- Thailand News
Who you gonna call?
AYUDHAYA: There is a new craze amongst Ayudhaya teenagers. They phone a certain number which is answered by a spooky woman’s voice. The teenagers believe that this voice is that of the ghost of a woman from Lopburi who was murdered in Bangkok. A rather modern ghost – the mysterious number is 09-6626840, a mobile phone. When a reporter called…
- Thailand News
Where did he stash the cash?
PATONG: Katoey Rassamee Lomviset, 27, nearly got away with one of his best “lifts” recently when he stole money out of a policemen’s wallet while being questioned at a police station. Pol Sgt Maj Kasaem Vichianboonyaporn had brought Rassamee in to the Tourist Police office on Thaweewong Rd for questioning after he and fellow officers caught the katoey soliciting sex…
- Thailand News
Ghastly ghosts a fatal attraction
BANGKOK: Police believe a curve called “Krok Yai Cha” on Sukhumvit Rd in Bangkok’s Rayong Town is haunted because it has been the scene of about 50 deaths since a police traffic kiosk opened there in 1995. Bodies of victims are usually placed outside the kiosk. It’s an unpopular posting and officers who spend time there talk of hair-raising experiences…
- Phuket News
‘Hot’ competition for Phuket police
PHUKET TOWN: Police officers went through a two-hour competition yesterday to hone their skills in dealing with hostage-taking and other “hot” situations. Police were judged on their work with pistols and rifles, methods of snatching a gun from a suspect, using handcuffs, arresting suspects in a car, freeing hostages on a bus, protecting VIPs and other similar drills. Pol Maj…
- Phuket News
Bars, nightclubs urged to close
PHUKET: Police are requesting bar and nightclub owners to close their doors tomorrow and Thursday, out of respect for the religious holidays. Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station, said today, “We ask only for cooperation from the bar and nightclub owners in Phuket. It’s not a law or rule. “It has become customary for Thais not…
- Phuket News
Man caught passing forged B500 note
CHERNG TALAY: Police yesterday arrested a 35-year-old Trang man for passing forged 500-baht notes – after rescuing him from a group of local people who were beating him up. The locals told police that the man, Jamnong Longklang, had earlier bought some cigarettes from the JR Mart in Kamala, using a 500-baht note to pay for them. After receiving the…
- Phuket News
Phuket Aquarium to get giant face-lift
AO MAKHAM: The Phuket Aquarium has received 81 million baht from the Department of Fisheries to renovate and expand to include a glass tunnel that will allow visitors to walk through a fish tank. The improvements, it is estimated, could bring as many as half a million visitors to the aquarium a year. Potchana Boonyanate, a marine biologist at the…
- Phuket News
Man in black found hanging from tree
PHUKET TOWN: Police have appealed to the public for help in identifying a man who was found hanging from a tree yesterday morning near Moo Baan Prangthong on Kwang Rd. Pol Capt Watcharin Jirattikarnviwat, of Phuket Town Police Station, said the victim was found by local villagers hanging by a nylon rope from a tree branch, about 10 meters from…
- Phuket News
Russian drowns at Surin Beach
SURIN: A Russian tourist drowned at Surin Beach on Friday while swimming with his wife. Pol Maj Anan Jingjit, Inspector of Cherng Talay Police Station, identified the victim as 42-year-old Alexey Afonichev. “He was swimming with his wife and disappeared under the strong waves. Other tourists in the area located him and pulled him to shore,” Maj Anan said. Police…
- Phuket News
Post office changes opening hours
PATONG: The Post Office on Taweewong Rd, Patong, (post code 83151) has changed its operating times in order to improve its service to the public. Postal services and the telecommunications section are now open from 11 am to 6 pm with bill-paying, money orders and other services involving money available from 11 am to 5 pm. The post office opens…
- Phuket News
Bag-snatch raiders score three times
