‘Gone too far’: Thai PM Anutin slams foreign lawbreakers as backlash builds
Por Aidan Jones — South China Morning Post – News feed
Advertisement Thailand This Week in Asia People ‘Gone too far’: Thai PM Anutin slams foreign lawbreakers as backlash builds
Anutin says foreigners ‘should not come here and take advantage of us’, as Thailand acts to close legal loopholes and deter transgressions
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Aidan Jones Published: 8:52pm, 17 Sep 2026 Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has issued a withering rebuke to foreigners behaving badly in Thailand following a wave of scandals involving illegal businesses and landholdings including a cemetery, saying the cases have “gone too far” by breaching Thai law and hospitality. Facing mounting public backlash against illegal foreign ownership of swathes of the country enabled by endemic corruption, Anutin’s government has halved the visa-free entry period to 30 days for most countries and fast-tracked deportation proceedings against criminals.
Authorities have also launched a crackdown on “nominee” businesses that use Thai citizens as paper owners of companies, while vowing to tighten rules that have allowed foreign nationals to buy citizenship and therefore own land restricted only to Thais.
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