The raid on the premises in Bangkok saw officers catch the people in the process of chopping up a 400 kg male tiger. The residential building being used as the slaughterhouse contained other dead and dismembered wildlife such as tigers, elephants, crocodiles, endangered birds and even zebras.

“With the introduction of our first long- haul route to Bangkok, RAK Airways has cemented its unique market position between the well-established full service carriers and the low-cost carriers,” said RAK Airways CEO Omar Jahameh.

Thailand’s Pheu Thai government has just raised the price of CNG (Compressed Natural Gas),which most Bangkok taxis run on, right after the country’s three months of flooding, which severely damaged taxi drivers’ incomes. Now the drivers are expected to suck up this higher gas price while being unable to raise the minimum taxi meter rate (that’s also regulated by the government) to compensate. No wonder they’re angry.

On several of my typical taxi rides this weekend, I spoke to drivers about the rise in NGV fuel/CNG prices, as I knew the protests were imminent, and not one of them was happy about it. Interestingly too, several voiced their displeasure at the Pheu Thai government.

As taxi drivers were Pheu Thai’s strongest supporters during last year’s general election, and have supported them and former Thai prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, for years, it’s interesting to hear some now saying they wished they hadn’t voted for them. If the taxi drivers are angry with Pheu Thai, you can only imagine how much of the rest of the country feels.

The government’s energy minister meanwhile is asking the taxi drivers to be realistic. He says PTT has lost over 40 billion baht since it launched the natural gas service, and the money has to be made up somewhere.

On the backs of Bangkok’s poor taxi drivers (they make an average of $300 a month, working 28-30 days a month) hardly seems the right way to do it though, does it?

The planned hike in CNG fuel prices will take place on January 16th.

The project, located at the junction of Jalan Sultan Ismail and Jalan Ampang here, opposite the Renaissance Hotel, is developed by Berjaya Corporation Bhd’s (BCorp) wholly-owned subsidiary Wangsa Tegap Sdn Bhd.

Yesterday, Bangkok Bank signed an agreement with BCorp for the purchase of the eight floors and 105,950 sq ft of commercial space.

Named Menara Bangkok Bank @ Berjaya Central Park, the 46-storey corporate suite tower has a gross development value (GDV) of RM1 billion and a total net sellable area of 475,000 sq ft, with prices starting at RM1,100 psf.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, BCorp chief executive officer Datuk Robin Tan said: “We are honoured that one of the oldest and most established financial institutions in the country has chosen Berjaya Central Park as its new corporate headquarters in Malaysia. Bangkok Bank has been a proud part of Malaysia’s banking history for more than 50 years.”

Berjaya Land Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Francis Ng told reporters later that it is expecting to sign an anchor tenant for the corporate suite tower within the next three months and will open the rest of the tower for sale after Chinese New Year.

Meanwhile, the 48-storey service residence tower to be managed by Ritz-Carlton has a GDV of RM1.2 billion and a net sellable area of 480,000 sq ft (296 units), priced from RM2,000 psf.

At the same function, Wangsa Tegap also signed an agreement with Vinci-MHPT Consortium, awarding the latter the contract for the construction of Menara Bangkok Bank @ Berjaya Central Park.

The contract is valued at RM330 million and will cover the construction of the podium block, corporate suite tower and the structure for the residence tower over 27 months.

Ng said Vinci-MHPT is expected to complete the job by the first quarter of 2014.

He added that the construction contract for the service residences will be awarded in mid-2012, for completion in 15 to 20 months.

Special teams from the Thai Fishery Department have responded to numerous reports of reptilian menaces, like the 3-foot-long (meter-long) croc that Anchalee Wannawet saw sitting next to the outhouse one morning, its toothy jaw wide open.

“I ran away, and it ran into there,” the 23-year-old said, pointing toward the reedy swamp behind the construction site where she works in Bangkok’s northern Sai Mai district. “I haven’t dared to go the bathroom since. I’m peeing in a can.”

Thailand has long been a center for the breeding, exporting and trafficking of exotic animals, especially crocodiles. Farmed both legally and illegally, crocs are popular because of the value they fetch for their meat, bones and especially their skins, used to make luxury bags and accessories.

This year’s record monsoon rains, which prompted Thailand’s worst flooding in a half century and killed more than 600 people, also swamped some of the country’s estimated 3,000 crocodile farms. Many of the reptiles escaped — though probably not as many as residents think they are seeing around the city.

“We get a lot of reports at the Fishery Department, but only about 5 to 10 percent of them turn out to be true,” said Praphan Lipayakun, a fishery department official, adding that many false reports end up being large monitor lizards, which are generally shy and harmless.

“We even get reports of people being bitten, but when we follow up, we can’t get in touch with the supposed patient, or when contacted, the doctor that treated the wound says that it in no way resembled a crocodile bite.”

Still, officials and volunteer veterinarians have confirmed many flood-affected animals on the loose or in distress — and not only reptiles.

A team of volunteer veterinarians rescued scores of animals — from deer and Capuchin monkeys to lions, tigers and bears — from the yards and homes of Thailand’s rich.

