An American-Chinese tourist was arrested for launching fireworks throughout the night for Chinese New Year in Thailand.

Wayne Kwon, 67, and his family rattled their neighbours when they set off loud firecrackers and fireworks at a house in Pattaya City, on January 28 evening.

Footage shows the family firing the explosives into the sky, the barrage of blasts scaring the residents.

Locals claimed they had asked the Chinese family to stop but they were ignored. Their calls to the local police station also went unanswered, they said.

Police arrested Wayne on February 3, as video of their fireworks show emerged online.

District chief Patcharapat Srithanyanon said he has co-ordinated with local police and immigration officers to take him to the Bang Lamung District Police Station for questioning.

The district leader said: '‘He admitted that he was the person in the video who lit fireworks because he was celebrating Chinese New Year and claimed that he did not know it was illegal.

‘Police officers have charged him with causing a nuisance and sent him to the inquiry officer for further legal action.'

Fireworks are regulated under Thai law, but smaller ones are sometimes tolerated during festivals and holidays. However, the lax regulations have resulted in numerous injuries and deaths.

On January 1, 2020, British tourist Gary McLaren, 50, from Northamptonshire, was killed when a firework he was trying to light exploded at a New Year's Eve party also in Pattaya City.

Former fishing village Pattaya became popular with American troops on 'rest and relaxation' breaks in the 1960s when the U.S. military had bases in Thailand. In the ensuing years, the coastal resort spawned into a semi-barbarous sex-tourism hellscape.

Embarrassed officials have made progress in gentrifying the region with family tourism projects but a ravenous nightlife industry and corrupt police have hampered their efforts, with undesirables from all nations still attracted to the seedy city.