Year: 2000
- Phuket News
Contractor takes drastic measures to get payment
PHUKET: A building contractor was so irritated by a dispute over payment with a customer that he did some extra work around her house this morning. He nailed planks across all her doors and windows, making her a prisoner in her home with her two small children. House owner Paetai “Noi” Kaeser, 35, living at 78/392 Soi 3, Phuket Villa…
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Elephant owner sought after death crash
LAMPANG (AFP): Police in this northern Thai province were today looking for the owner of a female elephant which was in a collision with a truck, resulting in the deaths of two people. Police tracked down the elephant yesterday, a day after it collided with a fuel tanker truck while crossing a main road leading to Chiang Mai. The truck…
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Police arrest motorbike hit-man
PHUKET: A finance company employee was shot dead while on his way home at 8:20 this morning. His killer was arrested just three hours later. Pol Maj Sanya Thongsawas of Phuket Town Police Station said that the victim, Aroon Yutitham, 28, was riding his motorbike from Phuket Town to his home at 8/4 Moo 1, Tambon Wichit, and had stopped…
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Red-tape nightmare for parks entry
PHUKET: It’s official: the postponement of the fee hike for foreigners visiting national parks in Thailand has been canceled. Thais will be allowed into the parks at the old price, ranging from as little as 5 baht to 20 baht, whereas foreigners (including foreigners resident in Thailand) will have to pay 200 baht for adults and 100 baht for children.…
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Efforts to stop deadly child disease stepped up
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Health Office has set up protection measures at the Phuket International Airport to ensure that an epidemic in Singapore of Coxsackie B virus – better known as hand, foot and mouth disease – does not spread to Thailand. The potentially deadly disease has already spread to Malaysia, with 221 cases reported, and two deaths. In Singapore,…
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Loch Palm killer “may be psychopath’
KATHU: A leading psychiatrist says he believes that the unidentified woman found dead near the Loch Palm Golf Club on Saturday may have been murdered by a psychopath. “The damage to the victim’s body shows that the murderer may be a psychopath, and probably sadistic as well,” said Dr Chanuan Sampatanrak of Wachira Phuket Hospital. “This is a very unusual…
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Chaos reigns over park fees
PHUKET: Conflicting announcements from the Royal Forestry Department (RFD) have left tour operators and dive companies wondering just what the policy on national park entry fees is, how it will be applied, and when. On August 15, the RFD announced an increase in entry fees – for foreigners only – to 200 baht for adults and 100 baht for children.…
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Bad weather will last 3 more days
PHUKET: The island will experience strong winds and heavy rain over the next few days as a tropical depression passes over the province, Amorn Chantanavivate, the director of the Southwestern Regional Meteorological Center, said today. The current bad weather is being caused by a moderate southwest monsoon over the Andaman Sea and the southwestern coast of Thailand, he explained. Storms…
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Phuket chosen for crime prevention experiment
PHUKET TOWN: The commander of the Royal Thai Police today chaired a meeting at Phuket Town Police Station to discuss a project to make Phuket a model for crime prevention and suppression. If the project, due to start next year, is a success, the lessons learned will be applied to Chiang Mai, Pattaya and Hua Hin, and then to other…
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Bangkok autopsy for murder victim
KATHU: The mutilated corpse of an unidentified woman found near the Loch Palm Golf Club on Saturday has been sent to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Bangkok for an in-depth autopsy. “We have sent the body to the institute because no pathologist in Phuket can perform complex analysis such as DNA testing,” explained Pol Maj Tanapong Moktong of the…
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Woman found brutally murdered
TUNG TONG: The mutilated body of a woman, believed to be Thai, was found near the Loch Palm Golf Club on Saturday afternoon. Pol Capt Teerarat Choychanchaikul of the Tung Tong Police Station said the victim died of blood loss from six stab wounds – two in her stomach, one in her throat, one in an armpit, one in her…
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Four injured in early-morning crash
PHUKET TOWN: Two Korean men and two Thai men were injured in a two-car accident early yesterday morning. Pol Capt Kitipong Klaikaew of Thung Thong Sub-District Police Station said that a pick-up truck and a jeep collided on Wichitsongkram Rd, west of the Thainaan Restaurant, at 2 am. At the scene – a part of the road that locals call…
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Massive manhunt for rapist
PHUKET TOWN: The Provincial Police Office today launched a city-wide hunt for a man who raped a British tourist, Dawn Farmer, 22, on Tuesday night. They also issued a sketch of the man, drawn from a description given by the victim. Saying that the crime is “a blot on Thailand’s reputation in the tourism industry”, the head of all Thailand’s…
