Year: 2003
- Phuket News
Fugitive land officials “in the South’
BANGKOK (Kom Chad Luek/The Nation): Pol Maj Gen Pansiri Prapawat, Deputy Commissioner for General Investigation, has revealed that police believe two fugitive former land officials are hiding somewhere in the South. The two wanted men are Bunchoo Limraksasin, formerly an officer in the Kathu District Land Office who was subsequently posted to Ubon Ratchathani, and Thawatchai Anukul, former chief registrar…
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Dam funding approved “in principle’
PHUKET: Rapid development of Phuket in the past few years has resulted in the island’s current water supply problems, Irrigation Project Director Watchara Arepornsiri said today. Deputy Interior Minister Pracha Maleenond and his team were in Phuket on Friday to meet with Provincial Waterworks Authority (PWA) governor Wanchai Kuprasert and officials of the Phuket Provincial Irrigation Office to discuss ways…
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Tourist-speak training for police
PHUKET TOWN: Island police are undergoing a brief course aimed at giving them the basics of tourist-speak in English and Japanese and advice on how to deal with other practical issues involving visitors. The Deputy Commander of Phuket Provincial Police, Pol Col Apirak Hongtong, told a seminar of 200 officers at the ST Plaza Hotel in Phuket Town today that…
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Diplomats praise island tourism
KARON: Bangkok-based diplomats representing 20 Asian and European countries have completed a tour of Phuket and Samui that was designed to promote tourism to the islands following the Sars scare. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) organized the study tour for ambassadors, consuls and their spouses between July 18 and 20. The party of…
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Another year’s work on historical documents
TRANG: More than two years after they were discovered by workers fixing the roof at the Phuket Provincial Hall, four stacks of documents dating back as far as 80 years ago are now being classified in an ongoing project by the National Archives Office in Trang. The documents have been grouped into 300 different categories and thousands of sub-headings. All…
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They’re back! Tourist numbers double in June
PHUKET: The latest figures on arrivals and departures at Phuket International Airport indicate that people are beginning to travel again in substantial numbers. The total of international passengers landing and leaving the island increased by 133% in June compared to May. June saw 602 international flights come and go, carrying 74,354 people, compared to the previous month when 31,806 people…
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No more free water – Mayor
PHUKET TOWN: Reacting to the land investigators’ comments about ownership of tin mines, the Mayor of Phuket Town has warned that an end is approaching to the city’s free ride on the tin mines for water. “We’ve been doing a good deed for the city for quite some time,” Mayor Phummisak Hongsyok told the Gazette yesterday. “Now we have to…
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Raids bring third land scandal arrest
BANGKOK (Kom Chad Luek): Police arrested Panthong Na Ranong, a former consultant of the New Aspiration Party (Kwamwangmai), during raids on Bangkok properties in Huay Khwang and Phra Khanong yesterday. Panthong, who was charged with conspiracy to falsify documents, was the third person arrested in investigations concerning fake land titles in Phuket. He was taken to the Crime Suppression Division…
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Phuket joins Portland in municipal project
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Town officials will work together with counterparts from the city of Portland, Oregon, over the next two years in an effort to improve the city through mutual cooperation and an exchange of urban management expertise. The project, which is part of the International City/County Management Association’s CityLinks Program, will also include Chiang Mai and Khon Kaen municipalities.…
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Two more police charged in Big C slaying
PHUKET TOWN: Two Songkhla policemen accused of conspiracy to murder Phuket businessman Visanuwat Ngamjun, who was shot in his car in front of the Big C supercenter on February 28, turned themselves in to the Phuket Town Police on Tuesday morning. Pol Lt Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of the Phuket Town Police Station, named the suspects as Pol Sgt Maj…
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Phuket to cement links with Andamans
PHUKET: Closer ties are to be established between Phuket and Port Blair, capital of the remote and intriguing Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Approximately halfway between Thailand and India, the islands were visited by Marco Polo and have a colorful history as a base for pirates and home for head-hunters. One tribe reportedly communes with the dead. Today the islands are…
