Dawn raids in Koh Samui by 700 police and soldiers

[spidermike007]

This is beautiful news. Clear out a few of the rabid dogs, who have been running loose on Samui for years, with no fear of the law. Now, if they could only arrest the police for not practicing any traffic safety enforcement. LOL. And of course the serial killer on Tao, who roams freely to this day.

[monkeycountry]

From another thread:

"It is believed that the motives were conflict of interests about the Taxi business and speedboat problems in Bophut area."

Many speedboats are run by the jetski mafia, so as usual we are back to issues with taxis and jetskis, both of which have caused problems on Samui, Phuket and elsewhere for many years.

[kevin2852]

If this is a genuine attempt to clean up the island then I bow to the Junta, but I suspect that it is simply a publicity drive to show muscle at the expense of a few low hanging fruit. We will see what happens after the jolted Police reports and the 4 clarifications with aoplogies

[ronaldo0]

Waste of time!!

They police and army have no idea how many guns are on this island, i could get a gun in an hour if i wanted one but getting bullets is a bit harder seemingly.

This guy was not the first guy to be shot in this street when full of tourists so why the big purge now??

I notice from all the pictures online etc that none of the houses they went too seem to be high end villas etc so basically they are rounding up the bottom of the chain and you can bet that all the top will be left alone to get on with business as usual!!

[transam]

WOW, stuff is happening,.....lots of boxer shorts will now be being purchased..............

I hope another island will be taken care of......

[Sparkles]

There damned if they do and damned if they don't hey!!!!!

Its about time someone stood us to these Mafia groups and here we go ..... Prayut Stiley... Top Man... Hats off to you. Now go back to Koh Tao and sweep up the scum line along the beach. Start in Sairee.

Far better for 700 to go in than a 100 than the rest sit on their backsides. Puts all the islands on notice and please no scapegoats get the real scum cleaned out and let Thailand heal itself.

15 years ago coming to this country the level of intimidation ,violence,scams and corruption was nothing like it is today. Frankly many I talk to want to move on its got past a joke and I'm talking about

younger Thai's and foreigners not bar stool philosophers.

[Guest]

It is amusing to watch the TV peanut gallery struggle to find a problem with this.

Soldiers dropping from helicopters certainly looks like a command from very, very high up the command chain and possibly without the local uniformed protection agency ... being able to warn their employers.

It is absolutely some "Kick a** and take names" drill and if it nets real results ... look for more..."The buck stops here" action in the future.

You F with the bull ... you get the horns.

Someone went WAY over the line and the party has just begun.

Well, sure someone overstepped the line. Question is only,

who's line. Some very powerful "influential" families here in

the south who sure don't like to be stepped on their toes.

You say, "the party has just begun". Yeah would be very nice

and a bit of Island clean-up wouldn't harm the region here at

all but I recon, as usual, it's just a big warning shot.

Probably just a bit of power redistribution, then it's all back to

"normality"

Yes, that makes a lot of sense. The majority of my posting is really about the idea that no matter what anyone with authority does in Thailand .. one thing is certain.

(Please allow me to rant at the rest who do not seem to employ your balanced and thoughtful reply)

When the Thai Visa Review board is done with it ... the verdict is always the same

Thai = Bad

Thai = Stupid

Thai = Incompetent

Well, it is thier GD country, and there is a new sherriff in town ... wait for the punchline ... who is doing EXACTLY what Thai Visa writers beg for every day.

This is the forum where we see:

"Playing the guitar? Throw him in Thai Prison."

"Punched a Farang? Hang the SOB !"

"Overstayed by accident? Should have known better! Deport and Black List him"

And on and on...

Then, over the horizon we hear the helicopters, soldiers are on roof tops, dozens of suspects are in custody.

And we wait to see how this too ... in the TV filter ... was a screw up.

Now that the General is putting the heat on criminals, some bad cops, etc ... why are we not cheering?

Isn't that what y'all wanted?

As to your crystal ball prediction of the outcome, I honestly do not know.

(But ... neither do you)

[JoeLing]

Off course my prediction might be wrong and I would be more than happy if I was
but such and similar actions we had numerous times over the past few decades
here on this island and the outcome was always the same (never mind who was in
power of this country)

So I can't see anything changing within the Samui structure.

As Abbot Phra Santi Nontakun once said:
"Samui people would eat their own heart for profit."

[Neilly]

Take a drive past the tourism collage in Cheweng...they're here in force

[empireboy]

It might seem like over-kill but it certainly sends a message to the offenders that there is serious force available...

A bit of posturing maybe but not all bad!

It might hardly make page 4 in California newspapers when it happens in their backyard and their tourism-train seems to keep steaming on!

Todays news is tomorrow's fish and chip paper!

[arjunadawn]

Everybody knew since yesterday evening that army was coming. Helico was noisy enough...

Yes, you are correct. I noticed two off to the side of the road in full combat gear and it was not yet nighttime. I explained to my wife this is very not ordinary gear. So, the majority may have been surprised, but it can hardly be described as airtight.

[MiKT]

It's well known that a certain cowardly colour Mussolini wanabe and his family have the most influence in Nakorn Si Thammarat and Samui. This is just a little clean-up of opposition by his brown mates as payback for setting the scene for a takeover.

