Online visa extensions, triad arrests, a speeding Lamborghini and 2 baht meth pills
Online visa extensions
The Immigration Bureau unveiled its new Electronic Extension of Temporary Stay service this week, making it easier for expats to apply for visa extensions.
The service covers the whole process including the payment of fees via a dedicated website, reducing the application process time from one hour to three minutes.
The growing number of applicants spurred concern about the time-consuming and inconvenient nature of the current process.
The e-Extension service will be piloted first for Bangkok expats.
Triads targeted
The heads of two major Chinese triads operating in Thailand were arrested and another three blacklisted in a crackdown on illegal businesses operated by foreigners.
The police conducted wide-sweeping stings which led to the arrest of many suspects for operating illegal entertainment venues and for alleged involvement in drug networks.
Popular nightspot Club One Pattaya was raided by police and around 200 foreign and Thai customers stampeded from the building without an arrest being made.
Speeding Lamborghini
A brand new Lamborghini driven by a Singaporean man caused a minor pileup on the Don Meuang Tollway, injuring five people.
Emergency responders found a Toyota Vigo pickup truck overturned near a damaged Toyota Altis.
Further up the tollway was a yellow Lamborghini that had also sustained heavy damage.
Meanwhile Thon Buri district court sentenced a police doctor, charged with drunk driving and causing two deaths in a crash in Bangkok last year, to three years in jail suspended for two years.
The doctor lost control of his Porsche and crashed into a Honda Civic, killing two.
During the investigation, Dr Panurak Rattanapaisorn said he did not feel drunk while driving and the accident was a result of the wet road.
'Two baht a pill'
Methamphetamine pills, which cost as much as 300 baht apiece in Thailand just a few years ago, can now be had for as little as two baht each.
Undercover police officers paid a Lop Buri dealer 4,000 baht and received a bag containing 2,000 speed pills in return.
Prices of methamphetamine have been plunging in light of the extreme volumes being produced in the region, mostly in lawless pockets of Myanmar and the Golden Triangle.
