Month: January 2007
- Phuket
B300,000 reward offered for armed robber
PHUKET: A 300,000-baht reward is on offer for information leading to the arrest of a brazen bandit who made off with gold jewelry worth more than one million baht in a daylight robbery on Saturday.Officers report they have been following tips called in by a woman claiming to be the robber’s girlfriend, scouring the areas where she said he has…
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Barami 8 squatters pull up stakes
KALIM: Squatters living on government land on Soi Phra Barami 8 have slowly begun moving out, fearing court-ordered fines and possible arrest if they continue to stay in the area.The move comes about eight months after they received the first eviction notices.Poonsak Naksena, Chief Administrative Assistant of Patong Municipality, told the Gazette that the squatters in the first three homes…
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Phuket Immigration exempt from “smile and wai’ training
PHUKET: Immigration officers at Phuket International Airport are not required to undergo the “smile and wai” training that their counterparts at Suvarnbhumi Airport have been ordered to complete, because they have been doing it for a year already, says Pol Col Surasak Atthapanyawanich, Superintendent at Phuket Airport Immigration Office.Thailand Immigration Bureau Commander Pol Lt Gen Suwat Tumrongsiskul ordered the 1,200…
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Limo driver returns B200,000 in “lost luggage’
PHUKET: Airport limousine driver Prateep Seeponnok has been commended for returning almost 200,000 baht worth of cash and goods to their Norwegian owner who had left them in his car.K. Prateep, accompanied by Phuket Vice-Governor Worapot Rattasima and Tourist Police officers, returned the forgotten luggage to Rolf Bernharn Knobloch yesterday.K. Prateep told the Gazette that, “At 10 pm on January…
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Tourist Police nab Phang Nga murder suspect
PHUKET: Tourist Police have 23-year-old Wanasart “Bank” Jeensrikong, for his role in the June 28, 2003 murder of Sarawuth Yamying in Phang Nga’s Takuatung District.Following a tip-off, Wanasart was arrested on Thursday after he was found working as a chef at a hotel in Patong. Plainclothes police arrested the suspect at the hotel, which they declined to name.Wanasart had confessed…
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Nai Harn curve claims two lives
CHALONG: Two men, both 20, died in a motorbike accident when the driver overshot Ku Bua curve on Saiyuan Rd around 7:30 am yesterday.Pol Lt Col Sanguan Muangtam at Chalong Police Station said that the two men, one from Nakhon Sri Thammarat and the other from Trang, were friends who had come to Phuket to work.“The men were on their…
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Members only
RAWAI, PHUKET: Outraged residents of Village 2 are demanding the immediate removal of numerous Sivaleung (Shiva’s member, or lingam) statues that decorate a newly-built spa, claiming that the phalluses will embarrass tourists and other passers-by. On January 20 Aroon Solos, President of the Rawai Tambon Administration Organization, paid a visit to the Suppaya Spa (Suppaya means “Assets of the Supreme…
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Hotels get crash course in disease control
PATONG: Dr Wiwat Sitamanod of the Phuket Provincial Health Office on Wednesday said that the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) is investigating claims that six tourists contracted Legionnaire’s disease while on holiday in Patong.“The PPHO received a fax from a foreign embassy on January 9 about some of their nationals who were diagnosed as having Legionnaire’s disease after being on…
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Nai Harn encroachment probe making slow progress
NAI HARN: The investigation into the building of a resort on protected forest land at Ao Sane is making slow progress, though police expect to make more arrests soon, Chalong police have told the Gazette.Some 30 forestry officials raided the illegal construction site on October 25. Two construction foremen, Virot Niyomdechai, 31, of Satun Province, and Viriya Yimsomboon, 25, of…
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Body found floating off Koh Bon
KOH BON: The body of an unidentified young man was found floating in the sea off Koh Bon yesterday afternoon. Police believe the victim was a Burmese fisherman.Pol Lt Col Chana Sutthimas, an Inspector at Chalong Police Station, told the Gazette that the discovery was made about 2 pm by a tourist, who then notified the Phuket Tourist Rescue Center…
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Local telephone book has arrived
PHUKET: The 2007 edition of the Gazette Guide, Phuket’s English-language yellow pages, has arrived and guestroom copies are today being delivered to the major four- and five-star hotels and resorts. The book goes on sale to the general public at noon on Thursday, February 1. The price of the directory is 140 baht. A full list of retailers in Phuket,…
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A really dumbo idea
