🗞️Thailand News Roundup: Violent Ends & Carrot Sticks
I’ve compiled several stories which I think are worthy of your attention. Both for the outside world peeking in, and for readers based in Thailand who might’ve missed something.
Violence and murders are being reported on often. More carnage on the roads, needless waste of lives. Colombian men caught after carrying out break-ins throughout Bangkok housing estates. Digital ID almost live for Govt CBDC pilot carrot-stick giveaway. MSM salivates at Govt suggestion for social credit system to rate news outlet trustworthiness. Govt U-turns on the U-turn to re-criminalise cannabis…
VIOLENT ENDS
In January 2024, I wrote about Thailand’s violent underbelly, hidden away from the ‘amazing Thailand’ tourism campaigns.
Lately the violence has become more prolific in Bangkok and other major cities. The amount of violence being committed and murders making the headlines is quite disturbing.
A Chinese man wanted for the murder of the Chinese TikTok influencer Yan Ruimin, whose body was found dumped in Chachoengsao on Saturday, has been arrested in Hong Kong, Thai police said on Thursday.
[…]
A check of the car’s GPS showed that it travelled to a fish farm in Muang district.
At one location, police found an item of burned luggage believed to have belonged to the missing woman. The search eventually led them to the site where they found the body parts.
Three Chinese men escaped to Hong Kong after breaking into a house in Chon Buri, tying up a compatriot for money and kidnapping his female cousin on Wednesday night.
Authorities obtained information from a key witness who was hired to pick up the three Chinese men and their alleged abductee to Suvarnabhumi airport in Samut Prakan in the early hours of Thursday.
Investigators believed the victim's cousin colluded with the three men in extorting the businessman.
HONG KONG - A fashion model allegedly murdered by her partner in Thailand following a stint in Hong Kong is believed to have been represented by the same agency as other well-known names, including Gaile Lok and Danielle Graham.
Gwendoline Cretton, a 24-year-old Swiss passport holder, was killed at her residence in Bangkok’s Prawet district on Thursday night last week, according to Thai media reports.
She was reportedly stabbed nine times to death, and three men — the suspect and two neighbours who tried to help the man who yelled for help — carried her body to a car.
Chiang Rai: A man killed a two-month-old baby after the infant's mother refused to have sex with him, the police said on Monday.
[…]
At the house, officers found the body of a two-month-old girl with a headwound on the ground floor of the house. The mother, identified only as Chanikan, 20, was crying in grief nearby.
Chanikan told investigators she was collecting clothes outside the house around 2.30pm on Sunday, when Lee Sae Yang, 40, a neighbour who lived across the road, suddenly grabbed her arm and demanded to have sex with her.
She said he threatened to kill her daughter, who was sleeping on a mattress inside the house, if she refused his demand.
Chanikan managed to break free and ran away, which prompted Mr Lee to walk into the house, grab her daughter by the legs, and slam her head against the floor, killing her instantly. After killing the baby, Mr Lee ran back to his own house.
Five foreigners have been arrested after a sixth foreigner complained he had been brutally beaten and robbed of cash and valuables worth about 3million baht at an apartment in Bangkok early last Friday.
Most were arrested at a hotel in Pattaya early Monday morning.
A police source said they arrested a Danish citizen, Abdullahi Mohamed, three British citizens - Shafiq Sumya, Ahmed Yasin and Hussein Sheekh -and a foreign woman whose nationality was not disclosed.
The victim is a British citizen and reportedly a stock and cryptocurrency trader. He told police he was robbed at a party with the suspects in an apartment room in Klong Toey district of Bangkok in the early hours of Friday last week.
Four Colombian men have been arrested in Nonthaburi and Chon Buri for a string of home burglaries at housing estates in Bangkok and nearby provinces.
[…]
They were charged with colluding in theft. Seized from them were screwdrivers and other tools used for home break-ins, rented motorcycles and 125 items of stolen valuables worth about 3 million baht including cash, gold necklaces, gold rings and watches.
[…]
The suspects were identified as Fredy Alexander Velasquez Fruiz, 52;Jhon Edwin Suarez Calderon, 47; Andres Felipe Velasquez Pira, 29; and Marco Tulio Pinzon Torneros, 51.
💡If you are a foreigner living in Thailand, now might be a good time to take self-defense classes, strategically place a metal baseball bat or two around your home, and consider registering a firearm in your girlfriend’s/boyfriend’s/wife’s/husband’s name - if they are Thai (foreigners cannot legally register firearms in Thailand).
CHIANG MAI - A 26-year-old man has been arrested on charges of murdering a ride-hail driver and wearing the victim's uniform when robbing a gold shop of necklaces worth about 2.8 million baht.
[…]
Pol Lt Gen Kotthapol Yeesakhon, commander of Provincial Police Region5, said the suspect used a ride-hailing app, asking to be picked up near Pha Lad waterfall in Muang district early Monday morning.