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Park fee hike postponed
PHUKET: The Royal Forestry Department (RFD) has announced that the increase in entrance fees to Thailand’s national parks will be postponed until October 1, 2001. Announcing the postponement, the RFD said it had decided to delay charging the higher fees in order to “encourage tourism” and to give tour operators and travel agents time to adjust their rates. The fee…
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Injured activist regains consciousness
PHUKET: Environmental activist Siripoj Cheechang, critically injured in what appears to be have been an assassination attempt on Wednesday morning, has regained consciousness, his doctor reported this afternoon. Dr Niran Taweekul, a neurosurgeon at Wachira Phuket Hospital, said that K. Siripoj is now in stable condition. “Last night, he was responding to us, but we can’t check his ability to…
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Activist injured, Governor slams “gangsterism”
PA KHLOK: The new Governor of Phuket has warned that he will confront gangsterism in the province after an environmental activist was critically injured in what appears to have been an assassination attempt. The activist, Siripoj Cheechang, 35, was run over by a pick-up truck that knocked him off his motorcycle, and then turned around and ran over him. Visiting…
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Scottish tourist raped during festival
PHUKET TOWN: Instead of enjoying her holiday during the island’s Vegetarian Festival, a tourist from Scotland ended up being raped on Tuesday night. The victim, 22-year-old Dawn Farmer, told police that she was raped by a man wearing the traditional white clothing popular with celebrants during the chaotic festival. The white clothing is associated with the festival’s undertone of purity,…
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Deadly child disease “not seen in Phuket’
PHUKET: A doctor at the Phuket International Hospital has allayed fears that a virulent form of Coxsackie virus, more commonly known as hand, foot and mouth disease, has spread from Singapore to Phuket. Primary schools in Singapore have been closed in an effort to limit the spread of the Coxsackie B virus, which can result in death, particularly in infants.…
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15-year-old “mama san’ arrested
PHUKET: “Nid”, a 15-year-old schoolgirl from Udon Thani wanted on charges of pimping, was arrested on Saturday at her uncle’s home on a construction site in Soi Parlai, Chalong. “Nid” disappeared after police arrested two men for having paid sex with a 14-year-old schoolmate, “Noi”. The 14-year-old alleged that “Nid” had persuaded her to become a prostitute, had arranged clients,…
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Boat operators warned over Similans
SIMILAN ISLANDS: Boat operators wanting to enter the Similan Islands Marine National Park before November 2 have been warned that they must get special permission first, or face action for contravening the National Parks Act of 1961. The warning was issued after two vessels were halted on Wednesday by Wittaya Hongwiangchan, who took over as the park’s Chief in May.…
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Councilors arrested for corruption
PRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN: Thirty heavily armed officers from the Bangkok-based Crime Suppression Division (CSD) yesterday swooped on the Prachuap Khiri Khan Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) and arrested the president and 15 other members. Those arrested were charged with soliciting bribes in return for approving an 18-million-baht road construction project. Some were also charged with illegal possession of weapons. Pol Maj…
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Start of hotel tax postponed
PHUKET TOWN: Members of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) today voted to postpone the introduction of the controversial tax on hotel room revenue for one month. At the meeting, the members decided that collection of the tax should be postponed until November 1, and that the rate should be 0.5%. This rate will hold until September 30, 2001, after…
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Airport throughput up in August
PHUKET: This year’s low season numbers continue to be impressive, according to the latest monthly figures issued by Phuket International Airport. These show an 8.23% rise in passengers using the airport in August, compared with August 1999. The statistics show that 294,733 passengers went through the airport in August, compared with 272,326 in the same month last year. The number…
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Hotels continue to batter OrBorJor
PHUKET: With just three days to go before the new provincial hotel tax comes into force, hoteliers have continued to assail the Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) with criticism and threats of lawsuits and even industrial action. During a meeting at the Patong Resort yesterday, with mostly middle-level employees from 140 Patong hotels, the hotels argued that the way the Phuket…
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No more dog slaughters: Governor
PHUKET: It’s official: there will be no more killing of stray dogs in Phuket except in the case of individual animals that pose a threat to the public. The ruling came after a meeting of provincial officials and their counterparts from the Phuket Town Municipality, chaired by the Governor of Phuket, Charnchai Soontharamut. The meeting came on the heels of…
