Bangkok ‘Fight Club’ Ignores Police Chief

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24 August 2016, 16:30

BANGKOK — Organizers of underground street fights said they won’t end their pugilistic bouts despite threats from the chief of Bangkok’s police force.

Those behind “Fight Club Thailand,” which like the eponymous 1999 cult film involves strangers punching each other in spontaneous matches, said what they do breaks no laws.

“What have we done wrong?” wrote Facebook user Joe Madcow KS, an admin of the group’s Facebook page, where matches are organized. “We are a sport like other sports. How are we different from takraw, futsal, basketball? What are you going to arrest us for?”

The group made headlines and attracted police attention after it posted videos online of boxing matches among members said to come people from all walks of life looking for a good fight.

Bangkok Metropolitan Police commander Sanit Mahatavorn said such fights are violation of a 1999 law on boxing because they were not sanctioned by state regulators.

“Let me ask you, what’s in the videos, is that boxing?” Lt. Gen. Sanit said at Tuesday’s news conference. “Everyone who’s seen it knows whether it’s boxing or not. If they want to dispute that, they can contest their cases in court.”

He said he’s instructed police to investigate the group and prosecute those found violating the law.

Joe said the law don’t pertain to their brawls but only boxing bouts that involve competition and rankings, while his group has nothing so fancy as tournaments or prizes.

Another organizer, 32-year-old Chakkrapong Pirom, said in a television interview Tuesday that they make sure that the fights are safe.

“We only have one round, which lasts for three minutes,” Chakkrapong said on Amarin TV. “As for medical aid, if there were injuries during the boxing, we would give them first aid, but if they were serious, we would send them to hospital right away.”

The last match set up by Fight Club Thailand appeared to be on Monday somewhere under a Bangkok bridge. Their Facebook group does not mention any future dates at this time. There’s no mention of Project Mayhem being planned either.

Comments on their online videos vary from supportive to concerned.

“I agree with this. It’s a stage for people to test their might, especially those who like to chase and brawl with each other in the streets,” wrote YouTube user Noom Teerarbsoong, referring to street gangs that often clash in Bangkok. “But they should improve the stage to be safe, and the boxing gloves should be adjusted for safety.”

At least one comment pointed out the very obvious.

“Y’all broke the first rule of Fight Club,” wrote Agent2724 2724.

Senate Will Only Nominate a PM in Event of Deadlock, Lawmakers Say

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Pravit Rojanaphruk, Senior Staff Writer

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24 August 2016, 14:41

Yingluck Shinawatra on Aug. 5, 2011, thanks her party members moments after majority of the parliament voted her as Thailand’s 28th Prime Minister. In the new charter, the Senate will also have a say in selecting a Prime Minister. Photo: Matichon

BANGKOK — The Senate under the new constitution will have the authority to nominate its own candidates for prime minister only if the upper and lower houses fail to choose one, leading members of the current parliament said.

The clarification came in response to media reports in the past week that the lawmakers were interpreting the referendum’s second question to mean the Senate, whose members would be appointed by the military junta, can make its own nominations at the outset without consulting the elected parliament.

Read: Prayuth Promises 2017 Election

“I really don’t know how the news came about,” said National Legislative Assembly member Taweesak Sutkwatin, who complained he was misquoted by several media outlets on the matter.

According to his colleague Jate Sirataranont, who sits on the assembly commission for interpreting the new charter, the next upper and lower houses will jointly vote for a new prime minister, which requires two-thirs of votes to pass.

“We agreed that only MPs should have the right to nominate Prime Minister candidate in the first round,” Jate of the National Legislative Assembly, or NLA, said by telephone Tuesday.

In Thailand’s previous charter, which was dissolved when the junta seized power in May 2014, only Members of Parliament voted for a Prime Minister, and the Senate was not involved. The previous charter also required the Prime Minister to be a Member of the Parliament, while the new charter does not.

If no majority has been reached, then the Senate would have the right to nominate its own list of candidate for the top job and offer it for another round of vote, Jate said.

He said this is in perfect alignment with second questions approved by voters in the Aug. 7 referendum, which asks them whether they consent to the possibility of the Senate working with the Parliament to appoint a non-MP as Prime Minister.

Previous media reports quote Jate and Taweesak as saying that the referendum question meant that the Senate can bypass the elected Parliament and nominate its own Prime Minister candidate right away.

“I think there’s a movement trying to distort us and the NCPO, making it sounds as if the NLA have made such proposal,” Jate said, referring to the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order.

He added that the assembly will stage a news conference on Aug. 28 to clarify the matter once and for all.

