Month: July 2002
- Phuket
Thais urged to battle corruption
PHUKET TOWN: Thai people should be more aware of corruption, a workshop to promote ethics in the community was told today. “There should be regular corruption inspections and investigations,” Pongthep Thepkarnjana, Minister to the Prime Minister’s Office, told the 500 people who attended the day-long gathering at the Royal Phuket City Hotel. K. Pongthep, who is also Vice Chairman of…
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Convention center decision closer
PHUKET: The site of the island’s proposed international convention and exhibition center (CEC) remains undecided but a verdict is one step closer. Napasorn Kakai, Assistant Director of the local Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) office, told reporters that a sub-committee led by businessman Wichit Na Ranong has carefully examined the proposed sites and voted on each. Their opinions have been…
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Sacred tree opts for dual gender
SURAT THANI: A 400-year-old tree with branches that resemble male and female genitals has brough villagers flocking to look. Charoen Sriyong, 60, of Tambon Pak Praek in Don Sak, took reporters to see a 20-meter Lagerstroemia tree and pointed out the two limbs, each about 50 cms long. One pointing upwards resembled a penis, while another pointing downwards resembled the…
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Bank protestor shows he has balls
BANGKOK: Chuay Kotchasit had led a group of 50 people from Kanchanaburi to the Ministry of Finance in Bangkok to hand in a petition to Deputy Finance Minister Varathep Ratanakorn against the Savings Bank. Chuay had led protestors against the Savings Bank in Kanchanaburi before, when the bank refused to return the money the people had put into a fund.…
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Mayor to lead 500 on Penang junket
PATONG: The Mayor of Patong, Surasak Maneesri, is to take 500 local people on an educational tour to Penang in Malaysia next week, at a cost to local tax payers of two million baht. The money to provide the 500 travelers with free bus transport, accommodation and food from August 4-7 will come from the municipality’s human resources development budget.…
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Mangrove walk to be closed at night
PHUKET TOWN: The Mayor of Phuket Town, Phummisak Hongsyok, has announced that the two entrances to the Saphan Hin mangrove walk will be fenced off, and the walk will be closed between 7 pm and 8am every day. His announcement came after a young mechanic from Surin was murdered late on Friday when he tried to stop two men raping…
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Fisherman witnesses colleague’s murder
PHUKET TOWN: A Thai fisherman watched as a Burmese man who worked on the same boat was stabbed to death at Rassada Port in the early hours of Sunday. Pol Maj Pissanu Poonwong, of Phuket Town Police Station, told the Gazette yesterday that the witness, who works on the fishing boat “Yod Duangporn”, called the police after seeing his co-worker…
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Rules changed for EMS deliveries
PHUKET: The Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT) has announced that it is no longer accepting parcels or envelopes addressed to post office boxes in India, Luxembourg, Qatar, or Tanzania, for delivery via its premium Express Mail Service (EMS). EMS parcels and envelopes sent to these four countries must carry the recipient’s name and full address. Items addressed to PO boxes…
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Key Aussie probe witness turns up in Patong
PATONG: A key witness in a major Western Australian inquiry into misdeeds by the state’s police, who disappeared from Australia recently, has turned up in Patong. The witness concerned is Tony Lewandowski, an ex-detective who recently signed an affidavit concerning the rigging of evidence to secure the convictions of three brothers, Raymond, Peter and Brian Mickelberg, for the notorious Perth…
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Murder, attempted rape on mangrove walk
PHUKET TOWN: A man was stabbed to death as he tried to save his girlfriend from two would-be rapists on the new Saphan Hin mangrove tourist walkway on Friday night. One attacker dropped his wallet in the struggle, leading to the arrests of both the following day. The murder victim, Nopparat Thongjanthuck, a 26-year-old air-conditioning technician from Surin, had taken…
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Tourist Police stage sea rescue seminar
PATONG: Phuket Tourist Police held a seminar today on sea rescue techniques for 150 people, including officers and volunteers such as lifeguards, paramedics and others who work on the beach. In his opening address at the Royal Paradise Hotel, seminar chairman and Kathu District Chief Sutin Uthaitamrong emphasized the need for speed in alerting rescue organizations in the event of…
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Girl drowns at Nai Harn Beach
NAI HARN: The body of an eight-year-old Thai girl who was pulled under the waves on Wednesday washed ashore at Nai Harn Beach this morning. Pol Capt Anake Mongkol of Chalong Police Station told the Gazette that Nisamanee Malilam was reported missing around 5 pm on Wednesday. Capt Anake said Nisamanee had come to Nai Harn with her aunt and…
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Bad neighbor caught brown-handed
NAKHORN SRI THAMMARAT: Neighbors Anan and Prasert had got along fine until the day they argued. That’s the day Prasert found out just how vindictive Anan could be. First, kitchen utensils started to disappear from Prasert’s kitchen. Then the situation grew worse: Prasert found excrement splashed on washing he’d hung out to dry. So Prasert installed a video camera and…
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That ole Oedipus complex
NONG KHAI: Somchai Saenkaew, 40, attacked his younger brother Kamsai, 33, with a sickle when he found Kamsai attempting to commit what anyone in their right mind would consider to be a foul crime. Kamsai suffered wounds to his back, neck, and right arm and was left to bleed to death in the dirt in front of the family home…
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Who you gonna call?