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Phuket Town wins Ministry award
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Town Municipality will receive a 2 million-baht prize from the Ministry of Interior (MoI) for placing fourth in terms of administrative excellence among southern Thailand’s Tessaban districts. The announcement was made at the Phuket Town municipal offices today by Mayor Phummisak Hongsyok. The MoI awards were allotted to three outstanding Provincial Administration Organizations (OrBorJor) in Thailand, 30…
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Alert over landslide risk
PHUKET: The Department of Mineral Resources has placed Phuket on a list of provinces that are susceptible to dangerous landslides during the monsoon season. Apichai Chiensirikul, Chief of Mineral Resources at the Phuket Provincial Industrial Office, told the Gazette that his section would inspect the island for areas where landslides were most likely and compile details before the onset of…
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Hotels urged to watch for suspicious foreigners
PHUKET TOWN: The Deputy Commander of Phuket Provincial Police, Pol Col Apirak Hongtong, last night appealed for hotel and resort staff to be on the lookout for foreigners acting suspiciously, in order to aid police in solving crimes committed by tourists. Speaking at the annual meeting of the Thai Hospitality Club of Phuket, held at The Metropole hotel, Col Apirak…
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Phuket Town blackout postponed
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Provincial Electricity Authority has postponed the Phuket Town blackout scheduled for tomorrow (July 17). The blackout, from 9 am to 4 pm, will now be on Tuesday, July 22. The affected areas are: Montri Rd, from Phuket Post Office to Surin Circle; and Phang Nga Rd, from the Mazda showroom junction to the Sinthavee Hotel. Please…
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Beachside villagers resist expulsion
CHERNG TALAY: Villagers in Cherng Talay today called a press conference to demand fair treatment as a deadline set by Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi for them to vacate public land expired. On March 16, the Governor gave the villagers four months to quit the beach and other pieces of land near the Laguna resort complex after no records of ownership…
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Take a policeman home
CHALONG: Chalong police are now more visible around the clock in response to an increase in muggings in the Chalong, Rawai and Nai Harn areas. Pol Col Sati Malakanond, Superintendent of Chalong Police Station, told the Gazette, “It’s not just tourists that have been attacked. So have locals and foreign residents running businesses.” Police officers are now more visible at…
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Fisherman found dead
PHUKET TOWN: The body of a Burmese fisherman washed ashore near Chocktaweekij fishing pier, off Si Sena Rd, at about 2 am on Sunday. Police have ruled out murder, saying that they believe the man fell from the pier into the water two days earlier while drunk, and drowned. Phuket Town Police inspector Pol Maj Watcharin Thirathikanwiwat told the Gazette…
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Job losses mounting, but recovery on track
PHUKET: Latest figures indicate that the island’s recovery from the negative effects of Sars is on course but that more suffering may lie ahead before good times return. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) predicts that by December, total visitor numbers may be only slightly down on last year. Paradoxically, small businesses and workers continue to feel the after-effects of…
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TAT Deputy slams tourism restructuring
PHUKET TOWN: Following many complaints about delays in tourism business and tour guide registrations, the Deputy Director of the local Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) office yesterday criticized the shift of responsibilities to Bangkok in the government’s latest restructuring efforts. As of July 1, as part of a move to place the TAT under the authority of the Sports and…
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No helmet, no hill: safety crackdown
PHUKET: Patong Hill has been chosen as the island’s first “Helmet Heaven”, with motorcyclists barred from it from next month unless they wear helmets. While details are still being worked out, Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi told the Gazette that riders traveling without helmets would be turned back at checkpoints on both sides of the hill, day and night. It is…
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Who needs a barbecue?
