Year: 2000
- Phuket
Corruption threatens elections
BANGKOK (AFP): Ambitious reforms launched to root out endemic corruption in Thai politics aim to ensure that the January 6 elections will be the cleanest in the kingdom’s history, observers say. But there are fears that with “cash democracy” and patronage politics still deeply entrenched in the country, Thailand is setting itself up for a chaotic aftermath to the ballot…
Read More » - Phuket
A tale of two Kesorns
PATONG: Nationwide publicity about the kidnapped ‘beggar girl’ case has put the spotlight on Kathu Police Station’s finest. On December 14, Buri Ram native Huad Sooksaeng, 34, contacted Kathu police claiming that the begging girl, seven-year-old Kesorn, was her daughter, and that Kesorn had been kidnapped from her home in the northeast of Thailand three years ago. The police responded…
Read More » - Phuket
Murder suspect may be charged in Germany
KAMALA: A police officer from the German Embassy in Bangkok visited Kathu Police Station on Tuesday to gather evidence regarding the November 13 murder of 21-year-old Waraporn Tawaetwong in Kamala. Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of Kathu Police Station, says that the officer is gathering documents so that police in Germany can charge Walter Roland Oberleitner, 39, a German national…
Read More » - Phuket
Local official shot dead in Krabi
KRABI: An assistant poo yai baan in Tambon Kao Panom, Krabi, was gunned down early yesterday morning after he got into a fight with the owner of a rubber plantation. Police told the Gazette that Jamikon Sung-rod, 25, shot Chob “Yam” Nuan-on, 36, during a fight in the Kao Tong restaurant, which is on the road from Kao Panom to…
Read More » - Phuket
Four tourists die in bus accident
BANGKOK (AFP): Four Malaysian tourists were killed and another 30 seriously injured in Thailand early today when their bus careened off the Asian Highway and overturned. The group was on its way to the southern city of Hat Yai, as part of a tour of Thailand that took them as far north as Chiang Rai. The accident occurred in Nakhon…
Read More » - Phuket
Thaksin found guilty of false declarations
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand’s anti-graft watchdog ruled today that leading prime ministerial candidate Thaksin Shinawatra was guilty of filing a false declaration of his assets, an offence that could result in him being banned from politics for five years. The nine-member board of the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) voted 8-1 that Thaksin “intentionally filed a false statement of assets”, said…
Read More » - Phuket
Murder victim might be Pakistani
PHUKET TOWN: The body of a man believed to have been a Pakistani fisherman was found in an industrial garbage bin near the fishing port on Saturday. Pol Maj Songwut Khunjan of Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that the man, as yet unidentified, died from almost 40 wounds to the face, neck, chest, stomach and back. He added…
Read More » - Phuket
Crashed cement truck blocks road
KATHU: A cement truck overturned on a sharp curve on Patong hill at noon today, forcing traffic police to close the road for two hours. The driver, Jarouy Promhoun, lost control of the truck after stalling the engine on the way up the hill, Pol Cap Kittipong Claikaew told the Gazette. The truck, owned by Chalong Concrete Co, overturned just…
Read More » - Phuket
African men imported for Thai sex industry
BANGKOK (AFP): African men are being transported to Thailand to work in the capital’s commercial sex industry, reports said earlier today. African male prostitutes have become “fairly popular among gays and wild older women,” the Nation daily said, quoting a Thai man who frequently purchases the Africans’ services. Transported to Thailand from Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and the Sudan, the men…
Read More » - Phuket
Astrologers say recovery not on cards for 2001
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand’s influential astrologers say their crystal balls and tarot cards confirm what financial analysts have learned from spreadsheets and graphs — the economy is in for a tough time in 2001. Hopes that Thailand could shake off the legacy of the 1997 economic crisis in the New Year will be dashed, as the forces of nature forecast the…
Read More » - Phuket
Man arrested for suitcase murder of Briton
BANGKOK (AFP): Thai police said this afternoon that they had arrested a 19-year-old Iranian man on suspicion of involvement in the murder of a British man whose dismembered body was found in a suitcase in a Bangkok suburb. The body of 52-year-old John Morris Neville, part-owner of a hotel in the Thai capital, was discovered on December 9, packed into…
