Police raided a passport extension agency and arrested the house owner in Samut Prakarn province for allegedly swindling nearly Bt6 million from 300 migrant labourers.
At 6pm on Friday, police from Muang Samut Prakarn searched a house in Bangchalong subdistrict, Bang Phli district, after a lawyer filed a police complaint against the owner of the house for allegedly cheating more than 300 migrant labourers from Myanmar with promises of visas for them to work in Thailand.
Atchariya Reungrattanaphong, lawyer and president of Crime Victim Assistance Association, said that a group of migrant workers had contacted him to look into their case. “The agency had collected a fee of Bt19,600 per person but had yet to deliver the promised services, or refund their money, which totals almost Bt6 million,” he said.
Atchariya
At the house, police found Wassana (last name withheld), aged 45 years, who said she was the house owner. Police notified the fraud charge and placed her under arrest, as well as seized all the documents and other evidence found in the house.
Wassana reportedly denied the charge and said that she was not the person responsible for the visa extension operation.
Police are reviewing the documents seized from the house, which are mostly receipts and some passports, to track the money trail down to other conspirators.
The Royal Thai Police (RTP) is working with the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) to install an additional 5,000 CCTV cameras in areas prone to crimes in 50 districts of Bangkok, aiming to increase public security, said Pol Maj-General Yingyos Thepjamnong, RTP spokesman on Friday.
“The cameras would also help prevent crimes as well as provide concrete evidence to investigation officials in case of crimes,” he said.
“The Metropolitan Police Bureau will list the areas that need cameras and survey the actual locations for installation suitability before reporting to MEA who will carry out the installation.”
Deputy MEA governor and MEA spokesman Jaturong Suriyasasin added that apart from camera installation, the MEA would also support RTP with related infrastructure and services such as installing additional street lights in crime-prone areas and would be responsible for the maintenance of CCTV system.
“The Royal Thai Police would like to thank the Metropolitan Electricity Authority for their cooperation and support in the mission to increase public security and prevent crimes, which will ultimately boost our efficiency in law enforcement,” said the RTP spokesman.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has issued instructions to impose a ban on the highly popular video-sharing app TikTok after receiving a “number of complaints from different segments of the society”, the regulatory body said in a press statement on Friday.
According to the press release, several complaints were made “against immoral/indecent content” that was shared on the app.
PTA said it had earlier issued a “final notice” to TikTok and gave the application “considerable time to respond and comply with” instructions for development of an effective mechanism for proactive moderation of “unlawful online content”.
However, the company “failed to fully comply” with PTA’s instructions after which the authority decided to ban it in the country.
The statement added that PTA “is open for engagement” and would review its decision if TikTok develops a mechanism to moderate the content that is posted on the video-sharing platform.
TikTok has not released a comment on PTA’s announcement so far.
The move was criticised by Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari, who tweeted saying “immoral content is not on TikTok, it’s embedded in our sexist society”.
In a tweet, former premier Benazir Bhutto’s daughter, while citing increasing reports of rape and assault cases against women and children, lamented that the society has “deteriorated so much. Look [at] what’s happening in madrassas, in open public spaces — the problem is NOT TikTok.”
The video-sharing app, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, has been downloaded almost 39 million times in Pakistan and is the third-most downloaded app over the past year after WhatsApp and Facebook, according to analytics firm Sensor Tower.
The app has been a target of several complaints and court petitions calling for its ban in Pakistan citing “immoral” content. In July, PTA said it had issued a “final warning” to TikTok to remove “obscene and immoral content” on its platform.
Arslan Khalid, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s focal person on digital media, had at the time backed the move, saying stringent measures were necessary as the platforms were not understanding the severity of the situation.
“The recent exploitation of female TikTokers, the objectification and sexualisation of young girls on TikTok was causing huge pain to the parents & was proving detrimental for our society,” he wrote on Twitter.
According to TikTok, however, Pakistan is among the top five markets where the largest volume of videos was removed over violations of its community guidelines
In its recent transparency report, TikTok said it deleted more than 49 million videos which broke its rules, between July and December 2019. About a quarter of those videos were deleted for containing adult nudity or sexual activity.
About one-third of the videos were from India (where the Chinese app is now banned), followed by the United States and Pakistan where it has removed over 3m videos for violating its community guidelines.
Wildlife sanctuary officials successfully caught a wild elephant that had been on a rampage in Rayong’s Wang Chan district and killed two locals last week.
Weeraphong Korawat, head of Khao Ang Reu Nai Wildlife Sanctuary, said that at 6pm on Friday, a team of 50 officials tracked the elephant, nicknamed “spotted tusks” due to the colour of its tusks, down to Singto Mountain in Pa Yub Nai subdistrict of Wang Chan district.
“We shot him with a tranquiliser dart and attached a tracking collar on him in case he escapes,” he said. “The area where we found him is mountainous and inaccessible for a large truck, therefore we plan to use a backhoe loader to bring him to a more open area and then put him on a transport truck.”
The elephant had reportedly killed two rubber harvesters in Rayong’s Khao Cha Mao and Wang Chan districts last week, prompting the province to announce the areas as dangerous zones and prohibiting locals from going out at night.
