Foreign land ownership, Chinese club raid, school lunch scandal and a homeless airport dweller
Foreigners moving in
The government has taken a major step toward giving foreigners the right to buy land for housing, as the country seeks to boost the economy by enticing more wealthy international investors.
The new plan, endorsed at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, will allow eligible foreigners to own as much as one rai, or 0.4 acres of land for residential purposes.
To qualify, people must invest at least 40 million baht for a minimum of three years, an amount that includes the price of the property.
The scheme applies only to land in Bangkok and Pattaya.
Nightclub bust
A total of 104 customers, 99 of them Chinese nationals, tested positive for drugs during a police raid on three adjacent car wash businesses illegally operating as a nightclub in Bangkok’s Yannawa area.
Thirty-four luxury cars found in the buildings' grounds were impounded, including a Rolls Royce.
The nightclub was said to be operated by a Chinese national.
More than 100 city police were involved in the raid on the buildings on Charoen Rat Road.
A total of 237 Chinese customers were detained.
385 years for shoddy school lunches
The Criminal Court handed down a 385-year jail term to a former school director in Surat Thani after finding him guilty of malfeasance in connection with a school lunch programme.
The scandal emerged in June 2018 when a clip showing kindergarten children being served unhealthy food went viral and angered the public.
The children were served noodles sprinkled with fish sauce.
The court gave a five-year jail term for each of the 77 counts the defendant was charged with.
In accordance with Thai law, the defendant will serve a maximum of 50 years.
Woman lived at airport for 2 months
A homeless woman was found to have been secretly living inside Suvarnabhumi airport for more than two months.
The emaciated woman had been previously reported as begging for handouts from airport visitors and stealing from convenience stores.
She told authorities she was waiting for her mother to retrieve her.
The woman was taken into temporary care at a protection centre for the destitute.
She had reportedly been living at Gate 4.
