Songkhla
- Crime News
Bus driver of student field trip arrested after police find 600 kilograms of methamphetamine onboard
A chartered bus driver, who recently took students on a field trip, was arrested after police found 600 kilograms of methamphetamine in the bus’ luggage compartment. 53 year old Amorn Chatawittayakul, the driver, was stopped at the Tha Yang intersection on Phetkasem Highway in Thailand’s central Petchaburi province at about 8pm last night. The bus was headed back from a…
- South Thailand News
2 killed, 1 injured in early morning Songkhla car crash
2 men were killed and 1 was injured in an early morning accident after their car rear-ended a container truck in Thailand’s southern province of Songkhla. The crash occurred at 12:30am in Rattaphum district at the Khuha intersection on the main highway in tambon Khuan Ru, according to the district’s deputy investigation chief. The car, a Honda City, with Bangkok…
- South Thailand News
Thai school director resigns after sexual abuse and firearms charges
The school director who pulled out a gun during a school assembly amid allegations that he sexually abused a student has resigned. After a student’s mother filed a police complaint accusing the director of rape and depriving a child of parental protection, 60 year old Sayan Chaleephol made a public apology at a school assembly for his “personal problem” and…
- South Thailand News
Thai principal pulls out gun at school assembly amid sexual abuse allegation
A principal at a school in Southern Thailand pulled out a gun at a morning flag assembly after a criminal complaint was filed with police claiming that he had a sexual relationship with a student. The principal at Thepha School in Songkhla, Sayan Chaleephol, was discussing the school’s budget at the assembly, but then changed the subject and started asking…
- South Thailand News
Thousands of people evacuated due to flood in deep south Thailand
Thousands of residents in Songkhla, Yala and Narathiwat, in lower south of Thailand, evacuated their homes due to flash flooding from nearly a week of continuous heavy rain. Local authorities say a total of 18,024 households across 19 districts in the 3 provinces were affected. In Yala, the continuous heavy rain throughout the week caused the Sai Buri River to…
- South Thailand News
Hat Yai nightclub raided, owner arrested
A nightclub in Songkhla’s Hat Yai district was raided at 2am this morning after police were tipped off about the venue staying open beyond the authorised hours. Nation Thailand says people at the nightclub were “partying without protection” and not abiding by coronavirus prevention measures. Nearby residents also say they were disturbed by the noise during the early hours. The…
- Thailand News
Murder-suicide at Songkhla Zoo linked to missing rare animal investigation
Investigators say the apparent murder-suicide at the Songkhla Zoo is related to the case of the missing rare deer and claims of illegal wildlife trade. Back in October, the zoo’s senior veterinarian shot and killed a top official from the Zoological Park Organisation of Thailand before killing himself at his living quarters at the Southern Thailand zoo. The organisation’s director-general,…
- Thailand News
Thailand News Today | Deadly floods, Chiang Rai Covid cases, Mekong Forum | December 7
Southern Thailand flood death toll: 24 At least 24 people have now been reported to have died due to flash floods in Southern Thailand following a week of heavy rain. 19 of the victims were in Nakhon Si Thammarat which was hit the hardest. Today, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation reported 3 more deaths from flooding in the…
- Thailand Weather Updates
Southern Thailand flood death toll: 24
At least 24 people have died due to flash floods in Southern Thailand following several days of heavy rain. 19 of the victims were in Nakhon Si Thammarat which was hit the hardest. Today, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation reported 3 deaths from flooding in the southern region. A woman drowned in Surat Thani’s Phrasaeng district and 2…
- Crime News
Police seize 45 million baht worth of heroin and methamphetamine from Hat Yai home
Police arrested a man on drug charges and seized 45 million baht worth of drugs in the southern province Songkhla near the Thai-Malaysia border. Police raided a home Hat Yai district and found 76 bars of heroin weighing a total of 27 kilograms and 980,000 methamphetamine pills. 28 year old Sompong Mugem, who rents the home, was arrested. Police had…
- South Thailand News
Zoos to be investigated for possible involvement in black market animal trade
Zoos across Thailand will be investigated for possible involvement in the black market wildlife trade. The probe follows a case where 2 rare albino barking deer went missing at Songkhla Zoo and a top zoo official investigating the disappearance was shot and killed at the zoo in an apparent murder-suicide. After suspicion that the deer were stolen and sold in…
- South Thailand News
Songkhla senior zoo official carries out murder-suicide after deers go missing
A senior zoo official in Songkhla has reportedly shot himself in his home in an apparent murder-suicide after being investigated over 2 missing rare albino barking deers. Phuvadol Suwanna, chief of the conservation and research section of the state-run zoo, allegedly murdered his boss, Suriya Senpong, the Director of the Zoological Park Organisation of Thailand, while he was investigating the…
- South Thailand News
Songkhla Zoo director to be investigated over missing rare animal
After a rare albino barking deer went missing from the Songkhla Zoo, the zoo director, who claims the animal was eaten by a python, is now being investigated by the Zoological Park Organisation as well as the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry. The 1 year old deer went missing from the zoo in February, but yesterday zoo director Chalermwut Kasetsomboon…
- Crime News
Surat Thani police chase leads to drug bust
A police chase led officers to stop and search a man’s truck in Thailand’s south, discovering nearly 400,000 methamphetamine pills. They arrested 44 year old Thammarat Phothisan for allegedly carrying 396,000 methamphetamine pills in his truck. Thammarat was driving toward the Surat Thani’s Phun Phin district checkpoint when he suddenly turned around and sped off. The province’s police chief says…
- South Thailand News
Tuk tuk driver shot multiple times by rival driver in Songkhla
A Songkhla tuk tuk driver is in critical condition after a rival driver allegedly shot the man multiple times for taking his customers. 40 year old Chaowalit Phuthaksin allegedly shot the driver 9 times from behind just as the driver was calling out to potential customers. When police arrived to the scene, they found 40 year old Sao Phuangthong on…
- South Thailand News
Ships want a shortcut: Studies to start on Thai canal and land bridge
Thailand could actually sliced in half by a canal right across the Malay Peninsula, linking the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. Proposals have been in the works for hundreds of years, but now the idea is popping up again, and alternatives, as shipping companies try and find ways to cut their costs. The Thai government plans to hold…
- World News
A Land Bridge or the Kra Canal for Thailand?
