Year: 1999
- Phuket News
Judge orders arrest of missing trial witness
PHUKET: Judge Amornpoj Kulwijit today issued warrants for the arrest of two prosecution witnesses who failed to appear this morning for a hearing in the ongoing trial of two people accused of the murder of Briton Roger Jennings. The two witnesses, Amara Meanteap and Weeranat Kammanochart, failed to appear despite twice being subpoenaed. The judge, issuing the arrest warrants, ordered…
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Lucky escape for tourists in bus accident
KATHU: Thirty nine tourists had a lucky escape yesterday, when a bus taking them from Le Meridien hotel in Patong to the airport slid partly off the road, but hit a traffic warning post preventing it from rolling down a mountainside. Two people were slightly hurt when the bus slid in rain, near the Pun Tuao Kong Chinese shrine above…
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Chinese President Jiang Zemin to visit Phuket
PHUKET: The President of the People’s Republic of China, Jiang Zemin, will visit Phuket early next month. Mr Jiang will arrive on the evening of September 4 from Bangkok, where he will be a guest of HM the King. He will be accompanies by a party of 80 people, including security and medical staff. Planning for his visit has yet…
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Two drug dealers arrested
PHUKET: Police on Thursday arrested two men for selling ya bah (methamphetamines). The first was a 28-year-old former petrol station worker from Trang, who sold the drug to undercover officers outside the Thairat Wittaya School in Kathu. After his arrest, he was found to be in possession of 197 pills. He confessed that he had come to Phuket 16 times…
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Hotels hit back at “gouging” allegations
PHUKET: Room rates in major Phuket hotels, in US dollar terms, have fallen sharply between 1996 and 1998, claims the Southern Chapter of the Thai Hotels Association (THA), citing a survey it recently carried out. The THA conducted the survey to counter allegations that hotels had increased room rates by 30% to 50% to take advantage of high demand as…
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Man caught stealing phone services
PATONG: A 36-year-old German has been charged with theft after being caught tapping into a telephone line near Wat Suwankeereewong on the outskirts of Patong, along the Patong-Kathu road. Voravit Vorapiboonpong, chief of the Phuket Telecommunication Center of the Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT), told the Gazette that on Monday he was alerted by the CAT in Bangkok that someone…
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No more elephants in Phuket: Governor
PHUKET: The Governor of Phuket, Chadej Insawang, has announced a ban on any more elephants being brought into the province for commercial purposes. Announcing the decision on Tuesday at a seminar, organized by the Department of Livestock Development and attended by 75 elephant keepers from Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi, the Governor said, “Phuket has 170 elephants in 27 camps.…
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Man found shot dead in tin mine
PHUKET TOWN: Kupai Foundation staff found a corpse floating in an abandoned tin mine on Chao Fa Nok Rd on Sunday. Police called to the scene described the corpse as male, wearing an unbuttoned black shirt and Chinese trousers. Kupai Foundation staff found one gunshot wound in the back of the head and another in the right chest, with an…
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Quake shakes northern Phuket, Phang Nga
MAI KHAW: Northern Phuket and southwestern Phang Nga experienced three minor earth tremors last night. No serious damage was reported. The tremors, felt at 11:36 pm, 11:38 pm and 1:59 am, shook homes between Phuket International Airport and Khok Kloy in Phang Nga. Amorn Chantanavivate, director of the Southwestern Meteorological Center, told the Gazette that the three shocks were caused…
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Thailand may bow out of IMF program
BANGKOK, Aug 17 (AFP) – Thailand has enough foreign reserves to bow out of its IMF program and abandon the remaining 3.7 billion dollars available in loans under the rescue package, Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Supachai Panitchpakdi said today. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has disbursed about 13.5 billion dollars to Thailand out of its 17.2 billion dollar…
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Tax chief urges foreigners to get it right
PHUKET TOWN: Annop Buakrean, chief of the Phuket Provincial Revenue Office, has appealed to business owners, particularly foreigners, to try to get their tax returns right. He told the Gazette this afternoon that his officers had checked a large number of dive shops recently and found that “in every single case” their tax returns for last year were incorrectly filed.…
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Undercover police patrol Wachira Hospital
PHUKET TOWN: Wachira Hospital and Phuket Town police have set up a special undercover police unit which is now patrolling the hospital to try to spot increasing numbers of thieves preying on outpatients and visitors. The setting up of the unit coincides with another theft from an outpatient. Sainahp Nounpai, 44, of Patong had gone to the hospital for a…
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Big Balls-up at Bangkok Airport
