- Phuket News
Corruption threatens elections
BANGKOK (AFP): Ambitious reforms launched to root out endemic corruption in Thai politics aim to ensure that the January 6 elections will be the cleanest in the kingdom’s history, observers say. But there are fears that with “cash democracy” and patronage politics still deeply entrenched in the country, Thailand is setting itself up for a chaotic aftermath to the ballot…
- Phuket News
A tale of two Kesorns
PATONG: Nationwide publicity about the kidnapped ‘beggar girl’ case has put the spotlight on Kathu Police Station’s finest. On December 14, Buri Ram native Huad Sooksaeng, 34, contacted Kathu police claiming that the begging girl, seven-year-old Kesorn, was her daughter, and that Kesorn had been kidnapped from her home in the northeast of Thailand three years ago. The police responded…
- Phuket News
Murder suspect may be charged in Germany
KAMALA: A police officer from the German Embassy in Bangkok visited Kathu Police Station on Tuesday to gather evidence regarding the November 13 murder of 21-year-old Waraporn Tawaetwong in Kamala. Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of Kathu Police Station, says that the officer is gathering documents so that police in Germany can charge Walter Roland Oberleitner, 39, a German national…
- Phuket News
Local official shot dead in Krabi
KRABI: An assistant poo yai baan in Tambon Kao Panom, Krabi, was gunned down early yesterday morning after he got into a fight with the owner of a rubber plantation. Police told the Gazette that Jamikon Sung-rod, 25, shot Chob “Yam” Nuan-on, 36, during a fight in the Kao Tong restaurant, which is on the road from Kao Panom to…
- Phuket News
Thaksin found guilty of false declarations
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand’s anti-graft watchdog ruled today that leading prime ministerial candidate Thaksin Shinawatra was guilty of filing a false declaration of his assets, an offence that could result in him being banned from politics for five years. The nine-member board of the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) voted 8-1 that Thaksin “intentionally filed a false statement of assets”, said…
- Phuket News
Murder victim might be Pakistani
PHUKET TOWN: The body of a man believed to have been a Pakistani fisherman was found in an industrial garbage bin near the fishing port on Saturday. Pol Maj Songwut Khunjan of Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that the man, as yet unidentified, died from almost 40 wounds to the face, neck, chest, stomach and back. He added…
- Phuket News
Crashed cement truck blocks road
KATHU: A cement truck overturned on a sharp curve on Patong hill at noon today, forcing traffic police to close the road for two hours. The driver, Jarouy Promhoun, lost control of the truck after stalling the engine on the way up the hill, Pol Cap Kittipong Claikaew told the Gazette. The truck, owned by Chalong Concrete Co, overturned just…
- Phuket News
African men imported for Thai sex industry
BANGKOK (AFP): African men are being transported to Thailand to work in the capital’s commercial sex industry, reports said earlier today. African male prostitutes have become “fairly popular among gays and wild older women,” the Nation daily said, quoting a Thai man who frequently purchases the Africans’ services. Transported to Thailand from Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and the Sudan, the men…
- Phuket News
Man arrested for suitcase murder of Briton
BANGKOK (AFP): Thai police said this afternoon that they had arrested a 19-year-old Iranian man on suspicion of involvement in the murder of a British man whose dismembered body was found in a suitcase in a Bangkok suburb. The body of 52-year-old John Morris Neville, part-owner of a hotel in the Thai capital, was discovered on December 9, packed into…
- Phuket News
Major drug dealer busted
PHUKET: In one of the biggest ever drug busts in Phuket, Marine Police last night arrested a Krabi-based drug dealer and seized 6,350 pills of ya bah (methamphetamine). Pol Col Misakawan Buara, Superintendent of Phuket Marine Police, named the alleged dealer as Adisak Kreayot, 33. He said that officers posing as buyers contacted Adisak and arranged to make a “buy”…
