In a case that reads like a cyber-thriller with a very real and heartbreaking ending, Thai and Chinese nationals accused of orchestrating a meticulously planned scam have been arrested after forcing a 19-year-old university student into a 24-hour video-call charade that culminated in him emptying his mother’s safe of nearly 10 million baht. The Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) made the arrest public on November 23, with Police Lieutenant General Surapol Prembut briefing the media and instructing Police Major General Sarayut Chunnawat and Police Colonel Chakkrit Srirojankul to update on the probe. The victim, identified only as “Nick,” is a 19-year-old technical university student who became ensnared after what began as routine phone conversations with an unknown caller. The scammers cultivated his trust, asked him to add them on Line, and then bombarded him with counterfeit documents that looked disturbingly official — fake letters imitating the Anti‑Money Laundering Office, cyber…
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What began as a routine evening on the Det Udom–Buntharik road in Ubon Ratchathani turned into a grim tableau on November 22 when a stolen pickup ploughed into a motorcycle, dragged it for dozens of metres, and left one woman dead and another fighting for her life. The overturned vehicle — a black Toyota Vigo bearing registration Boh Jor 9448 — came to rest against a utility pole and toppled into a nearby flower shop, leaving smashed blooms, broken glass and a community reeling. At the centre of the chaos was a pink Honda motorbike, registration 2 Gor Dor 6080, which police say was struck from behind. The two people on board were 59‑year‑old Kongsri and her 27‑year‑old daughter, Saowaluk. Kongsri died later at the district hospital; Saowaluk was critically injured and rushed to Sappasitthiprasong Hospital in Ubon Ratchathani. Police arrested the driver at the scene: 18‑year‑old Sukasem Srimongkol. What…
Temple Shock: Monk Arrested After Phones Found Packed with Child Pornography In a startling development that has shaken Bangkok’s religious community, police arrested a 60-year-old monk identified as Chayut after discovering child pornography on his mobile phones. The arrest, carried out on November 23, was led by senior Metropolitan Police officials following information from an international tip-off. Pol. Lt. Gen. Siam Boonsom, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, ordered a focused operation that placed Pol. Maj. Gen. Pallop Aeremla, Deputy Commissioner, Pol. Maj. Gen. Chotiwat Lueangwilai, Commander of the Investigation Division, and Pol. Col. Wichit Thirakajornwong, Superintendent of Investigation Division 1, at the helm. Their team executed a search in Bang Mueang subdistrict, Mueang district, Samut Prakan province after obtaining a court-sanctioned warrant. The probe began earlier in November when the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the United States flagged suspicious activity linked to a Gmail…
Imagine arriving at Manchester Airport in your wedding suit (or wedding-mussed T-shirt) clutching a one-way ticket to paradise, only to be told you can’t board because of a smudge. That was the abrupt, soul-crushing reality for 31-year-old Josh Reekie from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, who had planned a dream £2,400 (about 105,600 baht) honeymoon in Phuket with his new wife, Eden—until Etihad Airways staff stepped in and said his passport was “too damaged.” A honeymoon grounded by a smudge According to Reekie, airline staff pointed to what they described as water damage on a 2019 Thailand entry stamp. “I was absolutely gutted,” he said. “They said there was a smudge on a stamp from Thailand in 2019. Who’s to say that didn’t happen when it was stamped and closed?” It’s a fair question: the passport’s photo page was reportedly immaculate, and the couple had used the same document up to 12…
Patong’s Power Move: Burying the Tangle for a Cleaner, Safer Streetscape Patong is staging a low-key revolution — one that’s literally going underground. In a bold effort to tidy up its skyline and make streets safer for tourists and residents alike, the resort town has kicked off a 224 million baht project to bury power and telecom lines along five key thoroughfares. The plan covers nearly 1.8 kilometres of urban arteries, routing cables out of sight along Bangla Road, Thaweewong Road, Sawatdirak Road, Ruam Jai Road, and Prachanukroh Road. It’s part of a long-running push by the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA), with Patong Municipality chipping in substantial funding to get the job done. Money where the meters are The budget breakdown is straightforward: Patong will contribute 84.45 million baht to cover engineering and municipal works, while the PEA will pour in 137.53 million baht to overhaul the electrical system. The…
