Month: January 2003
- Phuket
Phuket people vow to battle drugs
PHUKET TOWN: About 3,500 people gathered this morning at the Provincial Hall on Narisorn Rd and pledged to help eradicate illegal drugs on Phuket. At a mass ceremony starting at 9 am, people from all walks of life, including students, community leaders, members of clubs and associations and owners of entertainment venues, vowed not to become involved with drugs and…
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Brit nabbed for theft of B245,000 ring
PHUKET TOWN: Thomas James Wynn, 36, from Liverpool, England, was arrested today and charged with theft after allegedly stealing a quarter-million-baht diamond ring from Pornthep Gems on Montri Rd this morning. The shop’s owner, Thanongsak Sakasamekit, said that Wynn came into his shop and asked to see diamond rings with him. “I let my wife take care of him. He…
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Indian Deputy PM to visit Phuket
PHUKET: India’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Lal Krishna Advani, will spend the weekend in Phuket as a guest of the Thai Government. He and his wife will fly in tomorrow with the Thai Minister of Interior, Wan Muhamad Nor Matha. In the evening they plan to go to Phuket FantaSea. On Sunday, the couple will tour Phang…
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Gov urges caution over Cambodians
PHUKET: Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi said today that although Cambodia is a long way from Phuket, residents should be cautious following the burning and looting of the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh on Wednesday night. He added that the authorities will crack down swiftly if there is any kind of disturbance on the island in the wake of the Phnom…
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Diamond dazzler’s winning ways
CHIANG RAI: The owner of seven diamond-eyed cats has refused to sell her precious felines, despite offers as high as 35,000 baht for a kitten. The owner, 53-year-old Suk Namwong, has been breeding cats out of her small mom-and-pop store in Chiang Rai’s Muang district for 20 years. But she had never seen anything quite like Jao Yok, a regal,…
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In vino stupiditas
BANGKOK: Most drunks will stop imbibing when they have spent their last baht on the devil’s brew, but not 41-year-old Kiat Sommee. Kiat was out drinking with friends one day when he ran out of cash. A bank, he reasoned, is a place where a lot of money is kept. There was only one possible course of action, so Kiat…
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Bus driver scuttled
BANGKOK: All the cockroach did was behave the way any cockroach is expected to behave – by scuttling about the room in an annoying fashion. Yet its perfectly normal behavior started a chain of events that resulted in one man being killed and another being arrested. Bus driver Prayad “Pui” Kwanyun, 29, came home after work on January 13 and…
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Governor to lead the war on drugs
PHUKET TOWN: Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi plans to devote the next three months to personally leading the fight against illegal drugs. His pledge, announced today, follows a promise by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to obliterate the illegal drug trade in Thailand within three months, starting from February 1. At the regular meeting of senior officials at Phuket Provincial Hall this…
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Chinese New Year a blessing for hotels
PHUKET: The island’s hotels are enjoying a surge in occupancy rates with many ethnic Chinese flying in from around the region to celebrate the advent of the Year of the Goat on February 1. Phuket Town hotels are nearly full, both with Asian and Western visitors, said Napasorn Kakai, Deputy Director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand Region 4 office.…
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Police hunt food vendor’s killer
PHUKET TOWN: Police believe a love triangle led to the murder of a fried sausage vendor who was found stabbed to death beside his cart on Tuesday morning. Nearby residents discovered the body of Sritanonchai Kornsopa, 30, about 8 am at Kuan Din Dang-Samkong Rd in Moo 6, Rassada. Investigating officers later determined he had been dead for about six…
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“Foreigners grabbing Thai jobs’: Karon Mayor
KARON: The Mayor of Karon Municipality has lodged a complaint with Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi that foreigners in the Karon area are “grabbing” jobs that Thais can do, and has urged the authorities to be more thorough about checking work permits and other licenses. The Mayor, Tawee Thongcham, told the Gazette that the Governor went to Karon on Saturday as…
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Phuket Town to become Phuket City?
