling raid
Police raided a large and sophisticated online gambling operation, arresting more than 200 people at a hotel in the Mae Sot district in Northern Thailand, close to the Burmese border, as part of an on-going investigation into Chinese-related online gambling. Apparently, there was a crackdown on the illegal gambling in the Myanmar town Myawaddy, causing those involved to flee to…
- Bangkok News
Woman runs drug syndicate from Bangkok prison
Police cracked down on a drug network allegedly and discovered that it was being run by a female inmate in the Bangkok Remand Prison, using a gold shop to launder more than 3 billion baht in illegal drug money. The woman, Daorueng Somsaeng, as well as 9 other inmates in various jails and prisons across Thailand, are facing money laundering…
- Crime News
Nightly curfew lifted, illegal motorbike racers back on the streets
Illegal motorbike street racers, known as ‘dek waen’, are back on the road right after the nightly curfew was lifted last Sunday. Police recently arrested 6 young racers in the southern province of Songkhla, but officials are warning others to slow down and abide by traffic laws as Thai media reports “dek waen are back on Bangkok streets”. Royal Thai…
- Crime News
Officer says sex-for-sale to be banned on infamous “happiness street”
Prostitution is supposedly being eliminated in the Pathum Thani province, just north of Bangkok, after two sex workers were caught on video not wearing face masks while soliciting customers. It would take a lot more than a mask to prevent the spread of coronavirus during sex, but that’s apparently what sparked the attention. One police officer even said “there will be…
- South Thailand News
Songkhla teen charged with attempted murder after stabbing his mother
A teenage boy allegedly stabbed his mother multiple times because, he told police, he couldn’t live up to her expectations and said he wanted the freedom to make his own decisions without parental scrutiny. The 16 year old boy is charged with attempted murder and use of a deadly weapon. The mother has serious injuries but is in stable condition.…
- Crime News
Anti-alcohol law has “bounty hunters” snitching for reward money
Educating people, or advertising, online about alcoholic beverages is a crime in Thailand – a lesson learned the hard way by the administrator of a Facebook page detailing thee differences in the many types of craft beers when he was fined 50,000 baht for “advertising” alcohol on social media. Police told him they received a “tip-off from someone”. Artid, the…
- Crime News
Thai man faces 8 charges for Tweets criticising the monarchy
A Twitter user is facing multiple criminal charges for this posts criticising the monarchy along with a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison. The 20 year old man, going by the name “Niranam” which is Thai for anonymous, runs the Twitter account @ssji_2475 where he has made posts critical of the Thai royal family, violating Thailand’s tough lése majeste…
- Crime News
Man rides in on jet ski, fires shots as hundreds raid his illegal shellfish farm – VIDEO
Like a scene in an action movie, a man rode in on his jet ski, firing a gun in the air as around 300 other fisherman raided his illegal shellfish farm off the Phunphin coast in Surat Thani. Apparently fishermen have been at ‘Cockle Wars’ for a while, with some claiming ownership to parts of the Gulf of Thailand near…
- Crime News
Hundred arrested in illegal Rayong casino raid
Police have arrested more than one hundred gamblers at an illegal casino in a Rayong warehouse. The casino’s bank books show an average cash flow of 12 million baht per day, Thai media reports. Along with 106 gamblers, 12 dealers were also arrested. Police confiscated game equipment such as card tables, casino chips and 2 slot machines as well as…
- World News
Students charged after tying white bows around Bangkok monuments
3 students were sent to the police station after tying big white bows to the gate of the Democracy Monument in Bangkok. The students called on the Thailand and Cambodia governments to address the abduction of an exiled Thai political activist. The students were charged for violating the Road Traffic Act by tying the bows, according to Coconuts Bangkok. The Student Union…
- Northern Thailand News
Thai woman doesn’t fall for romance scam
A man posing as a wealthy English pilot tried to flirt his way into getting 24,000 baht transferred into his account. Luckily the Thai woman he was trying to romance wasn’t buying it. Police say the “English pilot” is a common romance scam, stealing hearts and money from plenty of gullible Thai women. The romancer (aka. scammer) and the woman met…
- Koh Samui News
Murder investigation launched as body of Ukrainian woman found on Koh Samui
Two weeks after she went missing, the body of a 32 year old Ukrainian woman has been found in a wooded area of Koh Samui. The discovery has prompted local police to launch a full murder investigation. A report in Coconuts says the unnamed woman’s body was found off Soi Pracharat Pattana by hotel employee Uten Wiangnon. In a statement…
- World News
Exiled Thai dissident kidnapped in broad daylight in Phnom Penh
In the latest in a string of mysterious disappearances of Southeast Asian dissidents living in exile, gunmen kidnapped a Thai political activist in Cambodia, rights advocates announced today. 37 year old Wanchalearm Satsaksit, who fled Thailand after 2014’s military coup amid accusations he broke the country’s strict lèse-majesté law, was abducted at gunpoint and bundled into a car as he…
- Events
Bangkok braces for Black Lives Matter rally
The death of black American George Floyd at the hands of police burgeoned into a storm of protests reaching across the globe; one that will reach Bangkok this weekend. The vast majority of demonstrations over the past 8 days in the US have been peaceful, but some have turned violent and curfews have been imposed after looting in a number…
- Crime News
Carpenter killed at migrant workers’ camp
A Burmese carpenter was killed early yesterday morning at a central Thailand workers’ camp which houses hundreds of migrant workers. 32 year old Thein Tun, was stabbed multiple times and was dead by the time police arrived at the Sino-Thai Engineering camp in the Samut Prakan province, just south of Bangkok. Police found a knife but are still looking for possible…
- Crime News
Chiang Rai policeman fired over torture death of university mascot dog
When the body of Tia, the mascot dog of Chiang Mai University was found in May, suspicions arose immediately. It was initially announced that Tia, or “Shorty” in English, had been run over by a car, and police later said a student had come forward to confess. But animal rights group Watchdog Thailand, based in Chiang Mai, investigated the incident…
- Crime News
Chinese man arrested with 1,000 cannabis plants, involved in ‘Heaven Herb’ illegal business
Police arrested a man yesterday for growing 1,000 cannabis plants in a Bangkok warehouse and selling it online through a service called “Heaven Herb.” 41 year old Wu Ding Bin, from China, grew “organic cannabis of foreign varieties.” Police say the foreign strains are priced up to 700,000 baht per kilogram. “Heaven Herb” marijuana was sold and delivered through a Line…
- Crime News
Pattaya police arrest intoxicated Chinese man, Thai girlfriend in front of station – VIDEO
A Chinese man and his Thai girlfriend were arrested in front of the Pattaya City Police Station in the early hours of this morning, after causing a disturbance and allegedly damaging a police car. Officers say the man was highly intoxicated. Authorities were notified at around 1:30am that a couple was having a domestic dispute at an apartment. Police arrived…