- Phuket News
Post Office ready to face the world
PHUKET TOWN: Thanks to a piece of technical wizardry introduced by the Phuket Post Office and local company C&P Sticker, letter writers now have the chance to use their own personal stamp on the envelope. It’s being done to mark International Children’s Day. Anant Muangmee, an officer at the Phuket Post Office, explained that those wishing to send letters with…
- Phuket News
3 die, 36 hurt in bus crash
THALANG: Three people died yesterday afternoon when a Phuket Central Tour bus crashed on Thepkrasattri Rd about a kilometer south of the entrance to the Yacht Haven. The remaining 36 passengers, including six foreigners, were injured. Just 45 minutes after it left Phuket Town, bound for Bangkok, the bus flipped onto its side and crashed off the road on an…
- Phuket News
Thai tourism headed for a bumper 2000
BANGKOK (AFP): Tourist arrivals into Thailand are heading for a bumper year in 2000 after more than 6.9 million visitors were recorded in the first nine months, up 11.3 percent from last year, officials said today. “International visitor arrivals to Thailand totaled 6,942,220 in January-September 2000,” said the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) in a statement. At that rate, Thailand…
- Phuket News
Paedophile placed on FBI’s most-wanted list
BANGKOK (AFP): The FBI’s decision to put accused paedophile Eric Rosser on its most-wanted list was welcomed today by Thai child rights activists who said it served as a powerful warning to sex criminals. Rosser, a former piano player at Bangkok’s prestigious Oriental Hotel and a tutor to the city’s elite, is believed to be the first paedophile listed among…
- Phuket News
Economy may be headed for another recession
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand risks heading into another recession unless monetary policy is eased in the face of a slowing economy, ING Barings said in a report released yesterday. The merchant bank downgraded its growth forecast for 2000 to 4.0 percent from 4.8 percent, a day after official data clipped expected GDP expansion to 4.5 percent from an earlier goal of…
- Phuket News
Airport taxi driver beaten to death
PHUKET: Airport limousine operators threatened to blockade Phuket International Airport yesterday after a “black” taxi driver allegedly beat a legitimate limousine operator to death on Saturday in front of the airport. A fight broke out between Kanisorn “Lert” Downchoowan, 35, the black taxi driver, and Chart Ketwongworachat, 58, the legitimate limousine operator, at around noon after the two argued over…
- Phuket News
Mob blocks road to get rid of eight police
THALANG: A mob of 500 blocked the road to the airport in front of Thalang Police Station for 2½ hours on Saturday afternoon, demanding the transfer of a police captain and seven other officers whom they accused of planting drugs on people and stealing money. The protestors, from Baan Kain in Tambon Thepkrasattri, marched after Pol Capt Sanich Kongnu raided…
- Phuket News
Navy thanks Governor with flowers
PHUKET: The Commander in Chief of the Royal Thai Navy Third Fleet, Vice Admiral Sathirapan Keyanon, today presented Phuket Governor Pongpayome Vasaputi with flowers to thank him for his role in resolving the Cape Panwa blockade last week. The Governor played a central role in resolving the blockade by local villagers after a Navy non-commissioned officer shot a local Muslim…
- Phuket News
PAWS elects new chairman
PHUKET: The Phuket Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) committee has appointed Howard Cant as chairman, with responsibility for promoting awareness of the society’s activities and for improving efficiency. Eric Wells, the former chairman of PAWS, has resigned and has now set up Dogs in Danger in Thailand (DIDIT), to continue his work for the welfare of neglected canines. The PAWS committee…
- Phuket News
New Tourist Police chief arrives
PHUKET: Pol Lt Col Supamit Sukjaroen has arrived on the island to head up the tourist police in Phuket, Krabi, Phatthalung, Trang and Nakhon Sri Thammarat. He replaces Pol Lt Col Chak Onnim, who has been reassigned to a post as deputy superintendent of Phra Kanong Police Station in Bangkok. Lt Col Supamit was previously Inspector of investigations with the…
