Police have arrested 89 foreigners for violating COVID-19 regulations during a party at a bar.
Last week, police raided Three Sixty Bar on Koh Phangan and arrested 22 locals alongside the 89 foreigners, including the bar’s owner and two bartenders, police Col Suparerk Pankosol, superintendent of the provincial immigration office said, according to The Guardian.
The foreigners arrested came from more than 10 countries including the US, Britain, Switzerland, and Denmark.
Suparerk said the gathering, which was supposed to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the bar, was illegal under the national state of emergency that was declared in March 2020 in response to the global pandemic.
Images of the raids released by police show a crowded room full of partygoers, almost all of whom are wearing masks.
Koh Phangan is a Thai island popular amongst backpackers and famous for its all-night full-moon beach parties.
ABC News reported the partygoers received suspended jail terms of one month, which will be suspended if they behave well for one year, and fines of 4,000 baht ($173.60) each.
The organiser and two Thai bartenders were fined 10,000 baht and two years in jail, which was also suspended for a year.
The organiser said he made an “honest mistake”
“I thought Surat Thani province was in the COVID-19 green zone,” he said, according to ABC News.
Thailand has reported a total of 20,454 cases of COVID-19 and 79 deaths.
Featured image source: iStock/intek1
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