‘Mafia island’: From paradise to bloodshed

[franzs]

it seems that police forget very quick,

more than 10 years ago two cases like that happen in Bangkok and were ruled as suicide,

one American and one Swiss,

the Swiss hat his apartment door locked from inside, pulled a plastic bag over his head, taped it airtight,

slipped a longer line with a loop over his wrists on the back, stepped on the line, pulled his arms up so that the loop

closed, like this he made sure that he couldn't use his hands anymore to take off the plastic bag in case he changed his mind in the last moment,

the American was a similar case

[tomacht8]

The island being under royal ownership.
An alternative would be to vacate the entire island,
to demolish all the squatter buildings.
Give it back to the turtles as breeding ground.
Koh Tao only use touristic, analog as Angtong National Park.

[koele2]

Survivor - Koh Tao. I would definitely watch that reality show

[pejmansabet]

boycott KOH TAO

[AleG]

it seems that police forget very quick,

more than 10 years ago two cases like that happen in Bangkok and were ruled as suicide,

one American and one Swiss,

the Swiss hat his apartment door locked from inside, pulled a plastic bag over his head, taped it airtight,

slipped a longer line with a loop over his wrists on the back, stepped on the line, pulled his arms up so that the loop

closed, like this he made sure that he couldn't use his hands anymore to take off the plastic bag in case he changed his mind in the last moment,

the American was a similar case

Actually the case of the Frenchman has already been ruled a suicide, but that sells less than going nudge-nudge-wink-wink say no more...

[ebonykap]

What's happening with the British report? I thought it was due out on 6/1/15.

Anybody know, or have I missed it?

[Richmah]

This is good material for TAT.

"Visit Koh Tao......The Mafia is waiting to greet you"

All island in Thailand is mafia control, okk

[The Deerhunter]

This won't slow down tourism there.

How many check for sinister news stories when booking a ticket?

You're kidding, right?

Agoda shows that most hotels on koh tao are currently full or near full

Do not believe that. There has to be away to allow walk in, email, and phone bookings or cancellations to alter their booking profile for these hotel booking systems. They are often referred to as "marketing features. It fools most people till you think about it. The hotel owner can use this feature to fiddle the occupancy levels to show " last 2 rooms, last 4 rooms, last budget room" to make people, "BOOK NOW SO YOU DO NOT MISS OUT". Or in a genuinely busy season to show the budget rooms all booked to push bookings up to the next tariff level. Try this. Book the last room sometime then count heads at breakfast time. Last Feb we did this in Pattaya & Rayong in February. In a big hotel in Rayong we were almost the only party for breakfast. In a smaller hotel in Pattaya, ditto. It is bad for business to show an empty hotel, like you & I walks past an empty restaurant & move on to find a full one.

Edited January 11, 2015 by The Deerhunter

[thailandchilli]

Koh tao is a beautyful place with 1 mio visitor coming every year with in total 12 fatality in 2014 incl accident and homocuid and suicide

So do the math that nothing

On the phollipones on 2014 more than 300 tourist lost their live just in manila not the 7000 islands with ransome kidnapping incl

Koh Tao population of around 1,600 Thai's and according to you 12 fatalities, now do the Maths rather than comparing such a tiny island and population with the Philippines population of 98 million

[media]

Koh Maffia is riddled with bad police and maffia, as is I expect many other thai islands (and the mainland)

The police cant be bothered to investigate these murders.

"Dont come to Thailand, Shut up and leave us alone, dont bother us or expect civilisation or sympathy"

"If you were not in Thailand this wouldn't have happened"

[The Deerhunter]

This is good material for TAT.

"Visit Koh Tao......The Mafia is waiting to greet you"

All island in Thailand is mafia control, okk

And many towns & provinces.

[wow64]

The next season of Surviver should be on

Koh Tao (death island).

[NCC1701A]

all you have to do is monitor #kohtao on tweetdeck to see the murder is still popping up here and there like herpes.

[draftvader]

Many places around the world will have death people on their holiday

Things happen everywhere cologne moskwa new york rio tokyo bangkok jakarta

Yes, let's just evaluate the population numbers/tourist numbers/deaths of tourists. You need to work "per capita".

[Miss Pickle]

My Son's have just returned from Koh Tao with friends and said it was a beautiful Island and the people lovely. They loved it I was a bit worried after what happened to the young British couple.They had nothing but friendliness from the local. It is very sad if this is true about Mafia the press it is getting is going to chase people away sadly.

[Anthony5]

Koh tao is a beautyful place with 1 mio visitor coming every year with in total 12 fatality in 2014 incl accident and homocuid and suicide

So do the math that nothing

On the phollipones on 2014 more than 300 tourist lost their live just in manila not the 7000 islands with ransome kidnapping incl

Koh Tao population of around 1,600 Thai's and according to you 12 fatalities, now do the Maths rather than comparing such a tiny island and population with the Philippines population of 98 million

You really specialize in twisting someones words to make your boat float, don't you.

Let me spell it out for you.

Khoh Tao has 1.000.000 visitors a year, not 1600.

12 people died.

Manila has 300 tourist deaths a year, not the whole of Philippines.

300/12 x 1.000.000 = 25.000.000

Do 25.000.000 People visit Manila alone each year?

Edited January 11, 2015 by Anthony5

[noitom]

It's like the song hotel california. You can check in, but you can/t check out.

