Legacy Phuket Gazette
- Phuket News
Depositors sue bank over embezzled deposits
PHUKET TOWN: Twelve people holding time deposit and savings accounts in Bangkok Bank’s Thepkrassatri Rd branch are suing to recover a total of more than five million baht allegedly embezzled by bank employees. One of the victims was Chamnong Tiansub. “On September 1, my daughter was called to the bank by [one of the accused] who told her to bring…
- Phuket News
Tobacco excise tax goes up tonight
BANGKOK (AFP): Tobacco taxes are to be raised from midnight tonight in an effort to offset government revenues lost by diesel tax cuts last week. The cabinet endorsed a Ministry of Finance proposal to increase the excise tax on tobacco products, Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai said. “Cigarettes are the main target for this tax adjustment,” he said, following a weekly…
- Phuket News
Residents in fear after second murder in two days
PHUKET TOWN: People living in the area of the Fishing Port have asked police to step up patrols after two murders in as many days. Both victims were stabbed to death. The first body was found on Friday, as reported in the Gazette’s online news the following day. On Saturday, police were again called to the port area where another…
- Phuket News
Five murderers executed by firing squad
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand has executed five prisoners found guilty of murder, corrections officials said Saturday. The five men, ranging in age from 26 to 51, were shot dead by a firing squad late on Friday after their appeals for royal clemency were rejected, the officials said. The men were all convicted for murders committed between 1983 and 1996, they said,…
- Phuket News
Provincial Councillor killed in road crash
PHANG NGA: Arkom Ackasinthawangkool, 39, a businessman and member of the Phuket Provincial Council, was killed instantly on Thursday night when his Range Rover car was hit by a bus on a tight bend near Baan Bangwan, Kuraburi District. Khun Arkom, known in Phuket as “Kom Sapam”, was the owner of the Khon Thai 1 bar in Phuket Town and…
- Phuket News
40 businesses sign up for Millennium party
PATONG: Some 40 companies in Patong have signed up to support a TAT project to count down to the Millennium with a beach party that will include the launching of thousands of miniature hot-air balloons and a massive fireworks display. Anuparp Thirarath, director of the TAT, told the Gazette this morning that he had “sent my proposal to about 150…
- Phuket News
Bangkok Bank ATMs to close tonight
PHUKET: All Bangkok Bank ATMs across Thailand will be closed from 6 pm this evening until 4 pm tomorrow (October 9), so that the bank can test the readiness of its cash point system for Y2K. The only exceptions will be in Bangkok, where the ATMs will close at 10 pm, reopening at 4 pm tomorrow. Mongkol Thongprasarn, assistant manager…
- Phuket News
Two arrested after stabbing of foreigner
PHUKET TOWN: A Thai man has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon, and carrying a concealed one, following a recent brawl in a Phuket Town night spot. During the brawl in the Timber ‘n’ Rock pub in Yaowarat Rd, Irishman Hugo Crawford, 47, was stabbed in the throat and stomach. Mr Crawford has since been discharged from hospital.…
- Phuket News
Festival flag “may be one for the Guinness Book’
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization plans to contact the publishers of the Guinness Book of World Records to see whether a massive yellow flag, made specially for this year’s Vegetarian Festival, is a world record. The flag, which is 9,999 meters long and carries uplifting messages in Thai, may already be seen, running along the roadside from the…
- Phuket News
Woman found dead in Suan Luang Park
PHUKET TOWN: The body of a young Thai woman was found floating in a canal in Suan Luang Park on Chaofa Rd early Saturday morning. The body was discovered by a security guard in the park. He alerted police who, with the help of staff from the Kusonlatham Foundation, retrieved the corpse. Pol Maj Amnuay Kraiwutthianant, in charge of investigating…
- Phuket News
Gazette sports reporter comes up a champ
PHUKET TOWN: The Gazette’s own sports reporter, Elke Cheong, yesterday beat off all-comers to win the women’s prize in the 1st Phuket Mini-Marathon, run on the streets of Phuket Town. Elke covered the 10-kilometer course in a time of 44:07 minutes, beating Kanlaya Odoom and Jamruensuk Kao-ien to take the overall women’s title. Overall winner of the race was Pawin…
- Phuket News
Minister to wager his life that flying is safe
PHUKET: Thailand’s Minister of Transport and Communications, Suthep Theuksuban, will fly from Bangkok to Haad Yai next Friday. Nothing unusual in that, except that the THAI aircraft in which he will fly will have its computer clocks set to December 31, 1999. During the flight they will tick over to January 1, 2000, to test whether the airline’s jets are…
- Phuket News