Northerners Say Provinces Where Charter Adopted Are No Less Red

Police Release Bombers’ Sketches, Will Seek Warrants

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Sasiwan Mokkhasen, Staff Reporter

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24 August 2016, 14:22

A collection of sketches of alleged bombers behind the Aug. 11-12 terror attacks released by police on Wednesday.

BANGKOK — Police on Wednesday released sketched drawings of four men responsible for the bomb attacks in the resort town of Hua Hin and southern province of Phang Nga during the Mother’s Day vacation two weeks ago.

A top police investigator is also said to be seeking arrest warrants for three of the suspected bombers seen in the sketches, who staged the attacks in coordination with other explosions and arsons across the southern region on Aug. 11-12. Four people died in the violence.

According to police, officers drafted the sketches based on description from witnesses who saw the three men in Hua Hin on Aug. 10. The sketches matched security footage of the three suspects, police said.

Four explosions struck Hua Hin in the attacks: two in a nightclub area on Aug. 11 and other two in front of the city clock tower on Aug. 12.

The fourth image belonged to a man who allegedly carried out the bomb attack at Bang Niang Market in Phang Nga province on Aug. 12.

All four images were released to the media by police on Wednesday.

Read : These Are People Accused of Carrying Out Southern Bombings

The head of police investigation team, Srivara Ransibrahmanakul, was reportedly traveling on Wednesday morning to a military court in Phetchaburi province, whose jurisdiction covers Hua Hin, to request arrest warrants for the three Hua Hin bombers.

Nearly two weeks after the attacks, police still have only one arrest warrant issued for one of the alleged perpetrators, a Narathiwat resident called Ahama Lengha.

Their investigation is marked by contradictory and confusing remarks made by different high-ranking officers, and by their insistence that the motives behind the attacks were still unclear, despite some evidence and analyses pointing to the separatist movement in the Deep South.

The latest example of such disarray in police’s communication with the public is a statement by a spokesman who said he couldn’t endorse the sketches of the four suspects as official police work, even though they were released by the police themselves.

“I cannot confirm that,” deputy spokesman Piyaphan Pingmuang answered when asked by reporters whether the sketches are genuine.

Govt Condemns ‘Barbaric’ Bomb Attack on Deep South Hotel

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

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24 August 2016, 12:28

Police officers on Wedneday morning inspect the site of the deadly twin car bomb that struck a hotel in Pattani province.

PATTANI — The government on Wednesday condemned a twin car bomb at a hotel in the southern border province of Pattani that left one person dead and at least 30 others injured, including women and children.

The attacks, which included a use of stolen ambulance, came nearly two weeks after the wave of explosions and firebombs across seven provinces that some experts believe were works of the same separatists based in Pattani and its neighboring provinces.

Here’s Why Experts Believe BRN Was Behind Attacks

“This action was intended to harm innocent civilians that include children and women, Buddhists and Muslims,” Col. Pramote Prom-in, the spokesman of the Internal Security Operation Command, told reporters Wednesday morning. “It’s barbaric.”

According to police report, the first car bomb went off at the parking lot of Southern Views Hotel in Pattani’s suburb at around 10.30pm Tuesday night, though no one was injured. Another car bomb exploded about half an hour later in front of the hotel, causing a large number of casualties and inflicting severe damages to nearby buildings.

One woman from Ubon Ratchathani province was killed in the bombing, while at least 30 other people were wounded, police said.

Col. Pramote said the vehicle used in the latter attack was an ambulance reported stolen from another hospital in Pattani province.

“This action is something that all sides find unacceptable, because an ambulance is a symbol of humanitarian aid, yet it was used by perpetrators of violence as an instrument of their wrongdoing,” the spokesman said.

Like other numerous other bombing and shooting attacks that plague the Deep South, no group has claimed responsibility for last night’s car bombs so far.

At least 6,000 people have died in the Muslim-majority region since the secessionist violence broke out there in January 2004.

Referendum Graffiti Puzzles Deep South Observers

Bombings Won’t Stall Peace Talks, Army Says

Swiss Charge 3 Suspects Arrested in Thailand for Global Phishing Case

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Associated Press

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24 August 2016, 11:46

GENEVA — Swiss prosecutors say they’ve charged three people accused of illegally obtaining data on at least 133,600 credit cards with computer fraud following their extradition from Thailand.

The Swiss attorney general’s office said Tuesday that the group for years earned a living from the unlawful procurement and fraudulent online use of credit card data. It said that “credit card holders around the world and Swiss financial institutions” were affected.

The three allegedly obtained the data through so-called phishing attacks, using emails, websites and text messages.

