Month: August 2017

  • News

    And you thought WE had problems with crocodiles!?

    OK, so we have one elusive crocodile playing hide ‘n seek with a ‘consortium’ of crocodile hunters (we’ll admit we don’t know what the collective noun is for crocodile hunters). But Songkhla have a whole different croc problem. An unknown number of crocodiles have escaped from a farm in Songkhla’s Singhanakorn district after a wall at their enclosure collapsed on…

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  • News

    Phuket drownings – The Facts

    In the first eight months of 2017 there have been 294 rescues recorded around Phuket’s beaches patrolled with surf lifeguards on duty. Of these, 265 have been foreigners and the remainder Thai locals. The good news is that these numbers are trending a lot lower than 2016. Last year there were 761 rescues recorded in the full 12 months. In…

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  • News

    Crocodile – 1. Crocodile Hunters – Nil.

    This afternoon (August 31), the croc-hunting team corralled for the search failed to capture the rascally reptile. The team includes Fisheries Officers, crocodile catchers from Surat Thani and experienced staff from Phuket Crocodile World. The team brought 4 rafts to chase the crocodile to where the nets were placed. However, the team failed as the crocodile dived 8-9 meters deep…

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  • News

    100 million Baht drug bust. Krabi’s biggest drug network.

    45 year old Somporn Ratchapibun, from Surat Thani, has been arrested with the enormous haul of 486,000 amphetamine pills and 10 kilograms of meth amphetamine. The whole lot has a combined value of more than 100 million Baht. He was arrested at a rented house in Krabi with 3 mobiles phones and a Toyota Vios car. Police found drugs hidden…

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  • News

    Progress on shooting/robbery of Russian woman in Rawai

    Police report that they’ve learned that the two thieves used a car to commit the crime on Tuesday night. The car was parked 100 metres away from the house where they robbed and shot Russian expat, Elena Kharenko. However, the color, brand and plate number hasn’t yet been ascertained. The Chief of Region 8 Police, Maj. Gen. Pawat Prommakrit, has…

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  • News

    THAIGER TODAY Thursday, August 31

    Crocodile hunters on the trail | 43 year old from Phattalung arrested with drugs valued at 2 million Baht | DSI in town to check bonfides of Sor Koh 1 Title Deeds | 400,000 Rohingya in border camps as another 18,500 flee across Myanmar border | Phuket Hotels Association tackle mega beach clean.

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  • News

    Phuket’s Croc Hunters

    A hunting team spotted the crocodile in an old tin mine lake near Laypang Beach yesterday afternoon (August 30). The 50-rai lake is located about 300 meters from where the crocodile was spotted earlier. Initially, a team from Thalang District Office was placed to block the crocodile from swimming out of the lake. At about 8.00 pm, a “crocodile whisperer”…

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  • News

    “It’s a freshwater crocodile”. The latest from the Fisheries Office Chief

    Freshwater crocodile in Australia’s Northern Territory. Photo: abc.net.au Phuket’s Fisheries Office believes that the crocodile spotted in Bangtao Beach is a freshwater crocodile which can only live in salt water for a few days and they assume that it comes from a tin mine lake in the nearby area. Governor Plodthong, along with the Head of the Phuket Office of Fisheries, Paiboon Bunlipatanon,…

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  • News

    Two million Baht worth of drugs off the streets

    A 43 year-old man from Phatthalung, Preecha “Ann” Utapala, was arrested in his house in Phuket with almost 4,000 amphetamine pills and one kilogram of meth amphetamine with an estimated market value of over 2 million Baht. With police reporting that drug trading volume in Phuket remains high, undercover police continue to investigate all the drug dealer networks. Preecha was…

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  • Thailand News

    THAIGER TODAY Wednesday, August 30

    UK National Crime Authority under fire for leaking sensitive information during Koh Tao murder investigation | More about THAT crocodile | Thai PM doesn’t believe Yingluck is seeking asylum in the UK | Man caught with 400,000 Baht value of stolen goods in Thalang | Fake goods raid on beach road in Patong

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  • Thailand News

    FOX News UK pulls the pin

    Fox TV News has pulled the pin in their venture to gather an audience in the UK TV market due to poor ratings. Former Australian, now US citizen and owner of the FOX empire, Rupert Murdoch, says the controversial US-based cable news channel was only attracting a few thousand viewers a day in the UK. The decision to jettison the…

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  • News

    Russian Woman shot and robbed in Rawai

    A 52 year-old Russian woman, Elena Ksarenko, was shot and robbed in her villa in Rawai. Police are on the lookout for the two thieves they believe are involved in the crime. Police found her bed and floor covered in blood at the scene. On the floor, police found .38 bullets and bloody footsteps around the bedroom. The shower’s glass…

