Crackdown continues: Ukrainian woman arrested for running illegal hostel on Koh Phangan

A Ukrainian woman has been arrested for illegally running a hostel on Koh Phangan island in the south of Thailand.

Police said that Ms Olinna (name transliterated), was operating the Vagabond Hostel from a house.

Inside the property police found 150 beds in 12 rooms, along with accounting books which revealed that each of the beds were rented out for 250 baht per day, TNA reported.

The 46 year old Ukranian woman was charged with operating a hotel without the valid permits and also for violating the Building Control Act.

The arrest of Ms Olinna comes after police and local officials launched a crackdown on foreign owned hostels on Koh Phangan, which are believed to be operating illegally.

On Tuesday, police arrested a Lebanese man who was the manager of another Koh Phangan hostel.

Salem Hossam was charged with drug offences and faces deportation. He was the manager of the Wanderlust Hostel, which police said also operates illegally.

The Wanderlust Hostel was one of six hostels on the island that police ordered to shut down.

Thank you to Thais News Agency “สาวยูเครนเปิดโฮสเทลเถื่อน 12 ห้องนอน 150 เตียงที่พะงัน” which was brought to us by Google Alerts.