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Bus drivers win dispute
PHANG NGA: More than 70 sorng taeow (local buses) blocked Tai Muang Beach Rd in Phang Nga on Monday in a successful protest against an increase in fees demanded by the province’s transport concession holder. The contract between the sorng taeow drivers and the concession holder, Phuket Sa Ha Yan Yont Khon Sog Co Ltd, required the drivers to pay…
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Hotel tax: OrBorJor faces more hostility
PHUKET: Leaders of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) today went out to explain the proposed new hotel tax to the island’s hotels. They found themselves facing hostile and querulous audiences of mostly middle-level hotel employees – hotel owners and senior managers mostly stayed away. Neither the Phuket Tourism Association (PTA) nor the Thai Hotels Association (THA) was represented. In…
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IBAP holds inaugural meeting
PHUKET TOWN: The fledgling International Business Association of Phuket (IBAP) held its inaugural meeting today at the Royal Phuket City Hotel, drawing a capacity crowd of 73 people. The meeting was held to introduce the concept and aims of the IBAP and to solicit discussion, questions and suggestions from those who attended. Keynote speaker Dr Prasit Koysiripong, President of the…
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Kao Mai wins OrBorJor by-election
PHUKET: Chockchai Itsarolan won Saturday’s by-election for a vacant seat representing Muang District on the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor). The by-election was held to replace Yada Palimapan, who resigned her seat recently in order to run as a Thai Rak Thai Party candidate in parliamentary elections to be held before the end of this year. K. Chockchai, a member…
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Eight arrested for illegal fishing
MAITON ISLAND: Officers from Phuket Provincial Fisheries Office have arrested eight Thais and impounded two boats caught double-trawling in a protected marine area. Intipol Khwathai of the Phuket Provincial Fisheries Office told the Gazette that he received, via the Phuket Town Police, an anonymous tip that illegal fishing was taking place around Maiton Island. The area is part of a…
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National park fees rise by 1,900 pc for foreigners
NAI YANG: In accordance with a nationwide price increase announced in August, the Royal Forestry Department (RFD) is to raise its entrance fee for Sirinath Marine National Park by 1,900% – for foreigners but not for Thais. The entrance fee for foreign adults is to rise from 10 baht to 200 baht a person, while the fee for children under…
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Health system staggering under foreign laborers
PHUKET TOWN: Health officials here have urged the Thai government to force employers of foreign manual laborers to bear the cost of medical treatment for their workers. Their plea came after revelations that the health system is staggering under the increasingly heavy costs of providing health care to both legal and illegal laborers. Dr Boonrieng Chuchaisangrat, chief of the Phuket…
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Public invited to IBAP luncheon
PHUKET TOWN: In keeping with its policies on transparency, the International Business Association of Phuket (IBAP) is inviting the general public to attend its inaugural meeting next week. The event, a luncheon beginning at noon on Tuesday, September 26, at Royal Phuket City, will feature brief speeches by Dr Prasit Koysiripong, president of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization; Khun Piriya…
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Double alcohol ban during elections
PHUKET: Elections this weekend will put a considerable dent in drinkers’ plans, with bans on the sale of alcohol affecting both Muang District and Patong. A by-election in Muang District to fill a vacant seat in the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) will be held on Saturday, so the sale and distribution of all alcoholic beverages will be barred in…
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Governor vows to walk to work
PHUKET: To raise awareness about the worldwide Car-Free Day campaign tomorrow, Phuket Governor Charnchai Soontharamut has announced that he will be walking from his house to his office. Unlike Trang Governor Chalermchai Preechanont, who told the press that he would ride a bicycle to work tomorrow, Governor Charnchai told the Gazette that he would walk instead. “It’s not very far…
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Warning over thefts during festival
PHUKET TOWN: Pol Col Chalit Tinthanee, Superintendent of the Phuket Town Police Station, has issued a warning that people should watch their belongings carefully during the coming Vegetarian Festival. Thieves, he said, take advantage of the dense crowds to pick pockets and snatch jewelry. During last year’s festival, he added, nearly 100 complaints of theft were made to police. Visitors…
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Seven laborers electrocuted in canal
PHUKET TOWN: Seven laborers working in a canal next to the bypass road were rushed unconscious to the Wachira Phuket Hospital today after being electrocuted. The men – six Cambodians and a Thai – were working in the canal when an excavator working alongside them tangled a power line, breaking the cable, which dropped into the canal and electrocuted the…
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