In a story that reads like a medical mystery with a bureaucratic twist, a Thai military medical officer was arrested after allegedly tricking more than 200 service members in South Sudan into receiving a fake influenza shot. The arrest — executed on a quiet patch of King Kaew Road in Racha Thewa, Bang Phli district, Samut Prakan — brings a curious and troubling chapter in Thailand’s overseas mission into sharp focus. On September 2, Police Major General Witthaya Sriprasert ordered Police Colonel Manoon Kaewgam to team up with Jarong Kraomao, director of the Bureau of Special Investigations, and Phairoj Niyomdecha, director of Investigation and Intelligence Operations Group 2 at the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC). Their target: Lieutenant Chinnawat (also identified by the alias Borisut; surname withheld), a military medical officer who had been serving at a field hospital attached to the Thai/South Sudan special engineering company. The Bangkok Military Court…
Posts published in “Thailand”
Border patrols in Sa Kaeo province turned up more than dust and dawn mist this week — they exposed two separate groups of people whose plans for work and travel took a hard left into danger and uncertainty. At midday on September 2, officers from the Burapha Task Force and the Aranyaprathet Task Force, led by Police Colonel Chainarong Kasi, were out on a routine sweep when they stumbled upon a small band of desperate travellers. The Aranyaprathet Special Unit and the 1204th Ranger Company of the 12th Ranger Regiment were patrolling near Baan Noen Sombun, Moo 12, in Khlong Nam Sai subdistrict — roughly one kilometre from the Cambodian border — when they found seven Thai nationals hiding in the forest close to the road. The group — four men and three women — told investigators they had crossed into Cambodia in late August after being recruited with the…
A troubling allegation has shaken the monastic community in Phichit province after a forest monk visiting from Kamphaeng Phet was accused of abusing three young boys at Wat Krabangdin. The claims — now the subject of a police complaint and medical examinations — have sent ripples through the village of Thanang in Phon Thale district, prompting parents, teachers and locals to demand a full investigation and accountability. The case began to come to light when a teacher at a local school noticed changes in students’ behaviour. Conversations among pupils hinted that a monk identified as Phet, who had been staying at Wat Krabangdin at the invitation of the abbot, Phra Kittisak, had been spending time with several boys from the community. According to reports, the abbot had allowed Phet to lodge in the lower quarters of the temple while he visited to consult with the abbot. Allegations state that Phet…
It started like a scene from a low-budget crime film — bright green paint splattered across a man’s face, a crowd gathering on a sun-drenched pier, and a crowbar glinting in someone’s hand. But this wasn’t fiction. It happened at Koh Loey Pier in Chon Buri, where a confrontation between two boat drivers ended with one man badly injured and another in handcuffs. Rescuers from the Sawang Preteep Si Racha Foundation were first on the scene after a caller reported a seriously wounded man. The victim, 52-year-old boat driver Noppadon, arrived at the pier with his face and clothes smeared in startling green paint. He had suffered multiple wounds to his head and arms, and — in what witnesses described as the most alarming injury — his right ear was almost severed. Blood loss was significant, and he was rushed to Queen Savang Vadhana Memorial Hospital. Hospital staff later described…
What was supposed to be a breezy photoshoot at one of Phuket’s most picturesque lookout points turned into a viral morality play about respect, symbolism and the strange power of a 58-second video. The stage was Black Rock Viewpoint (Pha Hin Dam) in Rawai, at the southern tip of the island. The cast: a small filming team, a woman who appears to be arranging props, and a local man who stepped in and rewound the scene — literally — by unfurling the Thai flag back onto its pole. The clip that set off the internet The short clip first appeared on Facebook and quickly ricocheted across other platforms. In it, a woman believed to be part of a photography crew wraps the Thai national flag around its pole as she prepares to take a shot. For reasons that aren’t clear from the footage, the flag ends up bunched around the…