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Town Mayor Phummisak Hongsyok has invited a cross-section of municipal leaders to join a public hearing to discuss the town’s possible upgrade from tessaban muang (town) to tessaban nakhon (city) status. The meeting will be held from 1-4 pm on Thursday at the Thavorn Grand Plaza Hotel. K. Phummisak said the Municipality first got the go-ahead from…
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War on drugs begins soon
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket’s part in a national plan to obliterate illegal drugs within three months will be revealed when Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi speaks on the topic on Friday. Police will have drug control as part of their duties, even if they are assigned to traffic, administration or management, said Pol Lt Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of Phuket Town Police…
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Purachai aiming to cut prison population
PHUKET TOWN: More prisoners are likely to be freed on probation to reduce the problem of overcrowding at Phuket Provincial Prison. The announcement was made today by visiting Justice Minister Purachai Piemsomboon. “The prison in Phuket is very old,” he said. “The number of prisoners is increasing but the budget and the number of prison officers is not. “Phuket [Prison]…
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Phuket buys more water from golf course
KATHU: Phuket Provincial Waterworks has signed a 600-million-baht contract to buy water from MBK Properties and Development Co, owner of the supply source, a tin mine at Loch Palm Golf Course in Kathu. The agreement is intended to ensure there is sufficient water supply throughout the January-April dry season. Phuket Waterworks has estimated water demand of 3 million cubic meters…
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Billions of Baht for Phuket
PHUKET: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra dealt a major blow to the Democrat Party yesterday, announcing a multi-billion-baht plan to turn Phuket into the country’s biggest economic and tourism hub over the next five years. The premier has pledged that more than 100 billion baht would be invested in the development program over the next 5-6 years. The Thai Rak Thai…
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Police New Year target is helmets
PHUKET: Police will crack down on bad driving over Chinese New Year next weekend – especially on motorcycle riders who do not wear helmets at night. The Chinese New Year, which falls on February 1 this year, always brings an increase in traffic and accidents. Police are keen to halt the rising toll of unnecessary deaths and injuries in 2003.…
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Parties slug it out over Phuket billboards
PHUKET TOWN: Accusations are flying across the political divide in a slinging match that broke out on the eve of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s party congress in Phuket this weekend. With more than 300 Thai Rak Thai (TRT) MPs gathering from today in the heartland of the opposition Democrat Party, billboards began appearing around the island about three weeks ago,…
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Cough syrup the new menace
PHUKET TOWN: Public Health Minister Sudarat Keyurapan chaired a crisis meeting in Phuket today to plan action to stem the rising misuse of cough syrup among Thailand’s young people. Among the 120 provincial officers who met at Royal Phuket City Hotel were Phuket Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi, Public Health officers from the 14 southern provinces and others from as far…
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Quake tremors rattle Phuket
PHUKET: Tremors from a distant earthquake caused anxiety in tall buildings in Patong and triggered a stampede to evacuate the Phuket Vocational College at Saphan Hin, Phuket Town, today. The six buildings at the college shook for almost a minute, with students running downstairs to gather outside. One student, Kittipong Jarusatorn, said later, “Someone shouted, ‘Get out of the building,…
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Islanders win top ecotourism prize
PHANG NGA: An ecotourism strategy devised by the residents of Koh Yao Noi, off Phuket, has won a prestigious World Legacy Award, which will be presented later on today in Washington DC by Queen Noor of Jordan. The award, one of only three throughout the world for 2002, will be presented on Wednesday in the US capital to Jaranya Deangnoy,…
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Early-teen motorcycle thieves nabbed
PHUKET TOWN: A gang of eight boys, all aged about 14, were taken into custody and charged with motorcycle theft following a police raid on their hangout off Sakdidet Rd on Sunday. Police suspected the boys might responsible for a surge in motorcycle thefts in the Sakdidet Rd area when they observed the gang involved in a bustling trade in…
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