Floodwaters that swept through Nakhon Si Thammarat last week turned a frantic scramble into a tragedy when an electrical leak claimed one life and left eight people injured as families hurriedly moved possessions to higher ground. The horror unfolded in Chaloet and Tha Pracha subdistricts late on Thursday, November 20, as residents battled rising water, collapsing calm and, tragically, live power in submerged homes. The moment everything went wrong By late afternoon on November 20, rain that had been hammering the province since November 17 reached a tipping point. Runoff from the Luang Mountain range swelled the Tha Dee Canal in Kamphaeng Sao subdistrict, which then burst its banks and sent a fast-moving wall of water into Nakhon Si Thammarat municipality. Streets that are usually bustling—like Thevaburi Road, the main route to Pho Sadet—were waist-deep in places, impassable for small vehicles and littered with the detritus of a community racing…
On the morning of November 22, central Thailand’s Phetchabun province roared to life as roughly 5,000 motorcycles converged for the annual Trip Without a Bath rally — a two-day, high-energy pilgrimage for bikers that runs through Lom Kao and Khao Kho districts from November 22–23. What organizers pitch as a rowdy celebration of camaraderie and open roads quickly turned into a test of local emergency services and traffic enforcement when a string of accidents and risky riding behaviours forced authorities to scramble. The event’s caravan carved a wide swath across Highway 21, streaming through Si Thep, Wichian Buri, Bueng Sam Phan and Nong Phai districts. For many riders it was a scenic, sociable run: motorcycles glinting in the sun, vendors hawking grilled chicken, and communities making the most of the tourism bump. For others, the rally revived its familiar reputation for chaos — revved engines, bursts of speed and, in…
The new traffic lights at Pattaya’s Thepprasit–Koh Phai intersection were supposed to be the calm, rational answer to congestion and danger — a city-led trial meant to tame a notoriously tricky junction. Instead, the junction has become a stage for automotive exasperation, social-media theater and a very public argument about whether blinking beacons can replace human common sense. Drivers and residents have flooded comment threads with tales of gridlock so slow it tests the limits of passenger patience. One fed-up motorist summed it up bluntly: “With three lanes, one for U-turns and one blocked by parked cars, we’re left with just one lane. Traffic barely moves.” Another commuter — a parent who uses the route daily — said it turned a routine school run into an epic: “Today it took two hours to get through an area that normally flows smoothly.” Those two hours are the kind of detail that…
The quiet of a Bangkok neighbourhood was shattered in the small hours of the morning on November 22 when a fire ripped through an Isuzu car showroom on Rama II Soi 33, leaving scorched metal, blackened walls and a shocked security guard in its wake. The blaze — first reported at about 1:51 a.m. — tore through the ground floor of the two-storey concrete building at the entrance to Bang Mod in Chom Thong district before firefighters could wrestle it under control. Officers from Bang Mod Police Station alerted crews from Chom Thong Fire Station, and rescue volunteers from the Poh Teck Tung Foundation also rushed to the scene. When emergency teams arrived they were met by a dramatic sight: flames leaping from a corner of the showroom and thick, oily black smoke curling into the night sky. The fire was fierce but focused, and firefighters worked for more than…
Bangkok residents: time to raid the water jugs and give your emergency shower playlist a polish. The Metropolitan Waterworks Authority (MWA) has warned that taps in 27 areas across the capital will run dry — or at least trickle — from 10:00pm tonight, 22 November, until 5:00am tomorrow, 23 November. The culprit? Urgent maintenance and equipment upgrades at the Bang Khen 2 pumping station and the Bang Khen water production facility. In short: the pumps go quiet, so the faucets might too. The MWA says the seven-hour shutdown is necessary to upgrade critical equipment. While that’s good news for long-term reliability, it means a short-term headache for households, businesses, factories and night-shift workers in the zones affected. If you live, work or sleep in any of the following pockets, plan ahead — fill bottles, buckets and the bathtub now. Both sides of Phahon Yothin Road: odd-numbered addresses from Ratchayothin Intersection…