- Phuket News
Villagers issue ultimatum over boy’s death
AO MAKHAM: Dozens of protesters today continued to block the road to Cape Panwa with makeshift barricades, following the killing of a local 16-year-old boy. Some of their leaders threatened that if the police case against the boy’s killers is not sewn up by the end of tomorrow they will rally tens of thousands of Muslims from all over the…
- Phuket News
Tom yam gung ‘may block cancer’
BANGKOK (AFP): Tom yam gung, the Thai spicy prawn soup, contains ingredients that may help prevent digestive cancer, researchers announced today. Substances found in galangal, lemon grass and kaffir limes, three main ingredients in the soup, are effective in inhibiting tumors in the digestive tract, said the researchers, who work for Kyoto and Bangkok universities. “A combination of the main…
- Phuket News
Governor detained by angry mob
PHUKET: The Governor of Phuket and a number of officials, including senior police and navy officers, were detained for nearly six hours today by an angry mob demanding justice over the killing of a 16-year-old boy last night. The mob also blocked a main road, trapping a number of tourists inside the Cape Panwa and Panwaburi resorts. Commodore Preecharn Jamjaroen,…
- Phuket News
OrBorTor takes over Chalong tap water
CHALONG: As of today, the Chalong Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor) will be responsible for supplying tap water to residents of Moo 6, Chalong, which includes Wat Chalong and Baan Na Kok. The OrBorTor will also collect money direct from users. Up until now, the water supply has been managed by the Provincial Administration Organization.
- Phuket News
Banks continue threatened by bad loans
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand’s embattled banking sector will slowly begin to recover in 2001, but a morass of non-performing loans will continue to dog the industry, Merrill Lynch said in a report released today. The outlook for the banking sector next year is cautiously positive, but recovery could be pushed off course by the mountain of bad loans, or if the…
- Phuket News
Brit dies in car crash on way to airport
PHUKET TOWN: British national Allan Winston Allford, 50, died instantly from head injuries sustained in a car accident on Friday afternoon while on the way to the airport. Arriving at the scene on Chao Fa Nork Rd, opposite Soi Sa Nguan Sak, police found Mr Allford’s jeep upside-down in a drain. Mr Allford’s body was still trapped behind the wheel.…
- Phuket News
King’s Cup ends on a breezy note
PHUKET: The 14th Phuket King’s Cup Regatta – the biggest yet – came to a close on Saturday with skippers and crews reinvigorated by good winds after a week of light breezes had turned much of the racing into a frustrating exercise for crews and regatta jury alike. As the last day of racing dawned across Phuket, the largest fleet…
- Phuket News
Phuket-Krabi flights mark launch of Air Andaman
PHUKET: The new Phuket-based airline, Air Andaman, will take to the air on Monday with a twice-daily service between Phuket and Krabi. The frequency will increase to three flights a day from Friday. Montri Rattanapiphop, Regional Sales Manager at Air Andaman’s Bangkok office, told the Gazette, “We will fly from Phuket to Krabi at 0930 and 1720. The return flights…
- Phuket News
PM hopeful “forgot’ to declare assets
BANGKOK (AFP): Prime ministerial hopeful Thaksin Shinawatra admitted to Thailand’s anti-graft body today that he had failed to declare assets of nearly 15 million dollars, but insisted he had simply forgot. “I have filed an incomplete asset declaration, but I did not intend to, because I had no reason to conceal my assets,” Thaksin told reporters after a crucial appearance…
- Phuket News
Interpol to be contacted over murder suspect
KAMALA: Police have applied to the Governor of Phuket for an arrest warrant for Walter Ober Lener, 39, who is wanted in connection with the November 13 murder of his 21-year-old Thai girlfriend, Waraporn Tawaetwong. “The Chief of Kathu District has sent a request to the Governor which, once signed, will authorize us to notify Interpol that Lener is a…