“Most of the ones we found in the Bangkok area are privately owned, and a lot of them are for fun or for pleasure — like a farm or some exotic species in the house,” said Nantarika Chansue, president of the Zoo and Wildlife Veterinary Society of Thailand and a member of the team of volunteers.

“Some of the owners left home already and left the animals in the cage as the water rose. Some of them have illegal animals and are afraid of being prosecuted, so they are afraid to tell us and just leave them there.”

Some of the rescued animals had had to be treated for respiratory diseases from inhaling disease-infested floodwaters, Nantarika said.

Thailand’s worst floods in half a century, triggered by months of unusually heavy monsoon rains, have left at least 562 people dead around the kingdom and damaged millions of homes and livelihoods.

After weeks of flooding, waters in some Bangkok districts have receded significantly. An AFP photographer said the water level in the Lat Phrao and Mo Chit areas, on the northern edge of the city centre, had fallen by nearly a metre in 48 hours and inhabitants were no longer using boats to get around.

Large swathes of Thailand are still under water as efforts to divert huge volumes of water away from Bangkok during Monday’s peak tides proved largely successful.

Sukhumbhand Paribatra said the flood had moved faster than anticipated and was expected to reach the Don Muang area of the Thai capital, where Bangkok’s second airport is located. The airport is being used as headquarters for the flood relief effort and as a shelter for evacuees.

On Monday, water flooded roads near the airport, though one lane was still passable. Thai television showed residents leaving their houses with luggage. Air operations continued as normal, however, at Don Muang and at Bangkok’s main international airport on the other side of the city.

Sukhumbhand said the water would threaten five other districts as it headed towards the city’s developed areas. Among those under threat was the Chatuchak district, popular with tourists and locals for its weekend market.

“Now all indications point to only one conclusion: a critical problem will happen,” Sukhumbhand said. He told residents of the six districts to move belongings to higher ground, and said sick and older people should be evacuated to shelters. There was no indication that the capital’s inner residential and business districts were at risk.

Sukhumbhand’s warning stood in contrast to assurances given earlier by the government’s flood relief operations centre. It said the situation was under control and could be expected to improve. Sukhumbhand has also been in conflict with the centre over its plans for flood relief. He is a prominent member of the opposition Democrat party.

The flood agency said earlier on Sunday that the threat of floodwaters to Bangkok could ease by early November. But with the authorities battling the waters to the north, east and west of the city, Bangkok’s immediate prospects remained uncertain..

The Thai military used boats to help rescue stranded residents near Don Muang airport. Mothers walked in hip-high water with children strapped to their backs, while others waded through murky water holding belongings in plastic bags on top of their heads.

In Nonthaburi province, north of Bangkok, a 2-metre (7ft) crocodile was captured while resting on dry land outside a restaurant. Thai television showed the animal, which had reportedly escaped from a farm, with its snout taped shut and its body covering most of the boat that was carrying it. Unconfirmed reports have claimed up to 100 crocodiles may have escaped from farms in the region.

The prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, said the waters may take up to six weeks to recede around Bangkok. In the city and its environs, many residents were hoarding supplies and supermarket shelves were emptied. Bottled water, batteries and canned food were among the first items to go.

At a supermarket in central Bangkok’s business district, which is not under immediate threat, sandbags lined both entrances forcing shoppers to step over to go inside. Many shelves were bare, with shoppers grabbing the few snacks that were left. While larger stores in Bangkok had kept prices fixed, smaller shops were raising prices in the flooded zones north of the city. A Rangsit resident, Taweetit Hongsang, complained that the price of a papaya, 10 baht (20p) a week ago, had increased to 30 baht.

The battle to route floodwater away from the city has led to people removing flood barriers to try to protect their own neighbourhoods. Sukhumbhand said a crew of city workers was unable to reinforce one barrier because of “a group of people opposing the mission and harassing” them. He said it was necessary to withdraw “since they are not trained to deal with unruly and armed outsiders”.

Yingluck said she had delegated high-ranking police officers to protect workers carrying out flood relief.

The flooding that began in August in northern Thailand has killed 356 people and affected industry and agriculture, with estimates that the £3.8bn in damage could double if Bangkok is badly hit.

The flooding is the worst to hit the country since 1942 and has proved a major test for Yingluck’s nascent government, which took power in July and has come under fire for not acting quickly or decisively enough to prevent major towns north of the capital from being hit by floodwaters.

A report on state television on Sunday from Burma, Thailand’s western neighbour, said heavy rains and flash floods had killed 106 people after villages were inundated in the country’s north-west last week.

Cambodia, Thailand’s eastern neighbour, has also suffered from flooding, with more than 240 people killed.

Yingluck told reporters she will be holding another video conference with the Bangkok governor on Tuesday following her session with the governors of Pathum Thani and Nonthaburi on Monday.

Yingluck said she has told governors to start coordinating with Irrigation Department officials in assessing whether each section of flood barriers will suffice further rises in water.