[fgmr]

or the slogan could be: Kho Tao:if you survive-you survive anything...survival at it's best

Someone should invite the producer and cast of that TV series Survivor to the island. Might make interesting viewing for a change.

[inzman]

Unfortunately even more deaths will happen , but the tourists will continue to come. It's a sad reality, but things like this don't seem real to tourists and they still come.

[thailandchilli]

Koh tao is a beautyful place with 1 mio visitor coming every year with in total 12 fatality in 2014 incl accident and homocuid and suicide

So do the math that nothing

On the phollipones on 2014 more than 300 tourist lost their live just in manila not the 7000 islands with ransome kidnapping incl

Koh Tao population of around 1,600 Thai's and according to you 12 fatalities, now do the Maths rather than comparing such a tiny island and population with the Philippines population of 98 million

You really specialize in twisting someones words to make your boat float, don't you.

Let me spell it out for you.

Khoh Tao has 1.000.000 visitors a year, not 1600.

12 people died.

Manila has 300 tourist deaths a year, not the whole of Philippines.

300/12 x 1.000.000 = 25.000.000

Do 25.000.000 People visit Manila alone each year?

Better read my post again............................Koh Tao has a population of 1,600 Thai's I don't really care how many visitors they have

[CockneyGit]

Never catch me back there. The only money I would spend on that place again would be for the poison to eradicate all the scum.

If you don't like mafia controlled tourist areas, best to avoid Thailand completely then!

[Anthony5]

Koh tao is a beautyful place with 1 mio visitor coming every year with in total 12 fatality in 2014 incl accident and homocuid and suicide

So do the math that nothing

On the phollipones on 2014 more than 300 tourist lost their live just in manila not the 7000 islands with ransome kidnapping incl

Koh Tao population of around 1,600 Thai's and according to you 12 fatalities, now do the Maths rather than comparing such a tiny island and population with the Philippines population of 98 million

You really specialize in twisting someones words to make your boat float, don't you.

Let me spell it out for you.

Khoh Tao has 1.000.000 visitors a year, not 1600.

12 people died.

Manila has 300 tourist deaths a year, not the whole of Philippines.

300/12 x 1.000.000 = 25.000.000

Do 25.000.000 People visit Manila alone each year?

Better read my post again............................Koh Tao has a population of 1,600 Thai's I don't really care how many visitors they have

Better you read the whole thread again.................we're talking about tourist deaths not habitants deaths. Doesn't matter how many people live there.

[CockneyGit]

Embargo this island and cut off the money supply. Only the foolish would visit this island and support the local economy now.

Grow up.

[thailandchilli]

To get stats then its worked out by capita, perhaps you did'nt know that well you do now, its like comparing deaths in Phuket to Koh Tao, unless you take into account resident numbers then its not a reliable indication

[CapeThai]

Like I said before, people should AVOID Koh Tao all together....

Tourists should be made aware of the dangers lurking on " Island of Death "

[SOTIRIOS]

I did not think there was any Mafia in Thailand ,thats

according to the Police,and other Govt. agencies,

Its like if you say it enough,it will be so.the biggest

organized criminals here wear uniforms of different

colours.

regards Worgeordie

...just glorifying low-life scum......

....corruption...collusion...complicity......

...in way...those that have their houses or livelihoods there....are stuck...

...but apparently everybody knows who 'calls the shots' there......

[Alan653]

They way things are handled here (not solved in a proper way) lead to the most worrisome questions: WHO IS NEXT and HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE?

Shouldn't take long.....

seeing that there has been a suicide, murder, suspicious death,

in what....the last 4 month's, one should be along soon.

[mickyboy]

people will still go there because everyone thinks not happen to them as they are just normal tourist people who just on holiday patayya phuket koh tao and even samui has problems happy days are on there way out with lack russians and other tourist maybe they might wake up but dont think so because the trouble people are so rich they never have to worry what ever happens

[Lovethaihowever]

hit the mafia where it hurts the most, (in the pocket) avoid the place and give it back to the fishermen

The problem is that tourists will just start going to one of the other islands and the mafia will follow. To be honest, the mafia are not the problem, it's the scum that work the rackets who are just village idiots that think because they're on the payroll they are members of the main gang. Truth is the heads are well educated, and wealthy and wouldn't even spare a gob of spit to put one of those idiots out if they were on fire. If I advise friends coming to Thailand I always tell them to avoid the main tourist areas, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Khonkaen are all okay. If you go to almost any of the islands, or Phuket, Pattaya, Hua Hin and wind up either in prison, seriously assaulted or dead don't say you weren't warned.

I've seen farangs really pushing their luck with Thais, farangs think that their size intimidates people and they use it. However, these skinny Thai's are a hundred times stronger than they appear, they are raised killing animals, they aren't at all squeamish about slotting animals or people. They know that if they kill you they'll have to organize a whip round to pay off the Police. Also, a lot of farang don't know that fighting is not a criminal offense in Los, it's a civil offense and usually requires a small payment of 500 baht at the Police station. So the extremely frequent 'kicking a farang's head in' doesn't make it into crime statistics, because it isn't actually a crime.

[Papayabokbok]

Its just never going to go away all.

Do the authorities still think that anyone, here or abroad following events, believes these two Burmese boys are guilty?

Do the authorities really still think that all these suspicious deaths will all be forgotten about in the era of social media?

I doubt Koh Tao will ever recover to anything near approaching the tourist revenues of the past. Its reputation appears, from what i keep reading, to be shattered for good. Such a shame because its such a beautiful island.

Short answer?........yes