Legacy Phuket Gazette
- Phuket News
Charges in Tong murder case dismissed
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Court has dismissed all charges against the five men accused of participation in the murder six years ago of American businessman Danis Wayne Tong. The five accused – Belgian businessman Hugo Vandervelde along with Thais Manit Panme, Pratin Praktong, Prajuab Sukkong and Pairat Raksawong – were all freed by the court for lack of evidence, Pol…
- Phuket News
Suspect held in Big C Slaying
PHUKET: Police are confident they have a strong lead in one of the recent spate of killings on Phuket and that breakthroughs in other slayings may follow soon. Col Apirak Hongtong, Deputy Commander of the Phuket Provincial Police, told the Gazette that a suspect was being held in Haad Yai, Songkla, over the killing at the entrance of the Big…
- Phuket News
Rugby Tens draw announced
PHUKET: Organizers of the Phuket Rugby Tens Tournament have announced the draw for the opening round of play. The weekend competition will take place May 31-June 1 at the Karon Municipal Stadium. There will be five groups of four teams each: Group A: Melbourne Rams (Australia), Samui Simians (Thailand), Bucks (Singapore) and Penang All Blues (Malaysia). Group B: Wanderers (Singapore),…
- Thailand News
High-tech sprituality
UBON RATCHATHANI: It is well known that when you make a deal with the spirit world it’s best to hold up your end of the bargain – an act known in Thai as kae bon. Perhaps Thailand’s best-known acts of kae bon take place at Bangkok’s Erawan Shrine, famous for helping mortals pick winning lottery numbers. Those who hit it…
- Thailand News
Far from enlightening
CHIANG RAI: For most Thai families, having a son train as a novice in the wat is a matter of pride and cultural significance. One can only imagine, then, the shock the father of one boy must have felt when his son returned home reporting that he had been repeatedly raped in the wat. On May 13, a 45-year-old man…
- Thailand News
A lesson in physics
CHON BURI: What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? If a recent accident on the Sukhumvit Highway is anything to go by, the irresistible force loses. In this case the irresistible force was 20-year-old Anand Umpi, a member of the “Viron Kilo 10” gang that frequently ride their motorcycles wildly on the highway late at night, terrorizing…
- Thailand News
That’s show business
CHON BURI: Some nude performers at a Pattaya go-go bar obviously didn’t realize certain members of the enthralled audience were actually members of the local vice squad. After watching the sex show for an unreported length of time, Pol Maj Col Vasu Seangsuksai and his team of undercover officers sprang into action and arrested the seven performers: six women and…
- Phuket News
Gazette Online back in action
PHUKET: Due to a software clash at the Gazette‘s Singapore-based web server, some data files became corrupted last night. Anyone who has placed a paid classified advertisement on the site is asked to check whether it is still there. If it is not, they should email classads@phuketgazette.net with details of the ad so that it can be restored as soon…
- Phuket News
Laguna land legitimate, says spokesman
CHERNG TALAY: The management of Laguna Phuket is confident that no part of the complex has been built on designated public land but will accept a ruling from the courts, a senior executive said today. The comments from Niyom Tassaneetipagorn, Assistant Vice President of Laguna Resorts & Hotels Public Co, were the first from the group since the legitimacy of…
- Phuket News
Gov prepares for meeting with PM
PHUKET TOWN: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the Cabinet will meet with Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi on in Phuket on May 26 to discuss major issues affecting the island’s future, the Governor announced yesterday. Top of the agenda will be the effect of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) scare on Phuket’s tourism industry, which is estimated to be losing…
- Phuket News
B150 million plaza for Chalong Circle
CHALONG: A 150-million baht retail complex incorporating 700 shops is to open on 40 rai close to Chalong Circle, on the Kata road, around the end of the year. It will be called the Phuket Legend Plaza Center. Atthawut Tangpradapkul, President of Eat and Art Management, told a media conference at the Royal Phuket City Hotel today that the company…
- Phuket News
Big C joins recycling program
PHUKET TOWN: A recycling scheme is to be introduced under an arrangement between Big C supercenter and the Governor’s Office. Dry recyclable waste, including sorted bottles cans and newspapers, can be deposited in the underground car park at Big C daily between noon and 7 pm from May 24. The island produces 300 tons of rubbish each day but Phuket’s…
- Phuket News
Governor closes “lewd act’ Bangla bar
PATONG: Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi has closed a bar in Patong’s Soi Bangla indefinitely over an allegedly indecent public performance. Police raided The Hi bar at 21/5-6 Soi Sea Dragon at 11:30 pm on May 3 and arrested Suparp Boonmark, who was naked and performing “a shameful act in public by indecently exposing her person”. Balloons and darts were believed…
- Phuket News
Rh-negative blood donors sought
PHUKET:The Phuket Blood Donor Club, based at Wachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket Town, is looking for donors of the rare Rh-negative blood type. Rh-negative is difficult to find, occuring in 0.3% of Thais and 15% of Caucasians. Although the club is looking at the moment especially for people with Rh-negative blood, donors of any type are welcome at all times.…
- Phuket News
Good hair days for schoolgirls
PHUKET: At last, after almost a century of short cuts, the girls can let their hair down. Female students at Satree Phuket have been told that from the new school semester this week, they can grow their hair to eight inches in length. At Satree Phuket, Assistant Director Ajarn Duangkamol H said that fashions and rules today were different from…
- Phuket News
Warrant issued for Bang Tao murder suspect
