Local authorities in the Mae Sot district of Tak province on Sunday confiscated 70,000 units of illegal face masks from China aimed for Myanmar.
The district administration joined forces with soldiers at 10.30pm to raid a house in Mae Ku subdistrict after intelligence agencies reported about the suspected smuggling activity.
Authorities found 28 packs with 70,000 units of illegal face masks inside, but the smugglers were nowhere to be found. They confiscated the goods for further investigation as they are possibly not approved by the Customs.
They are suspected to have been intended for delivery in Myanmar where there has been a surge in demand for face masks due to the second wave of Covid-19.
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) reported 22 new cases in quarantine facilities over a 24-hour period on Monday.
Dr Taweesin Visanuyothin, spokesperson for the CCSA, said that 18 of the new cases are Thais.
Sixteen Thai soldiers, 27-54 years old, returned from a UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan on September 22 and tested positive on September 26.
A 13-year-old male student returned from Pakistan on September 13, travelling in a flight that had two confirmed cases, and tested positive on September 26.
A 24-year-old Thai soldier returned from Philippines on September 24 and tested positive on September 26.
Four Indian nationals who travelled from India on September 23 also tested positive. They included a family of three — a seven-year-old child, its mother, 35, and father, 38. They tested positive on September 26, while a 30-year-old Indian male employee also tested positive in an alternative state quarantine facility on September 25.
Meanwhile, two patients have recovered and been discharged.
The total number of confirmed cases in Thailand increased to 3,545 (607 in state quarantine), of whom 117 are in hospital, 3,369 have recovered and been discharged, and 59 have died.
According to Worldometer, as of 10am on Monday, the total number of confirmed cases increased to 33.3 million (up by 251,915 over a 24-hour period), 24.63 million have recovered, 7.66 million are active cases (64,996 in serious condition) and deaths have crossed one million.
Thailand ranks 138th for most cases in the world, while the US has the most number with 7.32 million, followed by India 6 million, Brazil 4.73 million, Russia 1.15 million and Colombia 813,056.
Dr Taweesin revealed that the percentage of people wearing a mask had dropped from 98 per cent to around 82 per cent. He urged people to keep wearing masks as the virus was yet to be contained.
The storm on Sunday night was so strong that it knocked down six containers at the Samut Prakan port, with one smashing an 18-wheeler below and severely injuring the driver inside.
Samrong Tai Police Station was notified of the incident at the port near Pu Chao Saming Phrai Road at 9.30pm on Sunday.
Upon arrival, police found that strong winds had brought six containers down from a 7-storey container building and one of them had landed on a truck below.
The driver, Raphin Noiwanit, was crushed and lost consciousness, while his colleagues worked to pull him out.
Workers at the port said it was unbelievable that the winds were strong enough to bring down the containers. Raphin was provided with first aid before being sent to Pu Chao Saming Phrai Hospital.
A 15-metre high scaffolding collapsed on Sunday (September 27) in Bangkok’s Lat Phrao area, possibly due to strong winds and rains on evening.
The scaffolding fell on two electric poles, obstructing a traffic channel. The incident took place near Lat Phrao Soi 69.
The scaffolding was used for construction of the Yellow Line Skytrain route. However, there were no casualties.
Officials said that they would look into the reasons for the collapse.
They assured that all construction-related equipment were checked before they were deployed. This was the first accident in the construction of the Yellow Line.
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration on Monday resolved to extend the emergency decree for another month from the end of this month to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.
It is the sixth extension since the decree was announced for the first time in March this year.
A teenager, arrested on Sunday for shooting a girl dead in Buriram province, claimed that he had shot into the sky, not at her.
Nutthicha Thanthaisong, 16, was allegedly shot dead by other teenagers when she was returning home from a local event in Buriram province on Saturday morning.
Nutthicha was riding pillion on a motorcycle ridden by her male friend aged 19. On the way, a group of teenagers rode behind them, firing their guns. One bullet hit her on the back and exited through her heart.
The girl was taken to a hospital where she died. Her friend was also injured by the bullet that killed her, but he was safe and undergoing treatment.
On Sunday, Na Pho police in Buriram took a suspect, Natthakit Boonluea, 19, after his friends informed police that he was the person who had shot Nutthicha.
During interrogation, the suspect only confessed that he had fired his gun at the sky, not at the deceased. Police have charged him with intent to murder.
Police added that six friends of Natthakit had named him as the shooter. However, his group had around 50 persons, and all of them would be summoned as police believed that there was more than one person who had guns.
Three other people were injured on the same day in gun violence, police said. They were teenagers in Khon Kaen province’s Nong Song Hong district, which borders Buriram.