Six Decades of Classrooms, Campuses and Cross-Border Camaraderie Sixty years is a long time to perfect a handshake—and in the case of Thailand and Singapore, that handshake has been practiced in classrooms, lecture halls and cultural festivals. At the Singapore Education Fair 2025 in Bangkok, Quek Shei Ting, Deputy Chief of Mission of Singapore to Thailand, reminded attendees that education isn’t just a component of the bilateral relationship; it’s one of its brightest pillars. “Thailand and Singapore have shared a long history of friendship and collaboration, and education has always been one of the strongest areas of our cooperation,” Quek said—summing up a partnership that has evolved from student exchanges to strategic institutional alliances. What does six decades of cooperation look like in practice? Think school twinning programmes where classrooms in Bangkok and Singapore swap ideas and projects; cultural exchanges that send students home with new tastes, rhythms and perspectives;…
A peaceful night in Mueang Phatthalung district turned into a scene straight out of a crime drama when a 15-year-old boy — identified only as “A” in police reports — allegedly went on a violent rampage inside his family home. According to authorities, the teenager, reportedly under the influence of methamphetamine, grabbed a hammer and tried to assault his mother and grandmother before neighbours alerted police. Rapid police response and a tense standoff Deputy Inspector Lieutenant Chokdee Areerak of the Mueang Phatthalung Police Station led officers to the house after receiving the emergency call. Arriving on the scene, officers found the youth actively threatening family members. With the situation escalating and lives at risk, police used a taser to subdue him and prevent further harm — an intervention that, by all accounts, de-escalated a dangerous confrontation without deadly force. After securing the teenager, officers searched his bedroom and uncovered a…
What should have been another hectic Monday morning commute in central Bangkok turned into a scene of chaos and heartbreak when a motorcyclist was fatally crushed beneath a bus near the Asok–Sukhumvit intersection. The collision happened at precisely 7:59am on September 1 on Asok Montri Road (Sukhumvit 21), right outside a glass-fronted office building that normally hums with weekday energy. Witnesses say the noise of horns and engines gave way to stunned silence as the bus and motorcycle collided. Traffic news service JS100 reported that the bus attempted to move from the left lane to the right at the moment the motorcycle was already travelling there. The result was a devastating impact: the rider — a man whose identity has not been released — was crushed beneath the bus. Police later confirmed he died at the scene. Rescue crews and traffic officers were on the scene within minutes, cordoning off…
What started as a late-night visit in a quiet Pattaya neighbourhood turned into a chaotic and bloody scene that has left residents rattled and police on high alert. At 8:36pm on the evening of September 1, a rental room in Thung Sra Kaew Village became the setting for a violent outburst when a jealous ex allegedly forced his way in and attacked those inside. The scene: a door smashed, a room in disarray Rescue crews from the Sawang Boriboon Thammasathan Rescue Unit were called to the property and arrived to find the rental room’s front door battered and evidence of a desperate struggle strewn across the floor. Blood spatter, overturned furniture and the general chaos of a sudden attack painted a disturbing picture for first responders. The victim and the survivor’s account The injured man, 24-year-old Sarawut Itipi, suffered a deep cut above his left eyebrow and a stab wound…
When a silent, blinking box tucked into the shadowy heart of Khao Laem National Park captures life in motion, the forest speaks. Recently released camera-trap images from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) have done just that—unmasking a parade of seldom-seen residents and quietly celebrating a conservation success story unfolding in Kanchanaburi’s slice of the Western Forest Complex. Park chief Dom Chansuwan didn’t mince words: these snapshots are more than wildlife vanity shots. They’re evidence. Evidence that anti-poaching patrols, stricter logging controls and sustained community cooperation are letting nature breathe—and thrive—again across Sangkhla Buri and Thong Pha Phum districts. The gallery of forest life reads like an all-star roster of Southeast Asian biodiversity. There’s the nimble serow, a cliff-dwelling goat-antelope that looks like it was carved to cling to rocky ledges. Asiatic black bears—important architects of forest health—shuffled through, their foraging helping to redistribute nutrients. Malayan…