Wan gets bail after nightclub fracas
crime: Wan Ubumrung, the son of former deputy prime minister Chalerm Ubumrung, has been released on 300,000-baht bail following a fight outside a Bangkok nightclub that allegedly involved at least one of his entourage brandishing a firearm.
Winyat Chatmontri, Mr Wan's lawyer, said the Southern Bangkok Civil Court allowed his client to post bail Monday lunchtime with the trial scheduled for Sept 10.
Mr Wan was arrested and charged with injuring Panuwat Punnarattanakul, the son of the owners of Mae Thong Suk gold shop, outside DEMO, a popular nightclub in Thong Lor.
The assault was believed to have been sparked by a previous quarrel between Mr Wan's son, Archawin, and Mr Panuwat.
Heavy rain sparks Unesco site closure
weather: Heavy rain has prompted a temporary ban on tourists entering Umphang Wildlife Sanctuary, a Unesco world heritage site in Tak province that includes the spectacular Thi Lo Su waterfall, Thailand's largest.
They are also prohibited from rafting on the Mae Klong River until the ban is lifted.
Sanctuary chief Kusol Suwannaporn ordered the closure from Monday without setting an end date.
He cited heavy rain and instructions to keep out of the area from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.
Sites used for field trips and camping at the wildlife sanctuary are also off-limits. The closure is intended to prevent incidents akin to the recent mishap at Tham Luang in Chiang Rai that saw 12 footballers and their coach trapped in a flooded cave for 18 days, he said.
Customs impound huge onion haul
TAK: Customs officials in Mae Sot district yesterday impounded 3,400 kilogrammes of onions and 50kg of dried shrimp, smuggled from Myanmar.
Wallop Wutthapanit, chief of the Mae Sot customs checkpoint, said arrests were made in two separate cases. In the first, 300 sacks of onions weighing 3,000kg were confiscated from a pickup truck on Mae Ramat-Ban Tak in Mae Ramat district.
The driver failed to declare a tax payment document, resulting in the arrest of the driver along with the seizure of the onions and the pickup truck worth around 500,000 baht.
In the other case, 40 other sacks of onions weighing 400kg and 50kg of dried shrimps valued at 42,000 baht were confiscated at a natural border pass near Rim Moei market in tambon Tha Sai Luat in Mae Sot district the same day. Smuggled onions and food ingredients are becoming an increasing problem along the border.
Farmers handed low-rent land
Trang: Some 49 impoverished farmers in Trang were given 54 rental plots yesterday as part of a project to distribute land fairly in the province.
Governor Siripat Pattanakul handed out the special land permits to villagers in Moo 3 of tambon Bang Rak.
The plots sit on a piece of state land called Thung Cheang that covers Moo 3 and Moo 5.
Some 81 land plots in Moo 5 were allotted to 70 villagers for the same purpose on March 30, 2016.
Initially, 143 land plots will be allotted to 123 villagers under the project, which has been implemented in response to the Ministry of Interior's order to reduce land disputes between locals and the state. The plots are non-transferrable and villagers need only pay a nominal rental fee.
The latest move was also carried out to mark His Majesty the King's birthday this Saturday.
Monks busted for taking meth
Nakhon Ratchasima: Police arrested a man for selling meth pills and three monks for buying them in Phimai district yesterday.
Rattanachai Namaskarn, 21, was caught at his house in tambon Rang Ka Yai during a raid which also netted four teenagers. All five tested positive for drug use.
Police found four meth pills in Mr Rattanachai's trouser pocket.
The suspect told police he had been selling the pills to teenagers and monks at a local temple for a long time.
The investigators later visited the temple and asked three monks to take a urine test, all of whom tested positive for illicit drugs.
They had been monks for between one and four months.
