Police gear up for Chinese New Year Festival

Effective crime prevention and public safety to be maintained throughout January 27-29 Lunar New Year Festival

From January 27-29, the Chinese New Year Festival will take place, during which Thai-Chinese communities will shop for offerings to honour their ancestors, travel to their home towns, and celebrate the occasion. 

To ensure effective crime prevention and maintain public safety throughout the festival, including the shopping day, offering day, and celebration day, the Royal Thai Police, under the direction of Deputy National Police Chief Pol Gen Prachuap Wongsuk, has instructed all units to implement preventive measures strictly.

Prachuap directed the Metropolitan Police Bureau, Provincial Police Regions 1-9, the Central Investigation Bureau, the Narcotics Suppression Bureau, and the Tourist Police Bureau to intensify their efforts. 

This includes deploying officers to patrol areas where people shop for items for ancestor offerings, monitoring for property crimes at banks, gold shops, jewellery stores, convenience stores, and food distribution centres, and being vigilant about potential fire incidents. Officers are also instructed to stay prepared to handle emergencies according to response plans.

Additionally, police patrols are to focus on tourist attractions, hotels, and residential areas popular among Thai-Chinese travellers, as well as prevent vehicle theft and residential burglaries. These measures aim to ensure safety and security for everyone during the festive period.

The Immigration Bureau has been instructed to tighten border control by thoroughly checking travel documents for entry and exit to and from the kingdom. 

The Narcotics Suppression Bureau has also been tasked with intensifying operations to crack down on drug traffickers and smuggling networks that may attempt to exploit the holiday period to transport drugs across the border and into the interior of the country for distribution to regional customers or for further trafficking to third countries. 

The Border Patrol Police are to collaborate in these efforts.

The Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau is also directed to prevent and suppress all forms of cybercrime during the festival period.



Pol Col Worasak Phisitbannakorn, acting director of the Public Relations Division, also warned the public to be cautious of online scams, particularly phishing attempts disguised as "digital red envelopes" or phone text (SMS) messages with links designed to steal money or personal information.

(2025/01/26-00:00)