Month: January 2000

  • Phuket NewsLocals beat TV stars in soccer friendly | Thaiger

    Locals beat TV stars in soccer friendly

    PHUKET TOWN: Phuket All Stars’ Anurak In-Ting scored a hat trick and put away a penalty kick for good measure to help his team demolish 168 Hours, a scratch team of visiting TV and entertainment stars. The match, at Surakul Sport Stadium yesterday, drew more than 800 spectators, most of them screaming teenage girls come to see their favorite singers…

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  • Phuket News15 arrested for fake passports or visas | Thaiger

    15 arrested for fake passports or visas

    PHUKET: Police arrested 15 foreigners carrying fake passports or with fake immigration stamps in Patong, Karon, and Kata over the weekend. Pol Col Apirak Hongthong, recently appointed inspector of Phuket’s Immigration Office, said 12 of the arrests were made when his officers checked people selling clothing and fabrics on Patong beach. The other three were made on the beaches at…

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  • Phuket NewsThree arrested for using fake passports | Thaiger

    Three arrested for using fake passports

    PHUKET TOWN: Three Indian nationals have been arrested by Phuket’s Immigration Police for using fake passports. The three, who were named as Vijay Kumar, 30, Rajeep Uma Mahajak, 31, and Narendar Agarwal, 26, were charged with using forged papers and with entering the country illegally. The arrests came as part of the continuing national drive to inspect foreign residents in…

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  • Phuket NewsRoad injuries up in 1999, but deaths down | Thaiger

    Road injuries up in 1999, but deaths down

    PHUKET TOWN: The number of people injured in road accidents in Phuket in 1999 was 3% higher than in 1998, but the death toll fell by 6%. A total of 10,553 people were hurt in road accidents, 94% of whom were on motorcycles, up from 10,250 in the previous year. Motorcycles were also by far the biggest cause of road…

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  • Phuket NewsSwede’s death “probably suicide’ | Thaiger

    Swede’s death “probably suicide’

    KARON: A 36-year-old Swedish tourist was found dead yesterday evening in Karon in what appears to have been a suicide. Pol Lt Teerawat Liumsuwan of the Chalong Police Station said the body of the tourist, whom he named as Kauhava Jauko Tapio, was found in the bathroom of his rented house in the soi opposite Karon Post office. He was…

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  • Phuket NewsTen rebels die as commandos end hospital siege | Thaiger

    Ten rebels die as commandos end hospital siege

    RATCHABURI (AFP): Thai commandos launched a daring pre-dawn raid today to end a 24-hour hospital siege, killing 10 Burmese rebels and freeing their 500 hostages unharmed, officials said. “We were able to save all the hostages; we had to save them because they were patients,” the commander of the raid, Lt Gen Thaveep Suwannasingh, said. He said nine rebels were…

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  • Cannabis NewsDrug dealer shot dead in struggle with police | Thaiger

    Drug dealer shot dead in struggle with police

    PHUKET TOWN: A drug dealer was shot dead yesterday in a struggle with narcotics police. A spokesman for Muang District Police Station said that undercover officers Sakarin Pookate and Paiboon Jantarin went to a house on Luang Por Wat Chalong Rd at about 1 am and asked Sarawuth ‘Yao’ Koysomboon, 29, to sell them some ya bah. Once the purchase…

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  • Phuket NewsMyanmar dissidents seize Thai hospital | Thaiger

    Myanmar dissidents seize Thai hospital

    RATCHABURI (AFP): Heavily armed guerrillas from Myanmar dissident group God’s Army stormed a Thai hospital early this morning and took around 700 patients and staff hostage. Up to 20 fighters from the ethnic-Karen militia, which is led by two twin boys, stormed the hospital in the town of Ratchaburi, 123 kilometres (70 miles) west of Bangkok. Seven hours into the…

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  • Cannabis NewsGerman tourist caught with marijuana | Thaiger

    German tourist caught with marijuana

    NAI HARN: Police arrested a 41-year-old German tourist here on Saturday for possession of marijuana. The German, whom police named as Udo Euler, 41, was arrested shortly after midnight, when Chalong police received a report that there was a foreigner who “looked like a drug addict” walking on Nai Harn beach. The police went to the beach, where they stopped…

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  • Phuket News“The Beach”: Paradise lost or a tourism godsend? | Thaiger

    “The Beach”: Paradise lost or a tourism godsend?

