From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok,September 20 2009Pictures Gavin Hill/VeraA British producer cameraman has had to flee Thailand after filming a sequence in which British Royal Marines were held at gunpoint by Thai mafia after hiring a Jet Ski on a paradise beach.The cameraman Gavin Hill, 40, from Manchester, a former bureau chief for Associated Press Television, […]

I’m flying with the eagles,’ says Australian con man,’ but after landing at Bangkok airport he is in police lock-up. An Australian con-man working with impunity out of Pattaya has been arrested by police, who were about to be criticised by tourists for their inaction, in the television documentary series ‘Big Trouble in Thailand’.Immigration Police […]

HMS Bulwark in Phuket Phuket jet-ski operator JJ Naiman apologised to the Thai people for disappointing them on national television tonight, but said he was tricked into appearing on the controversial British television series ‘Big Trouble in Thailand.’ The jet ski operator who was shown bringing a gun out on British Royal Marines from HMS […]

A Swiss couple were reported to have fled Koh Samui yesterday after telling local Embassy officials that they that the couple had been threatened with a beating and rape if they failed to pay 65,000 baht (2000 Swiss francs). A source close to the Swiss Embassy said the couple were escorted to the airport by […]

A now notorious Thai jet-ski operator accused of ripping off British Royal Marines in the infamous ‘damaged jet ski scam’ also took cash off US Marines in an incident just days later – and was ‘wai-ed’ by one US Marines in an apparent plea for lenience.

(More rushes from ‘Big Trouble in Thailand)‘Thailand is awesome. The people are good and sound. Today was a bit different’ – Marine Jack TebbottLink: JJ: My uncle is big Captain in police stationFrom Andrew Drummond, Bangkok, September 13Royal Marines who claim they were swindled and held at gunpoint while on R&R in Thailand said tonight […]

The series ‘Big Trouble in Thailand’ has provoked quite a controversy across the internet blogs in this part of the world and is now begining to hit the mainstream Thai media. Accusations have been made. Was the confrontation with the Marines set up? What sort of guy is JJ – the Thai mafia figure featured in […]

Arrest follows British television documentaryFrom Andrew Drummond, Bangkok, September 9th 2009Pictures: Andrew Chant/Gavin Hill/Thai authorities have arrested the leader of a Thai mafia gang and charged with him with extortion based solely on the evidence of a British television documentary.Police today were holding a Thai known locally a JJ Naiman, aged 27, after he was […]

Dropped down last night to the Soi 8 bar on, Sukhumvit Soi 8 of course,  for the ‘wake’ of Lydia Riach.  People familiar with Scottish wakes of course will know they are a celebration of a life, rather than the mourning of a death and this was no exception.Some 200 people attended the cremation and […]

Murder hunts as Scots woman loses fight for life in Bangkok From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok An Inverness woman who was mugged in Thailand a week ago last Saturday has lost her fight for life in a Bangkok hospital. Lydia Riach, 58, was pronounced dead at the police hospital in Bangkok at 11.44 last night (Sunday) […]