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  • News

    3,000 items snared in Patong counterfeit crackdown

    A 33 year old Burmese man, Dam Bha Du and a 34 year old Vietnamese, Lam, have been arrested with a total of 3,000 counterfeit items from Patong. Following a report that a large number of counterfeit goods were being sold in Soi Kebsup on Taweewong Rd, a taskforce led by Phuket’s Governor, the ECD Police force and the Commander-in-Chief…

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  • News

    Phuket Fisheries Department to survey crocodile location on Bang Tao

    Thalang Fisheries Officers commented on the incident when two locals spotted a crocodile in the Bang Tao beach area, off the Movenpick Resort. He said the reptile are likely to have come from the neighbouring provinces as Phuket was never a natural breeding ground for crocodiles. Another similar reptile was spotted last year. “There was a report from a local…

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  • News

    Fixing Phuket’s coral. Restoration projects around Phuket

    For the past few years the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources – Phuket Office has been working on the construction and installation of artificial reefs around the island. Two main areas have been selected, Koh Racha Yai (Bay3) and Koh Mai Thon. The project consists of placing construction blocks on the seabed in order to provide ‘pads’ on which…

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  • News

    THAIGER TODAY Tuesday, August 29

    Interpol been alerted over arrest of Yingluck Shinawatra | Two tech colleges in Bangkok closed because of student attacks | Thailand’s cleanest beaches. Is Phuket on the list? | Interpol looking out for Boss, the Red Bull heir | Thepa power plant gets EIS go-ahead.

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  • Phuket News

    Three metre crocodile spotted off Bang Tao beach

    So this is how it happened… Phuket expat ‘Mike’, along with his wife, were walking their dogs along Bang Tao beach last Friday. They say they normally start their walk around 2 kilometres south of the small island adjacent to the beach near Layan. On this particular morning they decided to walk in the opposite direction to the south instead…

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  • Phuket News

    Robber caught with a long list of items worth 400,000 Baht

    This morning (August 29), a Ratchaburi man, Pinit ‘Nit’ Tuihun was arrested by Phuket police after robbing several houses in Thalang and the Phuket Town area. He was also found in possession of drugs. 52 items, worth about 400,000 Baht, stolen from houses across Phuket, were found inside Pinit’s house in Srisunthorn subdistrict, in Thalang, including 8 televisions, 5 notebook…

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  • News

    Immediate attention to Phuket’s worst flood areas

    Patong’s Mayor has announced, what she hopes are, solutions to the recurrent floods and set a budget to solve the problems in the long term. As Patong is one of the areas that always suffers from the flood on the island, the Mayor, Chalermluck Kebsup, said that she has surveyed several spots in Patong and can now specify the actual…

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  • Travel

    Thailand’s Best Beaches 2017. How many are in Phuket?

    The results are in for Thailand’s annual ‘beach star rating’ study by the Pollution Control Department. 13 beaches around Thailand have been awarded five-star ratings. Not a single one of them is in Phuket, not even close. According to the Pollution Control Department, this year’s beach evaluation was based on four important criteria. The Department studied water quality that included…

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  • Thailand video news

    THAIGER TODAY. Monday, August 28

    “She wasn’t here” – Cambodian officials | Thai Government under fire for ‘allowing’ Yingluck to escape | New sugary drink tax | Flow Ride 2017 win for Phuket locals | Gold Mine health-effects report | Big auction win for Land Traffic Office for special number plates.

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  • Bangkok News

    Go Team Phuket! Blitzing the waves in Bangkok

    The Phuket team blitzed the Asia Flow Tour 2017 in Bangkok over the weekend. Asia Flow Tour is an annual surfing contest series around Asian countries and had its second stop in Bangkok last Saturday, August 26. The small but tightly knit Asian flow board riding community got together for the event to decide who gets to represent Asia…

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  • News

    “She wasn’t here. It’s only rumour.” Cambodian officials.

    From The Phnom Penh Post Cambodian officials Sunday dismissed media reports that former Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra fled the country to Dubai via Cambodia ahead of a court decision, saying they had “no record” of such activity and calling the reports “rumours”. Yingluck was scheduled to appear at the Thai Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders on…

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  • News

    Donations for 1,500 unprivileged locals during Por Tor festival

    Kusoldharm Phuket Foundation has donated food to 1,500 underprivileged people for the Por Tor Festival. Yesterday (August 26), the foundation, with the help of Phuket’s Governor arranged a donation in front of the foundation building. The ceremony started with a worship to ancestral spirits, a rice donation for the lunch project for students then followed by donations for underprivileged people…

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  • News

    Kofi Annan and Aung San Suu Kyi condemn Rhakine violence

    Former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan and Myanmar’s State Minister Councillor, Aung San Suu Kyi have roundly condemned the new upsurge in violence in the Rhakine state, to the north-west of Myanmar. “I strongly condemn today’s brutal attacks by terrorists on security forces in Rakhine State. “The actions threatened efforts to bring peace to the embattled state”, Aung San Suu Kyi said in…