BANGKOK: Bangkok airport authorities said earlier today that they had launched an investigation into how excerpts from a pornographic video were shown on television monitors throughout the international terminal during coverage of a major football match. An airport spokesman said it was a mystery how a 20-second clip of a man and woman having sex was aired after Thailand [also]…
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Tong murder suspects released on bail
PHUKET TOWN: Hugo Vandervelde, on trial for involvement in the murder of American Danis Wayne Tong in June 1997, was released on bail of 1 million baht on Friday. Vandervelde was arrested in November 1997 and had been in custody ever since. Chief Justice Ampan Sombatstapornkul told the Gazette, “His attorney failed on several occasions to persuade the Phuket Provincial…
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Jewelry shop raided after tourist complaint
PHUKET TOWN: The manager of a major Phuket jewelry shop was arrested on Friday on a charge of illegal possession of shells and corals that are listed as protected species. Fishery Department officers visited the shop after receiving a complaint from a Thai tourist. They found the shell of a giant scaly clam, two Tritinid shells, and 110 pieces of…
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Businesses urged to mark King’s birthday
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Governor Chadej Insawang has appealed for all business owners to join in with celebrations to mark the 72nd birthday of HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej on December 5. Businesses are urged to decorate their premises with royal emblems, signs, flags, and lights. They are also urged, if possible, to organize projects or charity drives – for example, to…
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Krung Thai Bank to open new branch
PHUKET TOWN: Krung Thai Bank will open a new branch in town on Monday, August 16, on Phang Nga Rd, close to the Royal Phuket City Hotel. The branch, in a building that was completed about 18 months ago, (but which has remained empty since), will replace the old Krung Thai office at the junction of Phang Nga Rd and…
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Three women arrested for selling “yaba’
PHUKET TOWN: On Sunday, narcotics police arrested three women from Phetburi in two separate raids for trafficking in amphetamines (yaba). The first raid came after undercover investigations revealed that yaba was for sale in the Talad Yai, Phuket Town’s central market, on Ranong Rd. During surveillance, they arrested a 19-year-old woman for possession of two pills. After questioning her, they…
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Unidentified bodies washed up on Patong Beach
PATONG: Kathu Police have appealed for help in identifying two men found dead on Patong Beach last weekend. The first was found early on Saturday morning in front of Kamonland, a cabana hotel. Police said the man was about 45 to 50 years old, wearing violet shorts and a green T-shirt inside a long-sleeved grey shirt. An autopsy showed the…
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Three arrested for theft from hotel rooms
PHUKET TOWN: Police yesterday arrested three Malaysians they believe are responsible for a spate of thefts from hotel rooms. The arrests came after a complaint from a guest at the Thavorn Grand Plaza Hotel that he had gone to bed on Thursday night and had woken the following morning to find his Solvil & Titus watch missing, along with 3,200…
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Work may be fruitless for Phuketians in Sweden
PHUKET: People tempted by offers of jobs picking fruit in Sweden have been warned by the Phuket Provincial Employment Office to check very carefully that the offer is genuine. The office pointed out that this year’s fruit harvest in Sweden is not particularly good, so demand for foreign workers is not high. But confidence tricksters working in Phuket have been…
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Phuket tops Dengue fever league
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Health Office recorded 148 cases of Dengue fever between the beginning of the year and July 23, said its director, Dr Boonrieng Chuchaisangrat, in a report issued yesterday. There were no deaths. The figure means that with an infection rate of 63.9 per 100,000 inhabitants, Phuket remains at the top of the Dengue fever league table…
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Tuk-tuk drivers in protest over access to port
AO MAKHAM: About 40 tuk tuk drivers from Phuket Town gathered in front of the gates of the deep-sea port this morning in protest at the apparent unwillingness of port authorities to allow them inside to pick up some of the 4,000 American sailors disembarking at the port on Monday. Asin Arammethappongsa, manager of the port, told the Gazette that…
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American believed murdered in Bangkok
BANGKOK, Aug 4 (AFP) – An American found dead in a central Bangkok hotel room with a plastic bag covering his head was believed to have been murdered, police said this morning. Wayne Tischbern, 58, was found yesterday when hotel staff informed police that he had spent an unusually long time in his room. Tischbern was handcuffed, there was tape…
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Phuket hosts colony of robber crabs
PHUKET: Following considerable excitement in Thai national newspapers about the discovery in Bangkok of a robber crab, or coconut crab – thought to be extinct in Thailand – the Phuket Marine Biological Center has revealed that it has a colony of 20 or so of the giant land-based crustaceons. The crabs are not on view to the public because the…