    BANGKOK (AFP): As environmentalists lament a potential paradise lost, Thailand’s tourism industry is hoping for a shot in the arm from next month’s release of Leonardo DiCaprio’s new movie “The Beach.” Despite a court battle over accusations that a beach was ruined during shooting of the film, authorities hope scenes of turquoise seas and heavenly beaches will spark a tourism…

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  • Phuket NewsGreen Peace gets “up close and personal’ at Patong Beach | Thaiger

    Green Peace gets “up close and personal’ at Patong Beach

    PATONG: Greenpeace (International) staged another rally today, but this time right on the beach in Patong. The event took place just two hours before the group left Phuket aboard the Rainbow Warrior at 1:00 pm. Others participating in the rally were Greenpeace (Thailand), the Phuket Environmental Protection Group, and the Federation of Southern Fisherfolk. Unlike the demonstration at the incinerator…

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  • Phuket News

    Greenpeace stages demo at incinerator

    PHUKET TOWN: Greenpeace (International) and Greenpeace (Thailand) staged a demonstration yesterday in front the incinerator plant at Koh Pii in Phuket Town. The 30 or so placard-carrying protesters started out from the Phuket Merlin Hotel, marching to a spot in front of the incinerator in Saphan Hin. There, they erected banners urging Phuket to shut down the facility. Organizers said…

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  • Phuket NewsThailand rocked by quake in Laos | Thaiger

    Thailand rocked by quake in Laos

    BANGKOK (AFP): An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale rocked southern Laos and northern Thai provinces early today but no casualties were reported, Thai officials said. The epicentre of the quake was in a sparsely populated rural area of Laos, 160 kilometres (100 miles) to the northeast of Chiang Mai, Thailand’s northern meteorological center said. The tremor was felt…

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  • Phuket NewsFishermen arrested for illegal trawling | Thaiger

    Fishermen arrested for illegal trawling

    RAWAI: Chalong Police yesterday stopped four fishing boats and arrested their 16 crew members for fishing illegally in inshore waters. Yootthana Malakarn of the Phuket Fishery Department received an early-morning call from an informant to say that four fishing boats, thought to be dual-trawling, had been seen in the area between Maiton Island and Aow Island, to the south of…

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  • Phuket NewsBoffins identify source of “yellow rain” | Thaiger

    Boffins identify source of “yellow rain”

    PHUKET: The Provincial Health Office today confirmed that the “yellow rain” that has fallen on a small area along Chao Fah Nok Rd over the past 10 days or so is pollen. Dr Boonrieng Chuchaisangrat, chief of the Health Office, told the Gazette that samples of the “rain” were passed to the Phuket branch of the Songkhla Regional Medical Science…

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  • Phuket NewsGerman tourist found dead in hotel room | Thaiger

    German tourist found dead in hotel room

    NAI HARN: A German tourist was yesterday found dead, sitting in front of the dressing table in his hotel room. Pol Capt Sanae Panmee, Inspector of the Chalong Police Station, named the dead man as Jürgen Roland Preiss, 40. He had arrived in Phuket on January 11 for a two-week holiday and was staying at the Jungle Beach Resort in…

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  • Phuket NewsHealth Office to probe mystery “yellow rain” | Thaiger

    Health Office to probe mystery “yellow rain”

    PHUKET: People on Chao Fah Nok Rd have been astonished and not a little disturbed over the past 10 days by a stinking yellow rain that has fallen, apparently from the sky, for one or two minutes every evening. Samples of the yellow liquid, which falls over an area of about 100 meters in diameter, are to be collected this…

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  • Phuket NewsCampaigning for provincial council heats up | Thaiger

    Campaigning for provincial council heats up

    PHUKET: Elections for 24 seats on the Provincial Administrative Council (OrBorJor) will take place across Phuket on February 5. With all seats being contested by at least two candidates, sound trucks have been out in force throughout the island, with campaign teams putting up posters and handing out candidate biographies and manifestoes to as many voters as possible. In Muang…

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  • Phuket NewsGreenpeace ship to visit Phuket | Thaiger