OPINION by guest writer Tony P Restall Why the land bridge idea will never work Much has been written about the long-proposed Thai or Kra Canal and the on and off decision to proceed, or not. Over the recent years several high-level committees have examined the economic benefits to establish a water connection by means of a canal linking the East…
- South Thailand News
Monkeys take over Songkhla home while family away for holiday
Monkeys took over a Songkhla home in Southern Thailand while a family was away during the 4 day long weekend holiday. Monkeys were on the roof, in the trees and on the fence while trash was scattered across the yard and driveway. Luckily, the monkeys couldn’t get inside the home (although we bet they tried). Monkeys frequent the area near the…
- Crime News
Songkhla fisherman found murdered in lake house
A man in the southern Songkhla province was shot dead at a house on stilts in the middle of Songkhla Lake in the small hours of this morning. A Singha Nakhon police duty officer says he was informed of the incident at about 3:40am. Officers were sent to the scene to investigate. Police found the body of the man lying…
- World News
Mother, infant son reunited after 5 months
A young Malaysian mother was reunited with her infant son yesterday after being stranded in Thailand for 5 months. She was marooned while on a visa run when Malaysia closed its borders in March due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 18 year old Nurahaleesa Jeh-awae was joyfully reunited with her 6 month old son at the Sadao district border crossing in…
- South Thailand News
Psychiatric patient stabs sister to death at family home in southern Thailand
A man undergoing psychiatric treatment after prolonged drug use has stabbed his sister to death in the southern province of Songkhla. The man’s family say he was being treated at Rajanagarindra Psychiatric Hospital, but on the day of the murder he’d been told by his doctor to rest at home. The man has been named as 39 year old Boonya…
- South Thailand News
Hat Yai police seize over 20,000 meth pills; suspect escapes, wife arrested
More than 20,000 methamphetamine pills (“yaba”) and 28 grams of crystal meth (“ya ice”) were seized at a house in the southern Songkhla province’s Hat Yai district yesterday morning. A woman, 22 year old Kittima Ronnakan, was arrested, while her husband, the prime suspect, 49 year old Sompop Chaimit, escaped, leaving her alone at the dinner table. Acting on a…
- South Thailand News
Jilted uni student throws acid on ex girlfriend
A university student in Thailand’s southern Songkhla province has been arrested today and charged with physical assault and possessing a fake gun, after he splashed acid on his former girlfriend for rejecting him. 18 year old Nong Thawibboonphonwent went to see his 20 year old ex-girlfriend Rattiyakorn (surname withheld), around 10:30 last night at the convenience store where she works,…
- 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…
- 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.…
- South Thailand News
Mother, pregnant woman among 5 arrested for drugs in Songkhla
A young woman carrying a baby and a pregnant woman were among 5 people caught using drugs in a raid at a rented house in Songkhla’s Thepha district. Local officials and volunteers surrounded the house after receiving a tip that people were using the property to take drugs and sell methamphetamine pills (“yaba”) and crystal methamphetamine (“ya ice”) to young…
- Covid-19 News
National Covid-19 figures with 1 additional death (June 2)
Today the Centre of Covid-19 Administration reported 1 new Covi-19 case and 1 addition death in Thailand. This takes the total number of infections to 3,085 and the accumulated death toll to 58. The additional fatality was an 80 year old Thai man living in Narathiwat and the latest patient was a 32 year old male student who had recently…
- South Thailand News
Truck overturns in Songkhla, injuring 12
12 seafood processing factory workers were injured after the pickup truck they were travelling in burst a tyre, rammed into a roadside lamppost, and overturned. The incident occurred in the southern province of Songkhla this morning. Authorities say the crash happened on Ramot-Songkhla Road in tambon Muang Ngam. Police and rescue workers rushed to the scene to find an Isuzu…