PHUKET: Three motorbike handbag snatchings have sparked a police hunt for the perpetrators – and a warning to women to be wary until the snatchers are caught. The first case took place on Wednesday in front of Moo Ban Perm Sin on Thepkrasattri Rd. Suwai Wanbutra, 25, was riding her motorbike back home from Phuket Town, when two men rode…
- Phuket News
Phuket prepares for Apec meeting
KARON: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted a seminar involving about 100 officials and businesspeople this morning at Phuket Arcadia Beach Resort, to prepare for the 3rd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Senior Officials Meeting, to be held in Phuket next year. Apinan Pavanarit, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Phuket will host the conference from August…
- Phuket News
Bravery of recovery team acknowledged
PHUKET TOWN: The United States Ambassador to Thailand, Darryl Johnson, today presented certificates of commendation to the 24 Marine Police and Navy personnel involved in the operation to recover the body of American diver Dr Jeffrey Gall. Dr Gall, an experienced diver with more than 250 logged dives, disappeared on March 25 while exploring an underwater cave off Koh Ha…
- Phuket News
Bookseller charged over pornography
PATONG: Tourist police raided a shop on Tuesday and arrested a woman for selling pornographic books. Officers had been on patrol at about 8:30 pm on Rat-U-Thit 200 Phi Rd when local people drew their attention to the shop. Pol Capt Sanya Potchsalee, deputy inspector of the Phuket Tourist Police, said the shop, in the soi leading to the Royal…
- Phuket News
Wachira sets two national firsts
PHUKET TOWN: Deputy Public Health Minister Dr Surapong Suebwonglee today announced that Wachira Phuket Hospital has set two public health care firsts for Thailand. It is the first to have a government-owned hyperbaric chamber, and the first to treat HIV patients under the 30-baht medical scheme. Dr Surapong officially opened the hyperbaric chamber, which will be used to treat divers…
- Phuket News
Boys, 11 and 12, arrested for burglary
WICHIT: Three schoolchildren became burglars because their pocket money wasn’t enough, they told the Gazette on Monday. Twelve-year-old “Pring”, one of the accused sixth-graders, said, “Twenty baht isn’t enough. I asked mom for extra money, but she said no.” The trio were caught after allegedly burglarizing two houses in the same neighborhood, one of them twice. Pring, 11-year-old “Kob”, and…
- Phuket News
Luck runs out for Diamond the dolphin
AO MAKHAM: Diamond the dolphin died on Sunday, just hours before a planned release back into the ocean at Patong. Rescued by villagers from the beach at Patong last month, Diamond (Jao Petch) had appeared to be recovering and biologists at the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) planned to free him today. The 1.83-meter striped dolphin (Latin name Stenella coeruleoalba)…
- Phuket News
50 arrested for night bike races
PHUKET TOWN: More than 100 police and volunteers led by Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi busted up a gang of night-racing motorcyclists in a raid at the weekend. The large group of officers descended on Saphan Hin about 11pm on Saturday and surprised about 100 riders, arresting about half of them. Police organized the raid following complaints about the noise from…
- Phuket News
18-year-old held over fake diplomas
PHUKET: Police have arrested an 18-year-old Bangkok student and are checking whether Dulwich College certificates were among fake diplomas she is alleged to have sold over the Internet. Officers spent two weeks tracing the student through an email “sting”. They raided her Rachaburi home yesterday and found fake diplomas and certificates in her computer. The girl, named only as Daeng,…
- Phuket News
Ya bah found under mattress
PHUKET TOWN: Police arrested a couple in a raid over the weekend and discovered illegal drugs hidden under a mattress in their hotel room. Acting on a tip-off that a delivery of ya bah (methamphetamine) had just been made, Marine Police took Rhom Chantarat, 48, and Jinawal Phromharn, 22 into custody early on Saturday. In a plastic bag under the…
- Phuket News
Tour boat propeller kills crewman
