Thailand week in review: Bangkok rail crash kills 8, Phuket-linked arrest
Here is a look at the top NATIONAL Thailand stories, chosen by our Pattaya News/TPN National team, from last week, Monday, May 11th to Sunday May 17th. They are not in any particular level of importance but are listed…
Thailand’s top national stories for May 11-17 included a Bangkok train-bus collision that killed eight people and injured 32, along with a Phuket-linked weapons case and multiple police raids elsewhere in the country. The weekly developments also included a drug test result in the rail crash, a British suspect arrested in Pattaya over a killing in Phuket, and several cases involving Chinese nationals.
Rail crash investigation and Phuket killing suspect
The deadliest case of the week was the May 16 freight train collision with a public bus stranded on a railway crossing. An updated toll put the casualties at eight dead and 32 injured.
Investigators later found the freight train driver tested positive for illegal substances, with urine reportedly turning purple during screening, a common local indicator in drug tests. Early reports indicated the presence of cannabis and methamphetamine.
In a separate case, police in Pattaya arrested a 33-year-old British national identified only as Mr. Amir. He is accused of playing a key role in supplying weapons for a cartel-related assassination of an Iraqi man in Phuket earlier this year.
Weapons cache, drug pod factory and gambling raid
In Chonburi, police said they had not ruled out terrorism or sabotage in the case of 31-year-old Chinese national Mingchen Sun. He faces charges for concealing C4 explosives and a large cache of war weapons in the Pattaya area.
Sun was taken to hospital under heavy guard with a SWAT team on Monday evening after suffering a violent seizure while being processed into Pattaya Special Remand Prison. Authorities later said evidence including financial trails and digital communications linked him to scammer syndicates in Cambodia, while adding there were no plans for terrorism in Thailand and that visa screening rules would be reviewed.
Elsewhere near Pattaya, police raided a luxury home on Monday afternoon and said it was being used as a secret homemade factory producing drug-laced e-cigarette pods, known locally as “pot K” or “zombie pods.” Three Chinese nationals were arrested in that case.
A separate late Wednesday night raid on a luxury villa in Pattaya broke up what officials described as an illegal high-stakes poker operation. A joint team of immigration, tourism and local police arrested 16 Chinese nationals.
Source: https://thephuketexpress.com/2026/05/18/top-national-thailand-stories-from-the-past-week-bangkok-train-bus-collision-at-railway-crossing-kills-8-injures-32-and-more/