CHERNG TALAY: An arrest warrant has been issued for a man named Suwat Kaewkong on a charge of murder following Saturday’s double killing at the Freeway restaurant on Bang Tao beach. Pol Lt Col Sirisak Wasasiri, Duputy Superintendent of Cherng Talay Police Station, alleged today that Suwat was one of the three men who shot dead Suwim Noodang, the owner…
- Phuket News
Sars recovery plan underway
PHUKET: Phuket is losing about 2 billion baht a month because of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) panic but Phuket Tourist Association (PTA) President Pattanapong Aikwanich hopes for a quick recovery. He expects the turn-around to begin in July, with increased tourist traffic from Japan, Australia and Singapore. New direct air links from Japan and Australia, coupled with increased…
- Phuket News
Gov raids drug-dealing suspects
PHUKET TOWN: Police raided the houses of suspected drug dealers last night and seized pills and property valued at about 5 million baht. The raid, about 7:30 pm, was led by Pol Lt Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station, and Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi. The Governor said today that he believes the alleged dealers, a married couple,…
- Phuket News
Gulf War of words ends in court
PHUKET TOWN: Around the world protestors are turning out in their thousands almost every day to protest the prospect of a US-generated war on Iraq. There was the protester at a recent international golf tournament who held up a sign saying “Make par, not war”, and a woman in a street demonstration who held a banner saying, “The only bush…
- Phuket News
Patong killing: police arrest two
PATONG: Police have arrested a man and charged him with strangling and killing another man in the shallows at Patong Beach early on Sunday. Suchart Torkratoke, 24, from Korat, a laborer working in Patong, was charged with the murder of Surasak Saensuwan, 42, from Chiang Mai, who worked as an accountant with a Phuket company. Suchart was arrested at his…
- Phuket News
Complaint laid against timeshare firm
PHUKET TOWN: A Swedish couple, Signar and Margaretha Hall, today delivered a letter to Songpol Kornkaew, Chief of Administration of the Phuket Provincial Grievances Office, complaining about timeshare company VCI, which has offices in the Fisherman Way Business Center on Chao Fa East Rd. Mrs Hall told the Gazette, “Early last year we signed a contract for three years, starting…
- Cannabis News
Police arrest “Dr Feelgood’
PHUKET TOWN: Police arrested a doctor and three others in raids early yesterday that uncovered dealings in marijuana, the “love drug” ecstacy and cough syrup containing the opium derivative codeine. Dr Somchai Wongbanterng, 35, who has a clinic on Wichit Songkram Rd and lives at Joe Mansion, near the Phuket Hill Hotel in Mae Luan Rd, was due to face…
- Phuket News
Police call for officer to turn himself in
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Town Police have filed murder charges against a Kathu Police Station officer for the murder of his wife. The officer is expected to turn himself in soon. The killing occurred on March 6, apparently following a dispute over underground lottery winnings. The victim, 49-year-old Bang-on Chookam of Surat Thani, had been living with her husband, Pol S/Sgt…
- Phuket News
Man strangled at Patong beach
PATONG: Police are seeking two men who were seen fleeing the spot where a body was found strangled and lying face-down in the shallows at Patong beach on Sunday morning. From what officers have been told by a motorcycle taxi rider, they believe the dead man was aged 35, was probably gay and probably worked in a karaoke in Soi…
- Phuket News
Bikers to take over Bangla
PHUKET: For the first time in the nine-year history of the annual Phuket Bike Week (PBW), bikers joining will take over the island’s unofficial party zone, Soi Bangla in Patong, for two evenings of the five-day event. Organizers announced yesterday that this year’s PBW will run from April 12 to 16, coinciding with the Songkhran festival. The event kicks off…
- Phuket News
Developer denies rumors of drug-dealing
PHUKET TOWN: Slamming rumors that his name might be included on the much-feared government “blacklist” of suspected drug dealers, Boonkeng “Ko-Keng” Srisaensuchart, owner of Srisuchart Transport Co and Srisuchart Grandview Projects, today emphatically denied any involvement in the illegal drugs trade, past or present. He blamed unnamed business rivals for the rumors, which, he said, “are a trick to destroy…
- Phuket News
Bottom-toucher hacked to death
PHUKET TOWN: A man who touched a karaoke girl on the bottom was hacked to death in a machete-swinging melée between two groups that followed the seemingly trivial incident early today. The girl’s boyfriend, who was outraged at the bottom-touching, is being sought over the killing and the wounding of two other men in a battle behind Tuenjai Apartment at…
- Phuket News
Murder on wheels: three held
PHUKET TOWN: Three teenagers were being held on murder charges today as police revealed details of a killing-on-wheels at Saphan Hin in which a shotgun was used to blow away a young rival. The three were arrested yesterday in Chalong and police confiscated two motorcycles and two shotguns allegedly used in the attack on 19-year-old Nikorn Onbutra at about 10…
- Phuket News
Stop bickering, Phuket told
PHUKET TOWN: Better cooperation between local authorities was needed before Phuket could achieve its 100-billion baht upgrade, a senior member of the Government said today. Deputy Interior Minister Pramual Ruchanaseree came from Bangkok to attend a two-day seminar at the Royal Phuket City Hotel on the future development of Phuket. “Lack of cooperation in Phuket is still a major problem,”…
- Phuket News
Warning on electricity bills
PHUKET TOWN: The Manager of the Phuket Provincial Electricity Authority (PPEA), Sornchai Uparamai, has warned users not to pay their bills to staff sent out to cut off their power for non-payment. The staff cutting off electricity were temporary employees, he said. People wishing to make sure their electricity is not cut off should pay at the PPEA’s temporary office…
