Graft thrives along Mae Sot borderListen to this articleThe arrest of Ratchapong "Pond" Soisuwan, a constituency candidate representing the People's Party and then incumbent MP for Constituency 2, former MP for Mae Sot district in Tak province, came as little surprise to local people. The reality is that this legislator was allegedly part of a vast grey-to-black ecosystem deeply embedded in Mae Sot. Once positioned as a "trading hub" and "gateway to Myanmar, Mae Sot has become a corridor of transnational crime. Mae Sot has become an arena of strategic competition between China and the US, each backed by its own allies. The situation in Mae Sot goes far beyond the arrest of a former MP from any single political party.

Source: Bangkok Post January 20, 2026 00:32 UTC