Concern for tourists and public? 555555555555555555555555555555555555555555

[mikeinbangkok]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Paradise lost! The island has been run by mafia and their offspring fuelled by hot money since the late 90's. Haven't been there since 2001 and no plan to return.... it's good they are making an effort to clean out the dirty laundry though. Imagine they might find a few Interpol poster boys and girls if they look hard enough.

so you haven't even been there for 14 years yet know all about who runs it?

I bet you didn't even know back then :-)

Well said. No clue what's going on but has to make a comment anyway.

[bkkcanuck8]

Waste of time!!

They police and army have no idea how many guns are on this island, i could get a gun in an hour if i wanted one but getting bullets is a bit harder seemingly.

This guy was not the first guy to be shot in this street when full of tourists so why the big purge now??

I notice from all the pictures online etc that none of the houses they went too seem to be high end villas etc so basically they are rounding up the bottom of the chain and you can bet that all the top will be left alone to get on with business as usual!!

I could get a gun in less than 24 hours in my home city of Toronto (without all the initial contacts), less than an hour if I was in the know.... if I had the money.... but yet it is a much better policed city. That is not a good measure. And yes the cynic in me thinks he just ran afoul of a more powerful force (not necessarily the law as such) but still it is better to do a little weeding from time to time than to just say.... well there are a lot of weeds and we will never be weed free so we will do nothing.

[elgordo38]

Sledehammer to crack a nut !!

Somebodies been watching to many movies.

According to Thai news reports the move came after the very public execution of a prominent local businessman, the 49 year old man was gunned down while having dinner in a restaurant in the popular Fishemen’s village. Hmm money does have its priveleges even after death. An ordinary person being murdered would have hardly raised an eyebrow.

[gandalf12]

Good for the military and the police. About time things were cracked down on

[cumgranosalum]

So is this "enforcement" or "retribution"?

[pegman]

Grenada comes to mind. I wonder if this will end up in the history books as "the heroic invasion of Koh Samui". It's always an advantage to have a sense for proportions 700:to what? If you wanna do it right get training from the french foreign legion.

Rotten Ronnie's finest hour.

[pegman]

Waste of time!!

They police and army have no idea how many guns are on this island, i could get a gun in an hour if i wanted one but getting bullets is a bit harder seemingly.

This guy was not the first guy to be shot in this street when full of tourists so why the big purge now??

I notice from all the pictures online etc that none of the houses they went too seem to be high end villas etc so basically they are rounding up the bottom of the chain and you can bet that all the top will be left alone to get on with business as usual!!

I could get a gun in less than 24 hours in my home city of Toronto (without all the initial contacts), less than an hour if I was in the know.... if I had the money.... but yet it is a much better policed city. That is not a good measure. And yes the cynic in me thinks he just ran afoul of a more powerful force (not necessarily the law as such) but still it is better to do a little weeding from time to time than to just say.... well there are a lot of weeds and we will never be weed free so we will do nothing.

Your last mayor was a crackhead, bad example.

[kalbz]

I'm sure they get their training from the US's Homeland Security, or nowadays just the local US town's Swat Teams. In war we are one against a hundred, at home it's one hundred against one.

[kalbz]

They must be getting their training from the US's local town Swat Teams. In war we use 1 against 100. At home it's 100 against 1.

[Jim walker]

700 hundred all just a front must have been looking for overstay Americans who do not laugh at his hysterical jokes I will teach you to ban me from the states.

[phetphet]

Will be like whack-a-mole.

[Guest]

Off course my prediction might be wrong and I would be more than happy if I was

but such and similar actions we had numerous times over the past few decades

here on this island and the outcome was always the same (never mind who was in

power of this country)

So I can't see anything changing within the Samui structure.

As Abbot Phra Santi Nontakun once said:

"Samui people would eat their own heart for profit."

Thanks, good answer.

I gues the chess palyer in me knows most games have a pretty predictable first few moves ... few ever play out the same way ... but you are correct at the end of it all ... only one side can win.

Let's hope for something positive to come out of this.

Have a good weekend.

[reptile91602]

Hope they went through Chaweng and cleared it out of the bloody mafia there. They could knock that whole place down and redo it filling it with tele tubbies.

[Travelman868]

Not really too much force, I never even heard about this till thus afternoon.

Though the Mrs said there was a lot of police presence last night and the night before.

But usually just attributed to trying to catch yaba couriers.

Seems to me they wanted to sweep up a network all at once

with enough visible force to make armed resistance seem futile or fatal.

The nature if the assassination a short while back was so brazen and so public,

I think bringing the biggest hammer was a logical message bring sent to more

than just this network of sociopaths and gangsters, that there are new limits to

what society will tolerate.

With 1 suspect in custody and his perp walk reenactment and the name of his accomplice known,

they were able to target which network heads were behind it. And decided to really send a message,

that tourist business is worth far far more their their interacting squabbles for turf and influence.

Good comment from someone being sensible.

[slipperylobster]

Grenada comes to mind. I wonder if this will end up in the history books as "the heroic invasion of Koh Samui". It's always an advantage to have a sense for proportions 700:to what? If you wanna do it right get training from the french foreign legion.

More similar to the Falklands....

[animatic]

700 / 26 = 26.92 people to catch each target.

I just want to know what the .92 person looked like.

Post-op officer katoey of course

[Whyamiandwhatamidoinghere]

All that raiding and you can still buy strawberry mushroom and opium shakes. Go figure...

[lvr181]

".........If you wanna do it right get training from the french foreign legion."

Really? I suppose they liberated France during WW1 and WW2? Gimme a break. You been reading to many comics?