Pattaya News

Over 100 police have been raiding bars and clubs on Walking Street and checking farangs' ID. The terrifying prospect of being banged up in a foreign prison was in prospect for several who were arrested.

Bizarrely the police claimed that it was a bid to somehow reassure tourists that Pattaya is a safe place to party. As stickboybangkok.com said:

I doubt the half dozen or so foreigners carted off in the back of a police pickup would agree.

From what I can gather the primary objective was to catch visa violators as during the raids both Thais and foreigners were asked to produce I.D. which led to a number of party people checking bin sooner than they hoped and making an unscheduled stop at the police station to answer a few questions.

The bars targeted included Sensations A-Go-Go and 808 nightclub, both popular with the tourist and expat crowd.

More information has come to light regarding an apparent ISIS plot to target Russian and other western tourists in Thailand.

The plot, which was revealed in a leaked memo obtained by Khaosod English, was marked as Secret and allegedly issued by the intelligence unit of the Royal Thai Police Special Branch. The memo claims to cite information obtained by the Russia's Federal Security Service or FSB.

The source told Thaivisa that a briefing was held early on Thursday, prior to the leaking of a memo to the press. During the briefing, officers were told of plots to target foreign tourists in Bangkok's Khao San Road, as well as on Walking Street in Pattaya.

Senior officers were told how security will be increased at major locations across the country and that Immigration will be stepping up the screening of foreigners at all border checkpoints.

Notices have appeared on the seaward side of a fair few buildings on Walking Street. It seems that these are demolition orders and are related to buildings modified without council permission. The notices were seen at SkyFall, Eclipse, Infinity, iBar, and the bar below The Pier, but have now been taken down.

PattayaDailyNews writes:

Recently officers of the engineering division of Pattaya had brought an order to stop any construction of any new buildings and also to demolish those that were built without permission.

The order was on behalf of Mr.Ronnakit Aeksasing-deputy mayor of Pattaya- and 6 buildings had broken the law and had been constructed or extended without permission.

The buildings located in Walking Street South Pattaya have been ordered to be dismantled in order for the land to be recovered and renovated .

However, the conclusion from parliament is still unclear about what's going to happen because the operators had the right deeds; therefore, the officers just ordered them not to extend their buildings. The officers found out that 12 operators had broken the rule and had extended their buildings so they were ordered to demolish them.