In a courtroom drama that reads like a financial thriller, Bangkok’s Criminal Court handed down what may be one of the harshest symbolic punishments in Thailand’s recent history: businessman Prasit Jeawkok was sentenced to a staggering 1,210 years in prison for orchestrating elaborate illegal loan and investment schemes. The headline number is jaw-dropping, the details are complex, and the legal reality is a reminder of how Thai sentencing limits work in practice. The case was brought by prosecutors from the Economic and Resource Crime Division after an extensive probe into a web of fraudulent financial activity. Defendants included Nuea Lok Co., Ltd., Web Sawasdee Public Co., Ltd., Prasit himself, and several associates accused of luring a large number of victims into seemingly lucrative but fraudulent investment schemes. Charges ranged from general fraud to violations of the Public Borrowing Act and the Computer Crime Act — a modern mix of old-fashioned…
Posts published in “Thailand”
The Bangkok authorities have waved a yellow flag — figuratively speaking — as the capital heads into its busiest holiday stretch. The Bangkok Air Quality Information Centre has released an updated outlook spanning December 26, 2025 to January 3, 2026, warning that PM2.5 levels could climb as air ventilation weakens across the city during the New Year celebrations. Translation: if you’re planning rooftop toasts, midnight fireworks, or long drives home, keep one eye on the skies and the other on your lungs. Good news first: ventilation on December 26 and 27 is expected to be “fair to good,” which will help disperse fine particulate matter and keep PM2.5 concentrations relatively manageable for most areas of Bangkok. Those two days are your best bet for outdoor activities without the extra worry of heavy haze. Enjoy the markets, the parks, and the last-minute shopping — just don’t forget basic common-sense precautions. Things…
After 65 years missing, a beloved bronze Buddha has come home — and the return to Phayao felt less like news and more like a communal, long-awaited celebration. Phra Chao Tong Song Khruang, a historically important statue once housed at Wat Ban Tom in Mueang district, was ceremoniously brought back to its original place, stirring pride, relief and, perhaps unsurprisingly, a flurry of lottery fever. A statue with stories to spare Phra Chao Tong Song Khruang is no ordinary find. Cast in bronze and posed in the Maravijaya posture — the classic seated, cross-legged pose signifying the Buddha’s triumph over Mara — the statue’s restrained decoration and classical lines point to a refined aesthetic. Art historians classify it within the Phayao (or Pa Daeng) style, with clear influences from southern Buddhist traditions and Ayutthaya-era art. Believed to have been created in the 22nd Buddhist century, it was unearthed at an…
The clang of cymbals, the swell of age-old melodies, and the measured pace of rhythmic chanting returned to Yaowarat — Bangkok’s legendary Chinatown — as Chinese opera reclaimed its place on the neighborhood’s bustling streets. For three luminous nights around Wat Mangkon Station, BEM Happy Journey 2025: Yaowarat turned the area into a living stage, where past and present rubbed shoulders under lantern light. Organized by Bangkok Expressway and Metro Public Company Limited (BEM) together with the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA), the festival did more than offer entertainment. It invited people to step back into memories of a Yaowarat where glowing lanterns, crowded alleys and the commanding presence of Chinese opera were as ordinary as street food stalls and long conversations on the curb. For many elderly Thai-Chinese residents, the sound of opera was the soundtrack of life before smartphones and streaming replaced neighborhood theatres. Costumes shimmered…
In the quiet hours before dawn on December 28, 2025, work at one of Bangkok’s most important flood-control projects turned tragic when a 59-year-old construction worker lost his life after slipping and falling into a drainage tunnel excavation. The accident occurred at the Klong Prem Prachakorn drainage tunnel site in Bang Sue district — a major artery intended to link Klong Bang Bua with the Chao Phraya River and help shield parts of the city from seasonal flooding. Police Lieutenant Nitipol Changradom, Deputy Investigator at Bang Pho Police Station, said officers were alerted by an emergency call at about 4:30 a.m. Rescue volunteers, forensic teams and police rushed to the scene near Wat Soi Thong on Pracha Rat Sai 1 Road, where they found the worker’s body at the bottom of the construction area adjacent to the tunnel. The deceased was later identified as Mr. Samai, 59. He was found…
