French busted by the dozens for Samui soiree

Photo: Bo Put Police Department
Photo: Bo Put Police Department

Twenty French nationals are due in court tomorrow after they were busted for partying like there was no pandemic on Koh Samui.

Island police this afternoon said that the revelers, including the French owner of the bar at La Mai Beach, were arrested last night along with three Thai customers after they were caught carousing there in violation of the emergency decree.

“All the foreign customers were French because they were invited by the owner, who is also French,” Manoch Jantieng of the Bo Put Police Department said, breaking down the French connection. “They have a mutual network.”

All 24, along with an employee from Myanmar, will be charged in court with violating the emergency decree, a crime punishable by up to two years in jail and a THB40,000 fine.

Lt. Col. Manoch said The La Bohemia Beach Lounge was already flouting the law yesterday by selling alcohol, which remains forbidden under measures enacted to stem the spread of COVID-19.

The foreigners, who all said they had been stranded on the island due to the global pandemic, told the police they were there to dance, eat and drink, but did not know doing so was currently against the law.

Bar owner Quentin Thioliet faces additional charges stemming from operation of an unlicensed bar and failing to register his foreign employee. The Burmese worker was also accused of not registering new employment in the permitted time.

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