AYUDHAYA: There is a new craze amongst Ayudhaya teenagers. They phone a certain number which is answered by a spooky woman’s voice. The teenagers believe that this voice is that of the ghost of a woman from Lopburi who was murdered in Bangkok. A rather modern ghost – the mysterious number is 09-6626840, a mobile phone. When a reporter called…
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Where did he stash the cash?
PATONG: Katoey Rassamee Lomviset, 27, nearly got away with one of his best “lifts” recently when he stole money out of a policemen’s wallet while being questioned at a police station. Pol Sgt Maj Kasaem Vichianboonyaporn had brought Rassamee in to the Tourist Police office on Thaweewong Rd for questioning after he and fellow officers caught the katoey soliciting sex…
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Ghastly ghosts a fatal attraction
BANGKOK: Police believe a curve called “Krok Yai Cha” on Sukhumvit Rd in Bangkok’s Rayong Town is haunted because it has been the scene of about 50 deaths since a police traffic kiosk opened there in 1995. Bodies of victims are usually placed outside the kiosk. It’s an unpopular posting and officers who spend time there talk of hair-raising experiences…
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‘Hot’ competition for Phuket police
PHUKET TOWN: Police officers went through a two-hour competition yesterday to hone their skills in dealing with hostage-taking and other “hot” situations. Police were judged on their work with pistols and rifles, methods of snatching a gun from a suspect, using handcuffs, arresting suspects in a car, freeing hostages on a bus, protecting VIPs and other similar drills. Pol Maj…
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Pursuit of robber brings traffic to a halt
PHUKET TOWN: Traffic in Samkong was brought to a standstill this afternoon as local residents chased a thief down Yaowarat Rd, accompanied by police firing shots in the air. The thief, Witaya Meejai, 26, from Nakhon Sri Thammarat, was caught by police, with the help of local residents, outside the Steak Samkong restaurant at about 4 pm. Pol Maj Vichakom…
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Bars, nightclubs urged to close
PHUKET: Police are requesting bar and nightclub owners to close their doors tomorrow and Thursday, out of respect for the religious holidays. Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station, said today, “We ask only for cooperation from the bar and nightclub owners in Phuket. It’s not a law or rule. “It has become customary for Thais not…
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Man caught passing forged B500 note
CHERNG TALAY: Police yesterday arrested a 35-year-old Trang man for passing forged 500-baht notes – after rescuing him from a group of local people who were beating him up. The locals told police that the man, Jamnong Longklang, had earlier bought some cigarettes from the JR Mart in Kamala, using a 500-baht note to pay for them. After receiving the…
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Phuket Aquarium to get giant face-lift
AO MAKHAM: The Phuket Aquarium has received 81 million baht from the Department of Fisheries to renovate and expand to include a glass tunnel that will allow visitors to walk through a fish tank. The improvements, it is estimated, could bring as many as half a million visitors to the aquarium a year. Potchana Boonyanate, a marine biologist at the…
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