The Bangkok Times

[SiamSam]

Sad, sad story. Terrible. 

[lance2546]

Here, it is one matter to "Confess" but quite another to actually be guilty...

[pdogg]

A man (not the guy on the train above) was beaten to death on his first day in prison.  He was "accused" by his wife.

 

I have no sympathy for guilty rapists but lynch mobs are dangerous.

 

An accusation, and as Lance points out a confession,  does not mean a man is guilty.

 

 

Rape Suspect Beaten to Death In Prison

 

TRANG — A man accused of sexually assaulting his seven-year-old stepdaughter has been beaten to death in prison, police say, a day after he insisted he was innocent.

 

Prasin Nunkaew, 41, was arrested yesterday and charged with raping his stepdaughter on 6 July at a rubber farm in Trang district. Mr. Prasin's wife filed the complaint with police.

 

In a press conference held yesterday, police said Mr. Prasin disputed the charge and insisted on his innocence. He was later transferred to Trang Remand Prison to await trial.

 

However, this morning the prison officials discovered that Mr. Prasin had been beaten to death by fellow inmates in his holding cell after a fight broke out, said Pol.Cpt. Methee Pinyoprakarn, an officer at Trang Police Station.

 

Pol.Cpt. Methee claimed that the fight was not related to Mr. Prasin's rape charge, but failed to provide an explanation for the beating. He said the police are investigating the incident. 

 

The incident came at a time when Thai society and media are gripped by the story of 13-year-old girl who was raped and murdered on a night train. An employee of the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) has been arrested and police say he has confessed to raping the girl in a sleeping car before throwing her body overboard. 

 

The case has ignited a online campaign for punishing convicted rapists with the death penalty. Under current Thai laws, those convicted of rape can face 5-20 years in prison. 

 

Today, Thai actress Panadda Wongpoodee and a dozen of students staged a demonstration at a train station in Nakhon Si Thammarat advocating for the execution of rape convicts. Contestants of the 2014 Miss Grand Thailand beauty pageant also submitted a proposal to Thailand's military government requesting the same measure.

http://en.khaosod.co.th/detail.php?newsid=1404995060&typecate=06&section=

[pdogg]

Here is a very short video of the interrogation of the suspect.

 

Hitting suspects is a good way to get a confession.

 

However, the downside is innocent people may confess to crimes to stop the beating.

 

Tricky balance between public safety and civil liberties.

 

[pdogg]

Suthep has become a monk.

 

It is not unusual for Thais to do a short stint as a monk.  There are even a few ladyboys who have become monks.

 

 

 

The People's Democratic for Reform Committee (PDRC) leader and former Democrat Party secretary-general Suthep Thaugsuban has been ordained as a Buddhist monk at Wat Tha Sai in his home province of Surat Thani.

He will be staying at the Suan Mokkh forest monastery in the same province and has yet to specify when he will leave monkhood. As leader of the PDRC, Suthep led a seven-month-long campaign to overthrow the Yingluck Shinawatra government. PDRC's street protests and seizure of government offices, as well as violent retaliations using weapons of war that resulted in many deaths and injuries, were finally brought to an end when the military seized power on May 22.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Suthep-becomes-a-monk-30238612.html

[bumblebee]

Anyone got an info on bar name changes in Nana Plaza recently?

[duke007]

Only that Cascades is now named Charades and Obsession is now True Obsession

 

 

others bars...

 

Fantasia is Hot Lips now

G-Spot is Candy Land

Lollipop is now renamed Suckers

Pretty Lady is called Spellbound now

„The old Voodoo has had a slight name change to Hoodoo.“

 Las Vegas and Tokyo Player have changed names to Wild Thing.

[pdogg]

I guess this applies to alco carts.

 

 

BANGKOK, 21 August 2014 (NNT) - Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) executives have gone down to inspect the stalls lining along the Khlong Toey and Wattana Districts of Sukhumvit Road.

Vallop Suwandee, the BMA Deputy Governor, said that most vendors have agreed to fully cooperate with the BMA’s move to clean-up the congested road area.

He further stated that the BMA has requested the vendors not to set up their stalls during daytime. However, they’re allowed to do so at night starting at 7:00pm onwards. Under the new law, each vendor is also allowed to occupy a space measuring only 1.5 meters by 1 meter.

According to a female vendor who has been making a living selling watches in the Sukhumvit 11 Road area for more than 20 years, the Nana area is the place where most tourists come to shop during daytime.

Therefore, she has asked the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to reconsider its decision to allow all the vendors to sell their goods during daytime as well, or else it would seriously affect their way of living.

http://thainews.prd.go.th/centerweb/newsen/NewsDetail?NT01_NewsID=WNSOC5708210010007

[KendoUK]

The alcocarts have been culled, June from CIB closed hers off a couple of days ago.

