This week: Bangkok name change, French swindler, lots of cocaine and a snake takes a trip
Bangkok's official name to change
Confusion reigned this week over an announcement that Bangkok's official name will be changed.
The Office of the Royal Society took flak from netizens about what Thailand's capital should be called between the widely recognised Bangkok and the official name Krung Thep Maha Nakhon.
However, a government spokeswoman said nothing had changed except for punctuation marks. "Krung Thep Maha Nakhon; Bangkok" with a semicolon has been used since 2001. It will be changed to "Krung Thep Maha Nakhon, with Bangkok in parentheses.
Frenchman arrested for B6.3m swindle
A French national was arrested on Saturday for cheating foreigners out of a total of 6.3 million baht.
A number of foreigners in Pattaya filed complaints with police, accusing the Frenchman of cheating them. The complainants said the man had swindled them through sales of big bikes and a claim he could help settle legal cases because he had developed a close relationship with some police officers.
Police also found the Frenchman had overstayed his visa by one year, four months and 27 days.
Cocaine worth B46.5m seized at airport
Three Brazilians were arrested at Suvarnabhumi airport and 15.5 kilogrammes of cocaine, worth about 46.5 million baht, seized from their luggage.
The suspects had arrived from Brazil on two flights.
Customs officers searching the bags of a man and a woman early on Monday morning found nine kilogrammes of cocaine with a street value of around 27 million baht.
Later the same day, another man was arrested after 6.5 kilogrammes of cocaine were found hidden in his two bags.
Snake seen on AirAsia plane
And finally, it's the stuff of nightmares, or at least a reminder of a movie.
An AirAsia passenger plane was forced to land after a snake was spotted in the overhead lights.
The incident, which the airline described as "very rare", took place last week aboard a flight from Kuala Lumpur to the eastern coast of Borneo island.
The plane diverted and landed in Kuching, some 900 kilometres west of Borneo.
AirAsia said that at no time was the safety of guests or crew at any risk.