    Greenpeace ship to visit Phuket

    PHUKET TOWN: The fabled Greenpeace ship, the Rainbow Warrior, will arrive in Phuket on Thursday to launch the environmental organization’s “Toxic Free” campaign. This will be the ship’s first visit to Phuket. Thara Buakumsri, a member of Greenpeace (Thailand), told the Gazette that the 55-meter vessel, carrying a multinational crew of 33, will arrive in the morning, tying up at…

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  • Phuket NewsGerman manager held for theft of 5m baht | Thaiger

    German manager held for theft of 5m baht

    BANGKOK: Dirk Krebber, the 38-year-old German manager of Aqua Master (Thailand), a dive supply company in Patong, surrendered to police in Bangkok on Thursday to answer questions over the disappearance of five million baht from Aqua Master’s bank account. Sirikate Narin, the company’s assistant managing director, told the Gazette that shortly after a photograph of Krebber was shown on a…

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  • Phuket NewsTwo arrested for selling ya bah | Thaiger

    Two arrested for selling ya bah

    PHUKET: Weerasak Tantiratthanapitak, 20, and Sunipol Boonnak, 24, were arrested in Phuket Town yesterday following a sting operation when they attempted to sell methamphetamine (ya bah) to plainclothes police. According to Pol Maj Amnuoy Kraiwootthinan of the Phuket Town Police Station, the police then went to the suspects’ apartment on Surin Rd. In the apartment they found 110 tablets of…

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  • Phuket NewsPhuket in drive to stop whale shark killings | Thaiger

    Phuket in drive to stop whale shark killings

    PHUKET: A move to protect whale sharks in Thai waters has been started in Phuket after reports of whale shark killings were brought to the attention of the local office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). “TAT Phuket was informed by dive operators that they had witnessed whale sharks being hunted several times during their dive trips. The animals…

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  • Phuket News900 ya bah pills seized as police nab 3 dealers | Thaiger

    900 ya bah pills seized as police nab 3 dealers

    PHUKET TOWN: Police revealed today that they arrested a woman and two men on January 4 on charges of possession of ya bah with intent to sell. They also seized more than 900 pills of the drug with an estimated street value of around 135,000 baht. Pol Lt Passakorn Sootthikul, of the narcotics division of the Phuket Town Police Station,…

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  • Phuket NewsPolice make reporting lost documents easier | Thaiger

    Police make reporting lost documents easier

    PHUKET TOWN: Police here have opened three new booths to make it easier for local people and tourists to report the loss of documents. Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the new booths are at the intersection of Phang Nga Rd and Phuket Rd; in front of Suan Luang Park on Chaofa Rd; and at the public…

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  • Phuket NewsPolice probe missing five million baht | Thaiger

    Police probe missing five million baht

    PATONG: Police are looking for the German manager of Aqua Master (Thailand), a dive supply company in Patong, in connection with the disappearance of five million baht belonging to the company. Police told the Gazette that on December 30, Dirk Krebber, 38, went to the Siam Commercial Bank branch in Patong and withdrew funds needed to meet the company’s year-end…

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  • Phuket NewsPatong bars raided for staying open late | Thaiger

    Patong bars raided for staying open late

    PATONG: Kathu police raided several bars and nightclubs in Patong yesterday morning for staying open past the 2 am official closing time. Among the venues raided, said Pol Col Kokiat Wongwarachart, Superintendent of the Kathu Police Station, were Hollywood 99 Pub, Up-2-You Bar, Night Moves, Night Station, The Shark Club, VIP Bar, Chicago’s Fun Pub, as well as several other…

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  • Phuket NewsEasy visas “are encouraging foreign criminals’ | Thaiger

    Easy visas “are encouraging foreign criminals’

    BANGKOK (AFP): The easing of visa restrictions as part of Thailand’s efforts to boost tourism has made the country an attractive base for international criminal gangs, officials said yesterday. Songkram Chuenpibal, deputy secretary of the National Security Council, said instituting a visa-on-arrival system for many countries allowed unwanted elements to filter through. “There are Mafia gangs, drugs-trafficking gangs and money-laundering…

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  • Phuket NewsBBAP elects new committee | Thaiger

    BBAP elects new committee

    PHUKET TOWN: The British Business Association of Phuket (BBAP) held its first annual general meeting last night, at the Royal Phuket City Hotel. Members reelected Andy Dowden as chairman and Damian Barratt as treasurer. Paul Spring and William Pinsent were also reelected as committee members. Founder member and secretary Alan Cooke stepped down. On the recommendation of the outgoing committee,…