He sat behind the 48-year-old driver during the trip and allegedly used a 9mm pistol to shoot him in the back of the neck, then drove the car to a ravine near Wat Pha Lad where he dumped the body.
The Surat Thani Provincial Electricity Authority office has been attacked by a man wielding two firearms, claiming his power had been cut off .
Police responded to a threat at the PEA office in tambon Ipan, in Phra Saeng district, on Friday evening, said Pol Col Pornnarong Karnorathai, chief of the Phra Saeng station.
Upon arrival, police found the building’s glass door shattered by gunfire, with the assailant having escaped on a motorcycle. Surveillance video showed the man arriving on a motorcycle and firing a shot through the door. Two PEA staff members were seen fleeing during the attack.
Police later found the gunman at a local convenience store. The attacker, speaking loudly to himself, was in possession of a .357 calibre firearm and a shotgun.
After a three-hour standoff , the officers apprehended the man as he attempted to mount his motorcycle to escape.
A mentally ill man committed suicide after shooting dead a police lieutenant colonel who was attempting to negotiate an end to a family hostage drama at a house in Bang Bon district, Bangkok, early Sunday morning.
Police rushed to a three-storey building in DK Rama 2 housing estate on Rama II Road at 9.45pm on Saturday after being informed that a deranged gunman was holding family members hostage there, according to the Royal Thai Police Office.
After the shooting, police rescued family members from the house, including a 15-year-old daughter who had been hit in the face with a gun.
The daughter said her father had four guns including a shotgun as well as ammunition.
A rescue worker said that last month that colleagues had sent the man to a mental health facility at the request of local police, and the man had threatened to hurt rescue workers at that time.
NAKHON RATCHASIMA – An electrician and his elder sister, who had autism, were found dead in a car parked at a temple in the Muang district of this northeastern province on Friday night. A charcoal stove was found inside the vehicle.
Yotthawat Khasabai, a 40-year-old electrician at the Provincial Electricity Authority’s Nakhon Ratchasima office, was found dead in the driver’s seat. His sister, 42-year-old Yuwanida Khasabai, was found in the front
Police and forensic officers inspect two bodies inside a car with a warm charcoal stove at Wat Nong Phai in Nakhon Ratchasima's Muang district, following an alert from monks on Friday night.
A warm stove with ashes, a bag of charcoal, a bottle of cooking oil, and a roll of tissue paper were found in the back of the driver’s seat. Police believed the pair succumbed to suffocation about four hours before their bodies were discovered.
ROAD CARNAGE
A Thai man stabbed a Myanmar national to death outside the Happyland Center shopping mall in Bangkok during a fight on Sunday evening.
The incident took place in the evening behind the mall in Klong Chansub-district of Bangkok's Bang Kapi district.
Khun Shin Mon, a 34-year-old Myanmar painter, was stabbed twice with a knife in what police described as a road rage incident.
Pol Col Thanapan Padungkarn, superintendent of Lat Phrao PoliceStation, said a hunt was immediately launched to capture the suspected killer, who was identified as Issara Sitthikham, 27.
Police will investigate to fi nd the real cause behind the tragedy in which a sick 41-year-old male driver died after being held at Yannawa Police Station in Bangkok for two hours after police mistook his illness for drunk driving.
[…]
The news came after a Ms Manao (surname withheld), the girlfriend of the deceased driver, Krit Thammol, 41, contacted the Sai Mai Tong Rod Facebook page to seek help in pursuing justice.
Krit had provided an airport transfer service to passengers at Suvarnabhumi Airport. He suffered from an ischemic stroke.
[…]
She said Krit fell unconscious at the police station and was sent to Ratchaphiphat Hospital where he died three days later due to complications arising from a brain haemorrhage.
👆Could this fit the ‘medical emergency’ and ‘sudden illness’ euphemisms we have grown accustomed to, in line with the c19 injection democide?
PHICHIT: Five people were killed and two others badly injured when a pickup truck was hit by a north-bound train on a railway crossing in Muang district on Monday evening.
The crash occurred around 6.15pm at Moo 1 village in tambon Pak Thang of Muang district.
Police said passenger train 201 from Bangkok to Phitsanulok approached the crossing, which had no safety barriers, about 6pm.
A four-door pickup truck with Phitchit plates drove across the tracks and into the path of the train. The train driver was unable to stop or slow in time to avoid hitting the vehicle.
Those killed were four women and a 14-year-old girl. The driver survived.
A car accident caused by a couple arguing resulted in the death of both parents and injuries to their two children, who were travelling with them, police said.
Their white sedan crashed into a power pole on Suk Prayun road in Phan Thong district, Chonburi province, on Sunday night.
The husband, Siraphop, and wife, Natchareeya, both aged 41, were killed. Two children were found injured in the backseat, emergency responders reported.
Online photos have confirmed that a drunk teacher was involved in an accident in which a pickup truck overturned, causing injuries to 17 students in Surin. The incident sparked anger on social media platforms.