Prosecutors say they operated from October 2009 until they were arrested in 2014 and 2015 in Bangkok. They were then extradited to Switzerland, where they are currently in pretrial custody.

The Swiss say it’s the first indictment in the country in a global phishing case.

Magnitude 6.1 Quake Rattles Rome, Central Italy

By

Associated Press

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24 August 2016, 10:46

ROME — An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude estimated at 6.1 has rattled Rome and central Italy in the middle of the night.

There were no immediate reports of damage early Wednesday, but state-run RAI radio said people ran into the streets in central Umbria and Le Marche regions shortly after the quake struck just after 3:30am.

The European Mediterranean Seismological Center put the magnitude at 6.1 and said the epicenter was northeast of Rome, near Rieti. The U.S. Geological Survey put the magnitude at 6.2. It was felt in central Rome, as people in homes in the city’s historic center felt a long swaying.

The mayor of the Umbrian town of Amatrice, hit hard by the 6.1 magnitude quake, says at 5am Wednesday that residents are buried under the debris of collapsed buildings and that “the town isn’t here anymore.”

Sergio Pirozzi told state-run RAI radio and Sky TG24 that he needs heavy equipment to clear rubble-clogged streets to get to the injured.

Asked if there were any dead he said: “Look there are houses that aren’t here anymore. I hope we get some help.”

The quake struck central Italy, near Rieti, shortly after 3:30 a.m. and was followed by several aftershocks.

Praewa Completes Community Service, 4 Years After Court Orders It

By

Sasiwan Mokkhasen, Staff Reporter

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23 August 2016, 18:55

Orachorn ‘Praewa’ Thephasadin Na Ayudhya turns herself in at Metropolitan Police Bureau headquarters Jan. 5, 2011, in Bangkok.

BANGKOK — The woman from a wealthy family who previously failed to do a community service as a punishment for killing 9 people in a 2010 car crash told the court Tuesday she has finally completed the term.

It took Orachorn “Praewa” Thephasadin Na Ayudhya, who was a minor and had no driving license at the time of the accident, four years to complete the 138-hour community service because she had earlier “misunderstood” the conditions of the court’s order. She was given a second chance by the court in June.

She Avoided Jail Time For Causing 9 Deaths, Now ‘Praewa’ Has 9 Weeks to Complete Community Service

Today she reported to the court that she has been redoing the service since June 27, having worked at Sai Noi Hospital in Nonthaburi province six hours per day under close watch of probation officers.

Apart from the community service, Orachorn, who hails from a moneyed family, was also given a four-year suspended jail sentence and banned from driving until she’s 25.

But she never reported in to probation officers since the verdict was handed down in 2012, and the authorities only found out in Feb. that she failed to comply with the regulation set by the court. According to officials, Orachorn only completed 90 hours of community service at Phramongkutklao Hospital, which is not listed by the Department of Probation.

Orachorn later told the court in June she misunderstood the term and was ordered by the court to complete her service properly.

A separate verdict handed down by the civil court in November also instructed her to pay 30 million baht in compensation to families of the victims that she killed in 2010.

The deceased were passengers of a public minivan that Orachorn slammed into with her car at high speed on a Bangkok tollway. She was 17 at the time, below the legal age for driving.

The case drew widespread attention and is often cited as evidence of how the well-connected and the wealthy appear seem to be immune to punishment under the laws.

Cops Investigating Mass Digital Theft of State Bank ATMs

By

Sasiwan Mokkhasen, Staff Reporter

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23 August 2016, 18:12

ATMs in front of the Government Savings Bank headquarters in Bangkok are out of service as seen on Tuesday.

BANGKOK — Police say they are seeking the perpetrators who stole more than 12 million baht from teller machines owned by the Government Savings Bank by infecting them with computer virus.

The attack reportedly took place early this month and forced the state-owned bank to suspend 3,343 of its cash dispensers since Aug. 8, but the bank only told the public about the incident on Tuesday. Police also described the digital heist as the first one of its kind in Thai history.

An executive with the bank said the theft, which cost the bank 12.29 million baht, does not affect the public’s bank accounts.

“The robbery of the GSB’s ATMs was to steal the money that belonged to the bank, not the customers,” said the bank’s chief executive Chatchai Payuhanaveechai. “We will seek the damage from the manufacturer of the ATM machines.”

Notes left on out-of-order ATMs owned by the bank made no mention of the theft. The text only said the machines were undergoing technical “improvement.”

Gen. Panya Mamen from the Royal Thai Police said the perpetrators pulled off the heist by inserting modified ATM cards and infecting the machines with a certain malware that prompt them to dispense cash.