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  • Phuket NewsBusiness registrations soared in 1999 | Thaiger

    Business registrations soared in 1999

    PHUKET TOWN: Business confidence soared in Phuket last year, with the number of companies registering in the province leaping by more than 50% compared with 1998, and comfortably exceeding even the pre-Asian-Crisis levels of 1996. Figures compiled by the Phuket Commercial Registration Office show 505 limited companies were registered last year, compared with 332 in the previous year, 311 in…

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  • Phuket NewsWoman gets eight years for ‘enslaving’ Thais | Thaiger

    Woman gets eight years for ‘enslaving’ Thais

    LOS ANGELES (AFP): A Thai was sentenced today to more than eight years in prison for illegally bringing three Thai women into the United States and forcing them to work in slave-like conditions. Supawan Veerapol, the 55-year-old common law wife of Thailand’s former ambassador to Sweden, used her diplomatic connections to bring the women into the country to work in…

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  • Phuket NewsThailand to consider lethal injection for executions | Thaiger

    Thailand to consider lethal injection for executions

    BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand’s cabinet will tomorrow consider whether to introduce lethal injections for executions in response to mounting claims that the current use of firing squads is barbaric. “People are horrified that convicts are currently shot to death,” Deputy Interior Minister Vattana Asavahem told reporters this afternoon. The idea of lethal injections was floated in 1996 but never reached the…

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  • Phuket NewsFinnish tourist arrested for overstaying visa | Thaiger

    Finnish tourist arrested for overstaying visa

    KARON: A 40-year-old Finnish tourist was arrested in Karon yesterday for overstaying his visa – by eight months. Pol Lt Teerawat Liumsuwan of the Chalong Police Station told the Gazette that the tourist, whom he named as Arto Mikel Kivela, arrived in Phuket from Finland on March 10 last year and stayed at the Sompit Bar in Karon Center. Having…

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  • Phuket News1999 HIV infections likely to show increase | Thaiger

    1999 HIV infections likely to show increase

    PHUKET: Based on preliminary figures for 1999, Phuket’s health chief believes the number of people diagnosed as HIV-positive will be significantly higher than the 283 diagnosed in 1998. If Dr Boonrieng Chuchaisangrat’s preliminary figures are accurately reflected in the final statistics, the number of HIV infections per 100,000 people in Phuket at the end of 1999 will put the island…

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  • Phuket NewsThailand launches drive to discredit Hollywood film | Thaiger

    Thailand launches drive to discredit Hollywood film

    BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand has launched a worldwide campaign to discredit the Hollywood movie “Anna and the King”, which censors have banned as an insult to the monarchy and a distortion of history, weekend news reports said. The foreign ministry has issued guidelines to its embassies saying 20th Century Fox’s claim the film is based on historical events “was almost completely…

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  • Phuket NewsTaxmen behind target for first two months | Thaiger

    Taxmen behind target for first two months

    PHUKET: Two months into the tax year, the Phuket Provincial Revenue Office has reported that revenue collected is already behind budget, and down by 13% from the same period of the 1998/1999 tax year. Officials reported that tax collected had fallen from 350.3 million baht in October and November 1998 to 305.4 million baht in the same period of 1999.…

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  • Phuket NewsTourist dies in head-on bike crash | Thaiger

    Tourist dies in head-on bike crash

    KARON: An Australian youth was killed and a Swedish tourist hospitalized early yesterday morning when their motorcycles collided head-on near Le Meridien Phuket resort, on the road between Patong and Karon. Pol Lt Teerawat Liumsuwan of Chalong Police Station named the dead man as Simeth Julian, 18, of Melbourne. He said the Australian was riding a red Honda Dream toward…

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  • Phuket NewsThai customs nab Japanese drug trafficker | Thaiger

    Thai customs nab Japanese drug trafficker

    BANGKOK (AFP): Thai Customs officers charged a Japanese woman with drug trafficking this afternoon after she was arrested just before boarding a Thai Airways flight to Osaka, officials said. Customs officers searched Tamaki Nagayama, 29, and found 1,300 amphetamine tablets strapped to her stomach. Nagayama confessed she was trafficking in drugs and helped by friends from Thailand and Myanmar, said…

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