DEPUTY PM RAIDS PANTIP, AND FINDS 1 DVD

Pantip Plaza in central Bangkok is the place to go to buy 'dodgy' software and DVDs. Every weekend you'll find thousands of Thai's and foreigners buying the latest copy of Microsoft Vista for 100 baht, or a DVD of the latest Hollywood blockbuster that hasn't even made it into the cinema.
The public relations Department of the Government has just released a statement saying Pantip was raised by a 'sting' team including the Deputy Prime Minister - and a grand total of one pornographic DVD, 30 MP3 discs and two bags of marijuana were recovered.
This has got to be a joke? Pantip is stuffed to the rafters with illegal software and DVDs. This is likely to be another PR disaster and shows the level of corruption at high levels in all parts of Thai society, because you can bet your life that vendors and everyone at Pantip knew what was happening in advance.
After his 'success' at Pantip, the Deputy PM then visited Patpong and found no illegal activities. For the record Patpong would be described as a red-light district in most parts of the world.
Intellectual property theft is a massive problem in Bangkok and Thailand really needs to get serious soon, or else it might find the rest of the world getting serious on its behalf.