NAKHON NAYOK: Many people love the taste of charcoal-grilled food, but a young woman in Nakhon Nayok has taken her love for charcoal one step further – bypassing the food and eating the charcoal instead. In Tambon Pakplea, a 26-year-old widow, Urai Setsuriya, carries a bag of the black carbon sticks with her wherever she goes, sometimes munching up to…
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A dish best served boiled
NAKHON PATHOM: Legions of men thought twice about their two-timing ways after watching Fatal Attraction, the movie in which a mistress takes revenge on her married lover by boiling his family’s beloved pet bunny. In the film, wife and children became the unwitting victims in a dangerous love triangle. In Nakhon Pathom, however, it was the wife whose jealous rage…
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Peg-leg snatcher in the slammer
BANGKOK: A two-month, 10-victim purse-snatching spree in Bangkok ended on May 17 with the arrest of a one-legged thief who used a motorcycle to make his getaways. Payao Thongpong, 30, after grabbing the purse of his latest victim, rode his motorcycle practically into the hands of police at a checkpoint, where officers had been given his description. Payao told police…
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MP’s sister involved in land probe
PHUKET: Investigators led by Pol Maj Gen Pansiri Prapawat today inspected three more plots of land with allegedly suspect titles. The three pieces belong to Yanyong Kebsup, a sister of Phuket Democrat MP Chalermlak Kebsup and wife of Phuket Provincial Administration Organization member Chaianan Suthikul; Boonkeng Srisansuchart, who was called to Phuket Town Police Station yesterday for questioning, and Pantong…
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Gov offers to help validate titles
PHUKET TOWN: Big business investors who want to check the legitimacy of titles to land they are thinking of buying can ask the Phuket Governor’s office for help, Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi said today. He told the Gazette that his staff would work with the Phuket Provincial Land Office so that investment could continue without being delayed by investigations now…
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Hilton enters Phuket market
PHUKET: Hilton International has finally made an entry into the Phuket market after negotiating a contract to manage the Panwaburi Resort and Spa at Cape Panwa. The resort, which will undergo a US$7-million (292-million-baht) refurbishment, paid for by its owners, is expected to reopen in October as the Conrad Phuket Resort and Spa. Conrad is Hilton’s top-of-the-line five-star brand. Methee…
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Markets, restaurants face food checks
PHUKET: Officers from the Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO) will next month start inspecting restaurants displaying the “Clean Food Good Taste” (CFGT) seal of approval to see whether they have in fact been authorized by the PPHO to display the logo. They will also check fresh produce sold at markets from next month to ensure it is free of harmful…
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More fishing but fewer fish
PHUKET TOWN: The number of illegal alien workers on fishing boats in the Andaman Sea was increasing at the same time as vital marine stocks were being depleted, said Vice-Admiral Pairoj Theerachai of the Royal Navy Third Fleet. Fishing boats were using large illegal gill nets that diminished fish resources and also trapped and killed other marine animals, he explained…
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Two businessmen questioned in land scandal
PHUKET: Two senior members of Phuket’s business community were called to Phuket Town Police Station today for questioning about dubious land titles. About 50 officers from the Crime Suppression Division (CSD), the Forestry Police, Phuket Town police, the National Parks Department and the Royal Thai Navy, armed with warrants from the court, also searched four homes at 5 am. Questioned…
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Missing Briton found safe in Krabi
KRABI: Missing Briton Eric Wells has turned up safe in a guest house in Krabi, his son told the Gazette this evening. Guy Wells said that he had spoken by phone with his father, who was unharmed, but that the reasons why he had ended up in Krabi were not clear. He also thanked all those who had gone out…
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Top businessman held over Samsara deed
PHUKET TOWN: Chamnan Pachantabutr, former owner of the land on which the Samsara luxury property development is currently being constructed, was arrested today for his alleged part in falsifying a land document – the original title for the Samsara site. Chamnan, who is one of the owners of the Phuket Cabana Resort and of the Kan Eang restaurants in Chalong,…
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Startling plans for Phuket’s future
PHUKET TOWN: Four Cabinet members attended high-powered meetings with Phuket government officials and local businessmen on Friday and Saturday (July 4 and 5), indicating that the government is still committed to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s vision of Phuket as a regional hub for transport, medical tourism, IT, duty-free shopping and yachting. The Saturday meeting at Royal Phuket City Hotel was…
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High price for high fliers
PHUKET: Expensive rainmaking flights costing as much as 480,000 baht a day have yet to make an appreciable difference to Phuket’s water supplies. Three aircraft from the Royal Rainmaking Service are currently in Phuket. The two smaller airplanes each incur a cost of 50,000 baht a flight in fuel, chemicals and other costs while the third, larger aircraft costs 60,000…
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All-night party raided
CHERNG TALAY: An all-night party at a Japanese businessman’s holiday home came to an abrupt end when police raided the mansion at 8 am yesterday and tested the 30 revelers for drugs and netted three gamblers. The Deputy Commander of Phuket Provincial Police, Pol Col Apirak Hongtong, led the raid after police received complaints at about 4 am from local…
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Still no sign of DIDIT founder
PHUKET: The family of Briton Eric Wells have asked that anyone who has seen him since the evening of Friday, July 4, get in touch with them immediately. Mr Wells and his wife Linda are co-founders of Dogs In Distress In Thailand (DIDIT), which looks after stray dogs in temples around the island. Mr Wells went to feed dogs at…
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Free air tickets to boost tourism
BANGKOK: Thai Airways International (THAI) has announced a campaign to celebrate its 43rd anniversary by giving away 20,000 tickets as prizes in a lottery among passengers who fly on the airline between now and September 30. The “Luck Is In The Air” campaign will, it is hoped, attract tourists to make repeat visits to Thailand. A total of 16,000 free…
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