An individual identifying themselves as a student shared a photograph on social media showing the severely damaged pickup overturned by the roadside in Prasat district of the northeastern province.
The photo was accompanied by a caption saying that an intoxicated schoolteacher was attempting to drive several students home after they took part in a Buddhist lent procession at a temple. However, the teacher lost control on a turn, causing the vehicle to flip.
I am sure the Buddha would be proud. What is it in Thailand with the normalisation of masses getting blind drunk in the name of Buddhist lent, or before men become monks??
DIGITAL ID AND DIGITAL WALLET
The Thai government is gearing up for a 1st August 2024 go live date for the controversial digital wallet + 10,000 THB giveaway scheme. The wallet will hold tokens which can only be spent on government approved products, and within a 4km radius of one’s registered home address. Ergo, if it quacks like a duck, then it is a frigging central bank digital currency (CBDC).
In related news, the hugely popular Benjakitti Park in Bangkok - which has a fantastic selection of free sports centres, abruptly changed their entire booking system this month. Previously, there was an easy to use website - email address only was needed for online booking, as well as in person walk-in booking for sports courts. Now the website has been canceled. I asked the staff why and they told me it was to ‘streamline’ things. You have to have the app in order to play sports, whether booking online or in person.
It seems like a data collection grab. The app encourages foreigners to scan their passports, provide home address in Thailand, and other unnecessary permissions. It feels like the tip of the iceberg for Bangkok’s transition to a ‘smart city’, whereby one needs a phone in order to participate in society, with obligatory QR-code ‘check-ins’. Here is the notice provided at the park sports centre and a screenshot of the app:
Thais will be required to verify and authenticate their identity, known as know-your-customer (KYC) procedures, for the digital wallet project through the state-developed Tang Rat super app.
According to Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat, Tang Rat
(the state channel) will allow Thais to register for the programme in advance.
The app should help stagger the registration process for identity verification, he said, adding that around 15 million people can be registered in advance.
SOCIAL CREDIT SCORING FOR TRUSTED NEWS OUTLETS
I will lose sleep over what score might be given to Creed Speech substack based on this latest technocratic brainwave. Maybe it is time to hang up my tinfoil hat on the rack, tow the line, and become a trusted news source with an exemplary record of kowtowing to all prevailing narratives.
I’ll think about it.
I’ve thought about it.
Nah.
👇😒Thanks for the invite.
The government and civil society should collaborate to help trustworthy news agencies negotiate for greater prominence on digital platforms
and mobile apps, says Pirongrong Ramasoota, a member of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC).
[…]
In addition, moves have been made to pass laws to have legacy public service broadcasters pre-installed as mobile apps, Ms Pirongrong said.
A similar measure is needed for Thailand to help rebuild trust in the news ecosystem, she said.
The NBTC is now working on a social credit model whereby each licensed broadcaster would be rated on its content quality — starting with the news — so as to be eligible for a certification of trustworthiness.
THE WEED HAS BEEN FREED
The Thai government is renowned for its decision makers flip-flopping on, well, just about everything. Our overlords have been threatening to re-criminalise cannabis for months, sparking protests from business owners who have invested so much into this thriving industry. It is literally a cash crop.
👆Power to those protestors. For now, it looks like the Thai people will continue to enjoy having their native herb ‘given back to them’.
Thailand will work towards controlling the use of cannabis through legislation instead of re-listing it as a narcotic, according to Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, signaling yet another policy U-turn.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin now agreed that legislation was the appropriate step to take, Mr Anutin said on Tuesday.
[…]
It said the new rules would prohibit the possession, import and sale of cannabis flowers and resin unless one has licenses to do so from the Ministry of Public Health.
Cannabis seeds as well as parts with low tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)content such as leaves, roots, fibre and stems would not be re-criminalised, it said.
That’ll do it for the July 2024 news roundup. I haven’t even mentioned the LGBT encroachment of ‘gender-neutral language’ being discussed, the GMO franken-food given the go-ahead, or the government’s touted ‘sustainable walking tourism’, which sounds uncannily similar to Copenhagen’s ‘Copen-Pay’ social credit reward system for tourists who reduce their carbon footprint. I’m sure it’s all nothing to worry about. Shut up, conspiracy theorist realist.
Nicholas Creed is a Bangkok based writer. All content is free for all readers, with nothing locked in archive that requires a paid subscription. Any support is greatly appreciated. If you are in a position to donate a virtual coffee or crypto, it would mean the world of difference.
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What you describe is very similar to what is happening in South Africa.
Registration of firearms is part of the Marxist communist plan to disarm populations for full control. The digital imposition is everywhere- tax, levy, tariff, impost, duty, assessment, excise, income tax, direct tax, capitation- don't worry being chipped or chipping children is next.
You may not have seen but we have just been told about Libyans at a military training camp being apprehended.
Oh, of course weed, same in South Africa, smoking is bad for you, smoking weed is good for you
Lots of useful information, thanks for your hard work.