Banyat Jetanachan, Rayong’s member of parliament, visited wildlife sanctuary officials on Friday and provided camping equipment and necessary items to officials who have been tracking the animal since October 3. “The province is planning to transport “spotted tusks” to Elephant Nature Park in Sa Kaeo province to give it proper care,” he said.
The Thailand Meteorological Department forecast on Saturday that the monsoon trough lies across the lower Central, the upper South and the East, while the strong southwest monsoon prevails across the Andaman Sea, Thailand and the Gulf.
Continuous showers are likely across the country with isolated heavy rain and strong winds possible in the Northeast, the East and the Central, including Bangkok and its vicinity and the South. People in risky areas should beware of severe conditions, the department said.
Strong winds will blow over the Andaman Sea and the upper Gulf with waves are 2-3 metres high and more than four metres high in thundershowers. All ships should proceed with caution and keep off thundershowers, the department cautioned.
The weather forecast for the next 24 hours:
North: Mostly cloudy with thundershowers in 30 per cent of the areas; minimum temperature 22-26 degrees Celsius, maximum 29-32°C.
Northeast: Cloudy with thundershowers in 70 per cent of the areas and isolated heavy rain; minimum temperature 22-23°C, maximum 27-30°C.
Central: Cloudy with thundershowers in 70 per cent of the areas and isolated heavy rain; minimum temperature 20-24°C, maximum 26-30°C.
East: Cloudy with thundershowers in 80 per cent of the areas and isolated heavy rain; minimum temperature 23-25°C, maximum 29-30°C; waves 2-4 metres high and over four metres during thundershowers.
South (east coast): Mostly cloudy with thundershowers in 70 per cent of the areas and isolated heavy rain; minimum temperature 23-25°C, maximum 27-33°C; waves two metres high and over two metres during thundershowers.
South (west coast): Cloudy with thundershowers in 80 per cent of the areas and isolated heavy rain; minimum temperature 23-25°C, maximum 28-32°C; waves 2-3 metres high and over three metres during thundershowers.
Bangkok and surrounding areas: Cloudy with thundershowers in 80 per cent of the areas and isolated heavy rain; minimum temperature 23-24°C, maximum 29-30°C.
A Covid-19 vaccine which may be released by the University of Oxford before the end of 2020 will be supplied to Thailand under an agreement signed this coming Monday (October 12).
Under the deal, Thailand will get access to the vaccine at the same time as the United Kingdom.
University of Oxford researchers are at the forefront of the global race to develop a vaccine.
Last week, they reported that their vaccine could be ready before the end of 2020.
Anutin said the Thai government had signed memoranda of understanding (MOUs) for access to vaccine supplies with about 20 foreign research outfits.
Among them is the University of Oxford, which will sign the MOU with the National Vaccine Institute on Monday.
Under the agreement, supplies of the vaccine will be gradually imported. First to be vaccinated with the new drug will be vulnerable groups such as medics treating Covid-19 patients, as well as the elderly and children.
The first supplies of Covid-19 vaccine are expected to be available to Thais in early 2021.
A former Songkhla Zoo official wanted over the theft of rhino horn surrendered to police on Friday.
Kosin Rattanawibun is accused of falsifying documents to obtain the release of two white rhino horns from Prince of Songkla University’s Faculty of Science.
Kosin denied falsifying documents or being involved in the theft, which dates back to 2018.
The case is back in the spotlight after a top zoological official was murdered last week while investigating the disappearance of animals from Songkhla Zoo.
Suriya Saengpong, director of Zoological Park Organisation of Thailand, was shot dead during his visit on October 3. The shooter, Phuwadol Suwanna, head of the zoo’s conservation department, then killed himself.
The other suspect in the missing rhino horn case has since died.
The Army has insisted it is not linked to the 926 accounts that Twitter has banned for allegedly attacking the opposition.
Santipong Thampiya, the Royal Thai Army’s spokesman, said the armed forces only used social networks to publicise military-related information, particularly when it comes to operations during natural disasters.
He said during natural disasters, platforms like Twitter are necessary for providing updates on the situation.
Army spokesperson Colonel Sirichan Nga-thong also defended the armed forces, saying the accounts in question had yet to be verified and it was unfair to assume the Army operated them.
Twitter banned the 926 accounts for reportedly publishing false information in favour of the Army and the government, and to attack the opposition.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said he knew nothing when he was asked about his government’s use of technology in ways that might violate people’s basic rights and freedom.
People living near the Khao Yai National Park in Nakhon Ratchasima are being advised to move to higher land after the area was hit by flash floods early on Friday.
This is believed to be the worst flooding in the area in 30 years.
People living near the Khaoyai Kirithantip Resort are at greatest danger and have been urged to move out immediately.
Owner of the resort said he has never experienced such floods since the hotel opened 11 years ago, adding that he was glad only a few rooms were occupied.
Other hotels in the area such as Juldis Khao Yai are facing the same crisis, with rescuers providing aid packages to people stranded in the area.
A cow herder in Buri Ram came upon a cache of weapons hidden in dense grass near the canal when he took his cattle out to graze on Friday morning.
Village chief Prasert Ruengpaisarn told police that the weapons must have been dropped by an outsider spooked by heavy security at the border checkpoint.
The village in Lahan Sai district is close to the Cambodian border.
The weapons – an M16 rifle, over 100 bullets and seven rifle magazines – were confiscated by police for further investigation.