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Deadline warning for those employing illegals
PHUKET TOWN: Employers hiring illegal labor from countries such as Burma or Cambodia have been reminded that they have until next Wednesday, August 4, to report the illegals to the Phuket Provincial Employment Service Office. After that date employers face a fine of up to 60,000 baht or three years in jail, or both, if they are found to be…
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102 road deaths in first six months of 1999
PHUKET: Phuket Health Office has reported that 5,421 people were involved in road accidents in the first six months of 1999. Of these, 4,835 – 92% – were on motorcycles. In the same period, 102 people died in road accidents. Again, bikes accounted for nearly all the statistics – 94 of the dead were on motorcycles. In June 765 people…
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Australian tourist drowns, two others saved
PATONG: The body of an Australian tourist who disappeared while swimming on Monday was found last night in front of the Phuket Cabana Hotel. The tourist, named by police as Henry Ng, 27, was staying with his girlfriend at the Novotel Phuket Resort. While swimming off Kalim beach, the two were hit by a large wave. A fishermen managed to…
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OrBorJor imposes fuel and tobacco taxes
PHUKET: Banlur Tantivit, president of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor), announced on Sunday that the organization has agreed to levy taxes on tobacco and fuel. As predicted in the Gazette (July 1, 1999, issue) the tobacco tax will be 4.54 satang per cigar or cigarette, while the fuel tax will be 4.54 satang per liter. Both taxes are already…
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Two Chiang Mai men arrested for selling yaba
PHUKET TOWN: Two men from Chiang Mai were arrested on Wednesday last week for trafficking in amphetamines (yaba). A total of 300 pills of the drug were seized by the arresting officers. Undercover officers observed the two, aged 46 and 24, selling the drug in a restaurant at the junction of Si Sena Rd and Surin Rd. The two were…
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Kamala sees toughest competition in election
PHUKET TOWN: Members of the newly elected Tambon Administration Organizations (OrBorTor) in Phuket will vote today to decide who will be on the three-member executive committees of each of Phuket’s 13 OrBorTor. The OrBorTor elections, which took place on July 18, generally went smoothly, with an overall turnout around Phuket of 59% of the total 85,025 eligible voters. In seven…
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“Good swimmer’ drowns at Kamala
PATONG: A British tourist drowned on Saturday at Laem Sing beach, Kamala. Police named him as Stephen Guy Douglas Desborough, aged 41. Police said that he was swimming alone while his Thai girlfriend stayed on the beach reading the newspaper. She told them that he was a good swimmer, and often swam at Kamala beach, especially when there were big…
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Police drive to boost awareness of crime
PHUKET TOWN: Police have launched a drive to raise public awareness of ways to guard against criminals, particularly burglars and snatch-and-run thieves. The drive takes the form of a card which can be hung on the doorknobs of people’s homes and which gives the following advice to cut down the risk of burglary: Before you leave the house, make sure…
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CAT opens international video conference center
PHUKET TOWN: The Communication Authority of Thailand (CAT) has opened an international video conference center in Phuket, only the second in Thailand. Voravit Vorapiboonpong, chief of the Phuket Telecommunications Center explained that video conferencing was a high-tech way for people from different countries to have a meeting without having to travel, saving both time and cost. The center may be…
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TAT outlines plans to mark the Millennium
PHUKET: It’s early yet, but the Tourism Authority of Thailand has made tentative plans to mark the new millennium with a “Goodbye 1999 -Welcome 2000” party at the sunset-watchers’ favorite location, Laem Phromthep. Anuparp Thirarath, Director of TAT’s southern office, said he is currently waiting for Bangkok to approve his proposal and the 200,000-baht budget it will need. The party,…
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TAT opens PO Box for suggestions
BANGKOK: Seree Wangpaijit, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has announced that the TAT now has a PO Box specifically for people in the tourism industry who wish to write to the TAT to express views or make suggestions. Those wishing to use this service should write to PO Box 33, Suthisarn Post Office, Bangkok 10321. Anonymous correspondence…
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Motorbike taxi driver caught with yaba
TAMBON MAIKAO: A motorbike taxi driver, stopped yesterday at a police checkpoint because he looked suspicious, was found to be carrying 200 amphetamine (yaba) pills in the lining of his helmet. Police, who set the checkpoint at Tambon Maikao near Thalang said the 30-year-old man admitted he had bought the drugs in his home town in Phlypraya District in Krabi…
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