When faith and fraud collide, the headlines get a lot more interesting — and a lot more troubling. On December 27, a long-running scam that read like a criminal thriller finally reached its last chapter when officers from Thailand’s Crime Suppression Division arrested 54-year-old Manop in Moo 1, Thung Krapang Hom subdistrict, Kamphaeng Saen district, Nakhon Pathom province. The arrest — carried out under Criminal Court warrant No. 1472/2019 dated September 24, 2019 — uncovers how a criminal ring exploited religious trust for cold, calculated theft. The disguise that emptied bank accounts According to police reports, the scheme was audacious in its simplicity. A gang allegedly hired Manop to literally become a monk on paper. He shaved his head and eyebrows, slipped into monk’s robes and allowed himself to be photographed as “proof” for fake monk identification documents. Those counterfeit IDs were then used to open replacement bank accounts for…
The scene at Bangkok’s bus terminals on Friday felt a bit like a city-wide game of musical chairs — only with luggage, flip-flops, and a lot more rooster-shaped pillows. Tens of thousands of people poured through the gates as Thailand’s New Year exodus got into full swing, turning platforms into buzzing hubs of farewells, last-minute snack runs, and the occasional sleepy nod on a 30-seat coach. Transport authorities were ready for the rush. Atthawit Rakchamroon, managing director of Transport Co., Ltd. (BKS), warned that December 27 would remain a high-volume travel day as passengers continued to leave Bangkok ahead of New Year 2026. Officials estimated between 100,000 and 120,000 travelers would depart the capital for provincial getaways — beaches, family gatherings, and quiet upcountry retreats — and they planned accordingly. How did they plan? By throwing more buses at the problem. Roughly 6,000 scheduled bus trips — a mix of…
What started as a few seconds of shaky phone footage has snowballed into a full-blown online storm. A video that went viral across X and Instagram appears to show heavy machinery partially demolishing a statue of Lord Vishnu near the Thai–Cambodian border — and within hours hashtags like “Boycott Thailand” and “Boycott Pattaya” were trending among Indian social media users. The statue, according to Indian media reports citing local sources, was erected in 2014 in Cambodia’s An Ses area, roughly 100 meters from the Thai border. The clip’s spread ignited furious reactions from many who interpreted the images as an affront to Hindu religious sentiment. Calls circulated urging Indian tourists to cancel bookings, boycott Thai businesses and apply economic pressure until answers were provided. From viral clip to hashtag rebellion Social media’s outrage moved fast. Within hours the simple act of sharing a two-minute clip escalated into national indignation for…
Thailand’s long, slow unspooling of accountability in the wake of the devastating collapse of the new Office of the Auditor General (OAG) building took a sharp turn on December 26, 2025, when prosecutors accepted police recommendations to indict 23 individuals and corporate entities. The case — born from the tragic March 28, 2025 collapse that cost lives and shook public confidence — has now been forwarded to the Criminal Court, setting the stage for courtroom drama that could reshape how the country builds and governs public projects. From the ground up: what investigators found The official fact-finding committee’s reconstruction of the collapse reads like a forensic engineering thriller, and none of its findings are flattering. The failure began low and fast: the collapse initiated at floors one through four, where investigators determined that earthquake-related shear forces overwhelmed shear walls that simply didn’t meet required engineering standards. In plain terms, the…
In the quiet pre-dawn hours of December 27, a routine drive turned into a scene of devastation on the Chonburi motorway. At 3:10 a.m., near the 91-kilometre marker on the Pattaya-bound lane in Bang Phra, Si Racha district, an orange four-door Nissan pickup rammed into the rear of a stationary 18-wheeler, killing four people and leaving one critically injured. The crash has left a community reeling and prompted renewed warnings about the dangers of drowsy driving on Thailand’s busy highways. The wreckage and the rescue By the time officers from Khao Khiao Highway Police Station and crews from the Pure Yeang Tai Si Racha Foundation arrived, the pickup was little more than a mangled shell. The white Hino trailer, hauling rubberwood bound for a Rayong factory, bore the blunt force of the impact but remained upright. Rescue teams worked under floodlights, their hydraulic cutters hissing as they pried metal apart…