Southern Region Industrial Estate in Songkhla province has welcomed nearly Bt6 billion investment from rubber glove manufacturers and is expected to support rubber produce in the southern region at over 40,000 tonnes per year, said Somchint Pilouk, governor of Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT).
“The IEAT recently signed a contract with Singhaseni Group and Atgene Global Link Ltd, who wish to lease 83 rai [13.2 hectares] of land in the Southern Region Industrial Estate to build a rubber glove manufacturing factory,” she said. “The factory aims to use 3,600 tonnes of latex per month, or 43,200 tonnes per year, from farmers in Songkhla and nearby provinces.”
Somchint Pilouk
Located in Chalung subdistrict of Hatyai district, the factory is expected to be operational by April 2021 with total investment valued at Bt5.998 billion. The land lease will be for 20 years.
“We also expect the factory to generate over 2,000 jobs for local people, in keeping with the government’s policy of creating employment for people who have been affected by the Covid-19 outbreak,” added Somchint.
“The two companies also plan to establish a testing and standardisation centre for rubber products in cooperation with Prince of Songkla University, which will help increase product value and promote the export of rubber products for advanced applications.”
Singhaseni Group engages mainly in property and energy businesses, but has recently branched out to rubber gloves manufacturing due to high demand during the Covid-19 outbreak and its realisation in the potential of the southern region as a hub for rubber-related industries.
The baht opened at 31.61 to the US dollar on Monday, weakening from Friday’s close at 31.59.
The Thai currency is likely to move between 31.50 and 31.70 on Monday and between 31.25 to 31.75 this week, said Jitipol Puksamatanan, head of markets strategy at SCB Securities.
The strategist said that the market situation had changed too much after the high appreciation of the dollar compared to late April, while the US bond yield’s value did not change.
This situation made a ‘risk-off’ state at this time advantageous to investors in US safe haven assets, rather than the assets of other countries.
Jitipol advised investors to monitor the dollar continually, forecasting that it would be more volatile before the first debate between the US presidential candidates scheduled for Tuesday (Wednesday Thailand time).
Also, the nonfarms payrolls will be announced on Friday. The dollar index this week would move between 93.5 to 94.9 points from the present 94.5 points, the strategist added.
Jitipol said that the baht had weakened due to the strengthening of the dollar. However, the recovery in Thai exports and foreign exchange reserves increasing to US$255.3 billion were enough to ensure the baht does not fluctuate and become a problem in the future.
A man got on the parked bicycle of a nine-year-old boy and escaped after failing in his attempt to snatch a bag at a bus stop in Chonburi province.
The boy’s mother filed a complaint at Saen Suk Police Station in Muang district on Sunday that her son’s bike was stolen by man who tried to snatched a bag from a passenger waiting for a minibus on Nongmon-Bangsaen Road.
CCTV footage showed that at around 8pm, a man wearing a green shirt and shorts tried to snatch a bag from a male passenger at the bus stop. The two were seen fighting over the bag for a short moment until the thief let go and ran away. He got on a bicycle that was parked on the other side of the road and fled the scene.
The boy reportedly said that his mother had bought an old bike for him for Bt600 but it was in a bad condition so he spent around Bt1,000 of his own money to fix it. His mother appealed to the thief to return the bike as she could not afford to buy her son a new one.
Police are interviewing other witnesses and reviewing the CCTV footage to identify the suspect.
A man reportedly went on a shooting spree at his ex-girlfriend’s wedding reception on Sunday evening in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, killing four people including the newly married couple, while one person was injured.
The shooting rampage occurred at a house that had been temporarily transformed into a wedding venue in Dusit subdistrict, Thamphanra district.
When officers from Thamphanra Police Station reached the crime scene, they found the bodies of Narongrit Thepthong, aged 32, and Khanchit Somwong, 47, lying on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds. They also found an injured person named Sathaporn Somwong, 25, with a gunshot wound to his chest. He was rushed to hospital where his condition was still critical.
At around 100 metres from the wedding venue, police found the dead bodies of the groom, Arun Phothaworn, 31, and the bride Darawan Boonmeechai, 24, with multiple gunshot wounds lying in a ditch. Officials also reportedly found several bullet casings of 9mm, .38 and .22 caliber guns.
Witnesses reportedly said that Darawan and Arun had organised their wedding at the house since early in the morning.
Suddenly an old boyfriend of Darawan showed up at the wedding reception in the evening and reportedly confronted Arun, which escalated into a fist fight. “Then I heard multiple gunshots sending the guests helter-skelter, while no one saw where the shooter went,” said one of the witnesses.
Police are gathering evidence and trying to track down the suspected shooter.