CHALONG: A crewman on a dive boat was killed when a propeller slashed open his stomach and almost severed his limbs on Wednesday off Koh Racha Yai. While recreational divers took a midday break, the crewman, Witaya Taktin, 25, had donned scuba gear and gone under the boat in order to clean the propeller. The boat, the Ladawan 2, had…
- Phuket News
Villagers lobby for expo center
MAI KHAO: About 200 people from Mai Khao yesterday lobbied Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi to designate Tah Chat Chai as the location for the proposed International Exhibition and Convention Center (IECC), so that visitors will spread income among local people. Somporn Tansakul, the leader of the Mai Khao deputation, said that if the government decided to build the center in…
- Cannabis News
Hostage suspect tests negative for drugs
PHUKET TOWN: The suspect arrested in yesterday’s dramatic murder and hostage taking on Soi Hutchana Nivet was found to have no trace of ya bah (methamphetamine) in his system, though during the hostage negotiations he had claimed to have taken the drug in large quantities over the past few weeks. Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station,…
- Phuket News
Broken-hearted man hangs himself
PHUKET TOWN: A young man committed suicide by hanging himself from a beam because his boyfriend had left him for a woman, police said today. Pol Capt Chokechai Suttimake, of Phuket Town Police Station, said the body of Thanuthong Patchim, 21, was found in his house in Tambon Rassada by neighbors on Wednesday morning. He added that K. Thanuthong had…
- Phuket News
Robber caught, another on the run
CHERNG TALAY: Police yesterday arrested Laotian construction worker Kae Kampukao, 19, for his part in a robbery in which a woman was threatened with a hammer, and are hunting his Thai partner-in-crime. Pol Maj Gen Kongpol Suwannaraks, Commander of Phuket Provincial Police, said this afternoon that at about 4:30 pm on Tuesday, local resident Saowarak Inyam, 28, reported to police…
- Phuket News
Fishball seller in hostage drama
PHUKET TOWN: Police this morning rushed a knife-wielding man and ended a four-hour hostage siege in Soi Hutchana Nivet, near the abandoned Phya Thai hospital. The hostage drama began at about 6:30 a.m. when, it is alleged, Tiem “Tia” Srisuktham, 34, from Srisaket, first bludgeoned his nephew, “Ta”, 23, also from Srisaket, with a heavy iron bar, then killed him…
- Cannabis News
Drug abuse in Phuket “on the rise’
PHUKET: A two-day conference involving 60 officers with an interest in controlling drug abuse was told today that the number of narcotics cases in Phuket could rise dramatically this year. “There were about 1,500 cases last year. This year the number may be 2,000,” Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi told the conference. Concern is also growing about the increasing use in…
- Phuket News
Craft fair to mark 100 years of jail
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket is to host an unusual national craft fair at Saphan Hin from July 20 to 26. The fair will mark the 100th anniversary of the island’s prison and will be titled, appropriately, “Neung Roi Phi Kangmanmook” – 100 Years of the Prison. National Corrections Department director general Siva Saengmanee flew in yesterday morning from Bangkok to announce…
- Phuket News
Sri Lanka diplomat in talks over weapons
PHUKET: Nimal Sirinathan, First Secretary of the Sri Lankan Embassy in Thailand, today met with senior police officers from Phuket to discuss the weapons seized at the fishing port last week. Mr Sirinathan met with Pol Maj Gen Kongpol Suwannaraks, Commander of Phuket Provincial Police, and Phuket Town Police Superintendent Pol Col Paween Pongsirin. After the meeting, Col Paween said…
- Phuket News
Police arrest motorbike bag snatchers
PHUKET TOWN: Police arrested three teenagers yesterday after a motorcycle gang snatched a bag from a tourist as she walked along Thalang Rd on Sunday night. Ingrid Monica Green, 23, from Ireland, told Phuket Town police that she was walking with friends in the weekly “walking street” when three teenagers on a motorbike stopped nearby. One came over and tried…