PHITSANULOKE: A drunk was left with critical head injuries after being slammed into a tree by an elephant he was teasing. The unfortunate event transpired on the morning of January 17. A crowd of curious villagers had gathered near the entrance to Wat Muang Hawm (“Temple of the Fragrant Mango”) in Tambon Kaengsopha, Wangthong District, to see an elephant that…
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Brown nectar of the gods
PHRAE: Scores of villagers in Phrae were given a gut-wrenching shock when a “holy” spring they had prayed to and drunk from turned out to be the result of faulty plumbing rather than a gift from the gods. The font was discovered on January 4 by Anong Kwanphetch, 52, in the middle of her lawn in Tambon Mae Jua, Denchai…
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Patong tuk-tuks protest one-way traffic
PATONG: About 40 angry tuk-tuk drivers parked their vehicles on the football field on the beach road from 5 pm until 10 pm on Sunday to protest the town’s new one-way road system, which went into effect on a three-month trial from January 16.Among the drivers’ complaints are that the new system has increased traffic, travel time and operating costs – while…
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Hotels still refuse to pay rooms tax
PHUKET: Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) President Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr has again threatened legal action against hotels that refuse to pay the controversial 1% rooms tax.K. Anchalee said that the OrBorJor this year aims to collect 60 million baht in rooms tax, up from a little over 41 million during the fiscal year from October 1, 2005 to September 30, 2006.However, she said that…
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Teenager arrested for brutal murder
KATHU: Tung Tong Police have arrested a 17-year-old man for the brutal stabbing murder of 40-year-old Nongying “Sao” Sengton in her home near Tung Tong Market in the early hours of November 27.Pol Lt Col Witoon Kongsudjai, Deputy Superintendent of Tung Tong Police Station, said the arrest was made on January 16 at the youth’s home in Phang Nga’s Thapput…
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Phuket runs out of “smart” ID cards
PHUKET: People looking to be issued one of the new “smart” ID cards will have to wait until about mid-year to get their hands on one, as all District Offices on Phuket have run out of the new cards.Phuket City Mayor Somjai Suwannasuppana said that people will have to settle for an old-style card until the Department of Local Administration…
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Kamala to get traditional Thai-Chinese medical center
KAMALA: Cabinet has approved a plan to build a traditional Thai-Chinese medical center with the assistance of the Chinese government at the site of the Kamala Public Health Office.Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO) Chief Dr Wanchai Sattayawuthipong told the Gazette the center will provide Thai and Chinese traditional treatments to both Thai and foreign patients.The PPHO, which drew up the…
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Fewer island blackouts predicted
PHUKET: The island’s residents are expected to suffer fewer electricity supply disruptions this year as power supply will be boosted to meet expected increases in demand, the head of the island’s electricity provider has reported.Suthep Jitseree of the Phuket Provincial Electricity Authority (PPEA) said the successful introduction of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) technology to the island’s power grid…
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TTVI chief Khemmarin transferred
BANGKOK (Kom Chad Luek/Gazette): Pol Col Khemmarin Hassiri, the Superintendent in charge of the Thailand Tsunami Victim Identification (TTVI) center, has been transferred to an inactive position at the Police Forensic Science Office pending an investigation into allegations that money donated to the TTVI was used improperly.Ireland and Denmark have now added their names to the list of countries demanding…
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Cost of Phuket living rises 4.9%
PHUKET: The consumer price index in Phuket increased 4.9% in 2006, comprising sharp increases in several food categories, the Phuket Commercial Affairs Office has reported.Food and beverage prices increased 6% overall, led by sharp increases in fruits and vegetables (12.9%); basic ingredients (17%); and meat, poultry and seafood (8.6%).The combined increases in all non-food-and-beverage categories was 4%, led by the…
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Doubt lingers over Legionnaire’s “outbreak’ claims
PATONG: Reports in the Finnish press of Legionnaire’s Disease being contracted by a group of tourists staying at a hotel in Patong have yet to be confirmed, as tests are still being conducted by the Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO), Ministry of Public Health and the World Health Organization.As of press time, no proof of the bacteria Legionella has been…
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