Read More » - Phuket
Major drug dealer busted
PHUKET: In one of the biggest ever drug busts in Phuket, Marine Police last night arrested a Krabi-based drug dealer and seized 6,350 pills of ya bah (methamphetamine). Pol Col Misakawan Buara, Superintendent of Phuket Marine Police, named the alleged dealer as Adisak Kreayot, 33. He said that officers posing as buyers contacted Adisak and arranged to make a “buy”…
Read More » - Phuket
Post Office ready to face the world
PHUKET TOWN: Thanks to a piece of technical wizardry introduced by the Phuket Post Office and local company C&P Sticker, letter writers now have the chance to use their own personal stamp on the envelope. It’s being done to mark International Children’s Day. Anant Muangmee, an officer at the Phuket Post Office, explained that those wishing to send letters with…
Read More » - Phuket
3 die, 36 hurt in bus crash
THALANG: Three people died yesterday afternoon when a Phuket Central Tour bus crashed on Thepkrasattri Rd about a kilometer south of the entrance to the Yacht Haven. The remaining 36 passengers, including six foreigners, were injured. Just 45 minutes after it left Phuket Town, bound for Bangkok, the bus flipped onto its side and crashed off the road on an…
Read More » - Chiang Mai
Airport boss moved to Chiangmai
PHUKET: Suthara Huangsuwan, the boss of the Phuket International Airport, was abruptly moved to a new post in Chiang Mai yesterday. An airport official denied that his transfer was the result of his inability to solve the problem of “black” taxis at the Phuket airport, which came to a head on December 16 when a licensed taxi driver was beaten…
Read More » - Phuket
Disappointing start to Tourist Police raids
PATONG: The Phuket Tourist Police, under their new inspector, Pol Lt Col Supawat Sookjaroen, have launched a series of raids that will continue until January 15, and which will be aimed at reducing crimes against tourists. Lt Col Supawat was a “little disappointed” by the results of the initial raids on Tuesday, he told the Gazette. “We expected to catch…
Read More » - Phuket
Thai tourism headed for a bumper 2000
BANGKOK (AFP): Tourist arrivals into Thailand are heading for a bumper year in 2000 after more than 6.9 million visitors were recorded in the first nine months, up 11.3 percent from last year, officials said today. “International visitor arrivals to Thailand totaled 6,942,220 in January-September 2000,” said the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) in a statement. At that rate, Thailand…
Read More » - Phuket
Paedophile placed on FBI’s most-wanted list
BANGKOK (AFP): The FBI’s decision to put accused paedophile Eric Rosser on its most-wanted list was welcomed today by Thai child rights activists who said it served as a powerful warning to sex criminals. Rosser, a former piano player at Bangkok’s prestigious Oriental Hotel and a tutor to the city’s elite, is believed to be the first paedophile listed among…
Read More » - Phuket
Economy may be headed for another recession
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand risks heading into another recession unless monetary policy is eased in the face of a slowing economy, ING Barings said in a report released yesterday. The merchant bank downgraded its growth forecast for 2000 to 4.0 percent from 4.8 percent, a day after official data clipped expected GDP expansion to 4.5 percent from an earlier goal of…
Read More » - Phuket
Airport taxi driver beaten to death
PHUKET: Airport limousine operators threatened to blockade Phuket International Airport yesterday after a “black” taxi driver allegedly beat a legitimate limousine operator to death on Saturday in front of the airport. A fight broke out between Kanisorn “Lert” Downchoowan, 35, the black taxi driver, and Chart Ketwongworachat, 58, the legitimate limousine operator, at around noon after the two argued over…
Read More » - Phuket
Mother rescues daughter from beggar gang
PATONG: A mother from Isan has been reunited with her daughter after three terrifying years during which the girl was kidnapped by a gang and set to work begging on the streets of Patong. Three years ago, Huad Sooksaeng, 34, from Buri Rum, decided to come to work in Phuket. She left her four-year-old daughter, Kesorn, in the care of…
Read More » - Phuket
Mob blocks road to get rid of eight police
THALANG: A mob of 500 blocked the road to the airport in front of Thalang Police Station for 2½ hours on Saturday afternoon, demanding the transfer of a police captain and seven other officers whom they accused of planting drugs on people and stealing money. The protestors, from Baan Kain in Tambon Thepkrasattri, marched after Pol Capt Sanich Kongnu raided…
Read More »