He believed the crime was committed by at least 25 people from eastern Europe.

The 21 machines reportedly hacked by the malware are in Bangkok, Phetburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Phuket, Surat Thani and Chumphon.

Notes left on out-of-order ATMs owned by the bank made no mention of the theft. "We closed down some ATMs to improve and increase efficiency of their service," the text says. — Notes left on out-of-order ATMs owned by the bank made no mention of the theft. “We closed down some ATMs to improve and increase efficiency of their service,” the text says.

The Government Savings Bank said its clients can withdraw money from the machines of other banks without any fee until the bank’s ATMs can function again.

Bank executive Chatchai said he had already informed the Bank of Thailand to warn other banks that also use the teller machines built by a company called NCR because they may be susceptible to the attacks.

There are more than 10,000 ATMs made by the company in Thailand, and his bank only owned about 3,000 of them, he said.

Activist ‘Pai Dao Din’ Freed on Bail, For Real This Time

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

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23 August 2016, 17:37

Jatupat ‘Pai’ Boonpattararaksa is greeted by his father on Tuesday upon his release from prison in Khon Kaen province. Photo: New Democracy Movement / Facebook

KHON KAEN — A military court in Khon Kaen province on Tuesday agreed to set an anti-junta activist free on bail, ending his two weeks of imprisonment.

Jatupat ‘Pai’ Boonpattararaksa, a member of a northeast-based group called Dao Din, was previously released on bail on Friday, but was taken to prison again because he still had another arrest warrant on him. His father said that won’t be the case this time.

Activist on Hunger Strike Denied Release by Military

“He’s already got out. He’s going home,” Wiboon Boonpattararaksa, who works a lawyer and also represents his son in court, said by telephone. “He’s okay now.”

Wiboon initially asked the military tribunal to free his son unconditionally, but the court instead ruled that it would only release Jatupat on bail. Wiboon accepted the ruling and bailed Jatupat out on 10,000 baht bond, according to an online post by the New Democracy Movement, a Bangkok-based activist group that has been calling for Jatupat’s freedom.

Jatupat ‘Pai’ Boonpattararaksa is greeted his supporters on Tuesday upon his release from prison in Khon Kaen province. Photo: New Democracy Movement / Facebook

Photos posted by the group also show Jatupat being welcomed by his friends upon his release from a prison in Khon Kaen province.

Jatupat was first arrested on Aug. 6, on the eve of the referendum on the new charter draft, as he was handing out leaflets urging people to vote against the draft. He chose not to post bail, insisting on an unconditional release, and was sent to jail in Chaiyaphum province.

After Jatupat changed his tact and accepted a bail release on Friday, police arrested him again just before he was released and took him to another military tribunal in Khon Kaen province, where he had an outstanding warrant for staging an anti-junta protest in May 2014. The judges ordered him remanded in a prison there, before granting him bail today.

Court Denies Police Warrant For Southern Bombing Suspect

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

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23 August 2016, 15:53

Sakarin Karuehat on Thursday was released from a police station in Nakhon Si Thammarat.

NAKHON SI THAMMARAT — Military judges Tuesday refused to approve a warrant sought by police for a suspect accused of participating in the terror attacks of two weeks ago.

Since Sakarin Karuehat was first seized from an oil platform in the gulf by soldiers on Aug. 13, the authorities have fended off accusations they arrested him as a convenient scapegoat in the aftermath of the spree of explosions and firebombs in seven provinces that left four people dead.

Read: Top Police Investigator Scolds Officers, Suggests Military Arrested Wrong Guy

Lt. Gen. Srivara Ransibrahmanakul, who heads the police investigation, said the court’s rejection was due to a legal technicality and not a lack of evidence.

“It wasn’t a rejection of the facts,” Srivara told reporters. “It was a rejection based on legal issues. The court believes investigators can issue a summons warrant first.”

The court also believes Sakarin poses no flight risk, Srivara said.

He said police will continue to investigate Sakarin’s alleged ties to the attacks during the National Mother’s Day vacation on Aug. 11-12.

Srivara added that police will ask the court to approve arrest warrants for more suspects soon. At this time, the only official suspect is Ahama Lorang, a resident of Narathiwat province. He remains on the run.

Police previously announced they had security camera footage that implicated Sakarin, a native of northern Chiang Mai province, in the firebombing of a Tesco Lotus supermarket in Nakhon Sri Thammarat province on Aug. 12.

The military the next day dispatched a helicopter to capture him on the oik rig where he worked. He was released from detention on Thursday and has since returned to Chiang Mai.

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