[duke007]

The alcocarts have been culled, June from CIB closed hers off a couple of days ago.

 

I was going to mention that Kendo but thought it best coming from a man on the ground like yourself

[globetrotter]

any Intel on whether this might be temporary like some of the bar crackdowns or does it look like a permanent done deal ?

[Trenton42]

Residents are hoping it's permanent.

 

When it's easier to walk in Sukhumwit Road instead of the sidewalk, there's a problem.

 

There were a couple mosquito bars open on the lower even side last night, but it's not like it used to be.

 

Lot's of LB streetwalkers between Soi 10 and Asoke last night.  Keep a hand on your wallet!

[Tomcat]

Anyone got an info on bar name changes in Nana Plaza recently?

 

theres been some late activity in the transfer market and Obsessions seem have acquired at least 4 or 5 Lady boys  from Cascades .. the lovely Nook has moved on along with others whos names i cant remember but will advise later

 

I think Nook made a mistake . She stood out more in Cascades good but good luck to her anyway.

 

Obesessions seems to have one or two new stunners straight of the Isaan Bus . New is cool... i hate seeing the same old faces (with some minor exceptions)

 

The lovely Lee still works there and is my fav.. sorry bout the QC on the pic, shaky hand and all that

[SiamSam]

Shaky hand is quite understandable TC. I too would have minor tremors if little Lee was sitting on the edge of my bed.    

[pdogg]

 

BANGKOK, 26 August 2014 (NNT) - Traffic Police have launched a crackdown on taxi drivers refusing to turn on their meters and a number of arrests have been made across Bangkok.

Police found that taxi drivers are most likely to turn off their meters near Soi Nana, MBK Shopping Center and Central World Department Store. Plain-clothes police officers have been dispatched to monitor cab drivers’ behavior in many parts of the capital, particularly at eight spots where a number of complaints have been lodged against cab drivers.

The eight spots in Bangkok including the aforementioned three are Yaowarat Road, Future Park Rangsit mall, Mochit terminals, Platinum shopping complex, Patunam and the temple of the Emerald Buddha.

A large number of taxi drivers who refused to turn on meters or overcharged their passengers were arrested from July 1 to August 17. Over 2,500 drivers have been charged with driving without license and 150 with refusing to pick up passengers.

From September 30, police will toughen the rule on driving without a proper license to operate public vehicles.

Passengers who wish to lodge complaints over poor taxi services can call the traffic police hotline at 1197.

The National Council for Peace and Order has recently imposed stringent measures to crack down on illegal airport taxi operations and street vendors on crowded sidewalks.

http://thainews.prd.go.th/centerweb/newsen/NewsDetail?NT01_NewsID=WNSOC5708260010007

[Guest JustSumGai]

THIS I LOVE. Sometimes it can take 6 cabs before I get one that'll take me to Thong Lor. Tho I hope they don't go apeshit on the sidewalk vendors. Now a few years back they were at Asoke...maybe 20 of em. Year or so later I decided to hit em an see what they had, I began walking and looking and was amazed at how many MORE there were. Then some guy tried to get me to go to girlie bars showing me a card of hotties. YUP, I'd walked all the way to NANA!!!  There ARE a TON of duplications AND REAL OUTRIGHT junky SHIT bein peddled now. NONE of the watch sellers should be allowed out. Total crap.

[pdogg]

 

Have you smelled rotten eggs while wandering around Siam Square One?

 

That’s actually a highly toxic and flammable gas which has been sickening employees since the mall opened in June, according to health officials and the shop owners who’ve banded together to go public with their complaints to the media after they said the mall’s management ignored them.

 

They said five letters complaining of foul-smelling gas went ignored by mall management until health officials came last month and confirmed health-threatening quantities of hydrogen sulfide were found in the mall.

 

The mall has since acknowledged the problem but will remain open despite the confirmed, ongoing presence of highly toxic and dangerous fumes.

 

Sitprapat Rodpim, a shop owner at Siam Square One, filed a police report last week after the department store attempted to evict him because he closed his shop and displayed messages on the window glass warning shoppers of the toxic air.

http://bangkok.coconuts.co//2014/10/21/do-not-breathe-dangerous-toxic-gas-found-siam-square-one

[Snick]

They should just rename it Hellfire Square in time for Halloween, put up some Black and Orange balloons.

[pdogg]

 

Japanese man found hanged to death in Ekkamai restaurant

A 37-year-old Japanese man was found dead inside an Ekkamai area restaurant Sunday, victim of apparent suicide.