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  • News

    Sunday drenching for Phuket

    Consistent and heavy rains are drenching Phuket this morning as emergency services are stretched to assist drivers and motorcyclists who were stuck in flooded roads. Along Viset Road, Rawai, quite a few patches of the road were impassable with rain failing to run off into the roadside drains. Some short spurts around 7am turned into heavier rain as the morning…

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  • News

    Perth to Bangkok flight aborted

    Saturday’s Thai Airways flight TG484 from Perth to Bangkok was cancelled after an airport’s jet bridge accidentally hit the plane’s left engine cowling. Thai Airways announced in a press statement that the accident happened at 9.15am Perth time. It said after the plane’s doors were closed and it was ready to take off, the jet bridge hit the engine cowling,…

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  • News

    Would you pay One Million Baht for a number plate?

    Phuket’s Land Transport Office released 301 new car license plate numbers for auction expecting a 22 million Baht windfall. The Director-General of the LTO, Sanit Promwong, chaired the event alongside the Phuket Governor and local authorities. A large crowd attended the auction and the highest bid was a whopping 1 million Baht for the plate number กล9999 (Gor Gai Lor…

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  • News

    Emergency simulation at Phuket International Airport

    Last night (August 25), Phuket International Airport conducted an Emergency Plan Exercise: PEMEX – a yearly full course safety measure rehearsal. Phuket Vice Governor, Sanit Srivihok, chaired the activity. The aim of the exercise was to facilitate the coordination and communication between different bodies, such as government officials, airport and airline staff and business operators in the event of an…

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  • Opinion

    Two decades of Shinawatra influence fades as Yingluck flees

    EDITORIAL Now a fugitive from Thai justice, just like her brother, Yingluck Shinawatra is thought to have fled the country as early as last Wednesday. Photos of her praying at temples on Wednesday were probably bogus distractions. Yesterday’s no-show was yet another day of high drama in Thailand’s tortured political history. Various reports say she either travelled by private jet…

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  • Thai Life

    Maya Bay – The silence, the turquoise waters, the serenity. The crowds!

    Imagine visiting the set of a famous Hollywood movie. In this case “the Beach’ with Leonardo DiCaprio. The pristine sands of Maya Beach at Koh Phi Phi. The silence, the turquoise waters, the serenity. For Sarah Buthmann, her child-hood memories were about to be shattered with this raucous and probably rather sad visit to her dream beach movie set – Maya Bay. “When we…

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  • News

    Friday’s ‘THAIGER TODAY’

    THAIGER TODAY Friday, August 25 Yingluck a no-show at the Supreme Court | Phuket Court case dropped against BBC’s Jonathan Head | World Bank upgrades Thai economy outlook | Patong hotel elevator accident was a ‘tragic mistake.

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  • News

    Is Bangkok’s property market cooling off? No, says Bloomberg.

    An update on the Bangkok property market from Bloomberg. “We’re still undervalued as a country, compared to Singapore and Hong Kong. And China, in a lot of major cities.” Click the chart to watch the Bloomberg report on Thailand’s biggest property portfolio. PHOTO: fazwaz.com

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  • Travel

    Krabi – Number One for growth on Trip Advisor

    Krabi Town has ranked Number One for growth in year-on-year search results for Thai holiday destinations on TripAdvisor. According to TripAdvisor, searches rose 41% compared to the same time last year. The rising number of flights heading to the coastal town is being attributed as the main reason the growth has been so high over the past 12 months. To read…

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  • News

    Back in Bangkok after Phuket court case dropped

    Jonathan Head is back in Bangkok following his two day visit to Phuket. His case came to an abrupt conclusion when the man suing him, Phuket lawyer Pratuan Thanarak withdrew the charges. He was suing Mr Head over a story that appeared on the BBC in 2015 where the lawyer claimed he was defamed. Jonathan Head investigated foreigners being scammed…

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  • News

    Yingluck is now a fugitive following non-appearance at Court

    Thailand’s Supreme Court has issued an arrest warrant against former PM Yingluck Shinawatra after she was a no-show at today’s verdict announcement in the negligence trial involving her Government’s rice-pledging scheme. The verdict has now been postponed to September 27. The Court has also ordered the seizure of the 30 million Baht bail. If Khun Yingluck doesn’t show up on…

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  • News

    High drama in Bangkok with no-show from Yingluck

    Yingluck did not show up at the Supreme Court today to hear the verdict over the Rice Pledging Scheme case. Deputy PM Gen Prawit Wongsuwan confirms that he has been informed about Yingluck’s no-show in the court on a claim that she suffered from a disorder in the inner ear. He says the court has issued an arrest warrant against…

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