A note was found on the body of Taro Okada, 37, who was found hanging by a cable on the premeses of Sasaou restaurant on Soi Ekkamai 4, blaming his anguish on a Thai woman who had taken his money. Police said there was no sign of struggle.

 

Okada's father told police the younger man had been arguing with a woman who owned a Thonglor-area restaurant.

Although the police are calling it a likely suicide, Okada's body will undergo autopsy, Bangkok Post reported.

 

http://bangkok.coconuts.co//2014/11/03/japanese-mans-body-found-ekkamai-restaurant

[Guest JustSumGai]

I hope this story makes the rounds of the heartless bitches that can steal a man's life savings with glee.

[pdogg]

Police Stop & Searches Around Sukhumvit On The Rise

Published by Stickboy BKK on December 1st, 2014

Over the past few days reporting on police doing random stop / searches on tourists and expats in and around the Sukhumvit / Asoke area have exploded. The latest trend, in what has been a long running problem, seems to have went into overdrive over the past week if all reports are accurate.

A first hand account from two Europeans and insight from an eyewitness have appeared in the letters section of the Bangkok Post, Stickman mentions readers and businesses close to Soi Cowboy are reporting to him on what seems like a daily basis that cops have upped the ante. A Bangkok blog also ran a story sharing similar stories in a very exaggerated fashion so no link but take away their sensationalist version of events and it paints the same picture of what others are saying.

Police Stop Searches On Sukhumvit

Cops have been pulling this stunt for the past few years on Soi 22 and along Sukhumvit between 22 and Asoke during the day then at the corner of the Suk / Asoke intersection late at night as a traffic stop plus further down Asoke in a sub soi. It was said by the police that these daytime stop and searches were carried out to catch drug mules moving a stash and this was a common route. The night time checks were to catch anyone in possession of drugs.

So what has changed in the past week or so?

Firstly reports of pee testing are through the roof. People have been asked to provide samples in filling station toilets and at the side of the road. Random pee testing stories were few and far between in the past but not now.

Threats of fines for those without their passport are now a common complaint too. Also the targets seem to be anyone whereas before it seemed more aimed at expats so far as searches during the day went.

And the net has widened too as police officers appear to have teamed up with the tessakit (city officials famed for their 2,000 baht litter fines) further up Sukhumvit beyond Terminal 21 with stop / searches taking place around the mouth of soi 15.

Due to the negative publicity surrounding this new wave of “harassment” I don’t expect it to last long and some excuse will be made that officers misinterpreted instructions from above.

I should point out that these incidents are specific to this one small location in Bangkok and are NOT reported to be taking place at other areas popular with tourists.

I have been stopped at both traffic checkpoints I mentioned above and found the officers conducting them to be polite and professional. The first at Asoke intersection was about 18 months ago and other than sniffing my cigarettes and emptying my pockets the cop sent me on my way in under 60 seconds. The stop and search in the sub soi further down Asoke was a bigger operation with about 8 officers. This happened in May this year and all four of us in the taxi, including two Thais, were searched. The Thais had to provide ID too, me and my son didn’t. Again, we weren’t there for any longer than a minute or two.

http://www.stickboybangkok.com/news/police-stop-searches-sukhumvit/

 

[Trenton42]

Although this has been going on for some time, I heard the Thong Lor cops got bent after the military pulled rank.

Publicity is a good thing if it can get the military's attention. After all, searching tourists is bad for tourism!

[Gordonbennet]

Although this has been going on for some time, I heard the Thong Lor cops got bent after the military pulled rank.

Publicity is a good thing if it can get the military's attention. After all, searching tourists is bad for tourism!

 

The Thonglor department has always been that way, I don't think the military have affected their behaviour much, its just being reported more.

 

There were stories of piss tests being conducted by police behind cars around Asoke 10 years ago, and i thought they were hyperbole back then.

 

I travel through Asoke 5 days a week and have done so for 6 years, and before that lived on Soi 22 and have never, been stopped and searched once. I don't know anyone else who has been either. 

 

It just seems like another case of internet panicking/doom mongering, which usually means a big increase in traffic for any website that specialises in the topic of BKK nightlife....

[pdogg]

A few years back, many farangs were being searched outside  Ekkamai for drugs.   One guy I know bribed his way out.  Another guy I know was clean but they took money from his backpack.

[Gordonbennet]

A few years back, many farangs were being searched outside  Ekkamai for drugs.   One guy I know bribed his way out.  Another guy I know was clean but they took money from his backpack.

 

 

Of course this goes on, but did you ever get searched?

 

 

I still have never met or spoken to anyone who has actually been stopped and searched themselves.