Armed group storms Myanmar embassy in Bangkok
BANGKOK (AFP): A group of 12 men armed with grenades and AK-47 assault rifles stormed the embassy of Myanmar (Burma) in central Bangkok just before noon today. Some 20 embassy staff are believed to have been taken hostage or to be trapped in their accommodation in the compound. In a statement faxed from inside the embassy, the group said the…
- Phuket News
Too much of a good thing
LOPBURI (AFP): Mike the orangutan has been hospitalized with serious fatigue after spending too much time making love to his new mate, the director of Lopburi Zoo said today. “Mike is very weak. His legs and arms are very weak and he refused to eat any food yesterday,” the director, Lt Col Virat Phupeingchai, said. Veterinarian Chisanu Tiyacharoensri said part…
- Phuket News
Police raid second house full of exotic fish
RAWAI: Police yesterday raided a second house in the Sea Gypsy village in Rawai and recovered more than 1,000 fish of 70 different protected species. The fish were taken to the Phuket Marine Biology Center. As in the previous raid, the police acted after receiving information from Chada Wangboonkong, the specialist head officer of the Phuket Provincial Fisheries Office, who…
- Phuket News
Road accidents kill 10 in one month
PHUKET: Ten people were killed in traffic accidents between July 20 and August 20, according to statistics from the Wachira, Thalang, and Patong government hospitals. Ampaipan Pawawattananusorn of the Phuket Provincial Health Office reported that two of the victims died in car accidents, while the remaining eight died in motorcycle crashes. In the same period, 44 people were injured in…
- Phuket News
Tong trial adjourned as witness fails to appear
PHUKET TOWN: The trial of five men accused in the June 1997 murder of American Danis Wayne Tong was adjourned again today after a witness failed to appear. Two witnesses were scheduled to testify for the prosecution, but only one attended the court. The defense argued that since the testimony of the two witnesses was in relation to the same…
- Phuket News
British teacher jailed for molesting six-year-old
BANGKOK (AFP): A 52-year-old British school teacher has been sentenced to six years in jail after pleading guilty to sexually molesting a Thai pupil, court officials said today. A judge in Thanyaburi court in Bangkok’s northern suburbs initially sentenced Peter William Maxey to 12 years in jail, but halved the sentence after taking into account his admission of guilt. Social…
- Phuket News
Tourists witness murder of tuk-tuk driver
PHUKET TOWN: A horrified group of Western tourists watched helplessly as their tuk-tuk driver was shot dead by a hit-man in the road outside The Metropole hotel in Phuket Town on Saturday night. Prasit Petchkong, 56, from Phattalung province, had just picked up the group when two men on a black Honda Dream motorcycle with no license plates stopped nearby.…
- Phuket News
New Governor flies in tomorrow
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket’s new Governor, Charnchai Soontharamut, will arrive in Phuket tomorrow. He will be met at the airport by the province’s vice-governors and members of the local civil service before being whisked away on a tour of the island. But conspicuously absent from the airport greeting will be 60 of Phuket’s top movers and shakers. They leave tonight on…
- Phuket News
Thai wins country’s first surfing contest
KATA BEACH: Chalong Tonaus, 24, is no longer just a lad from Phitsanulok working as a beach boy in Patong. On Sunday, he became the first surfing champion in Thailand. Chalong was elated by his victory over some 50 other surfers in the Quicksilver Phuket Surfing Contest, organised by Aloha Surf Sports in cooperation with the Tourist Authority of Thailand…
- Phuket News
Police say burglary detection rates up sharply
PHUKET TOWN: Police detection rates in burglary offences have risen significantly this year compared with the previous two years, latest statistics from Phuket Town Police Station show. In 1997, police received 372 reports of burglary, and made arrests in 258 of them, a detection rate of 69%. Last year there were 401 reported burglaries, of which 282, or 70%, were…
- Phuket News
Patong may be first beach to have lifeguards
KATHU: Pol. Col. Kokiat Wongvorachart, Superintendent of Kathu Police Station, told the Gazette this morning that his unit is sponsoring two new tourist safety projects for the coming high season in Patong. The proposals are currently awaiting approval from the Ministry of Interior in Bangkok. Khun Kokiat says he is optimistic that approval, along with the required budget allocations, will…
- Phuket News
Rough seas for software pirate
BANGKOK (AFP) – A Thai-Japanese engineering firm has paid the largest ever out-of-court settlement in southeast Asia for the use of pirated software, a software industry alliance announced this morning. “This settlement sends a very clear warning: using pirated software carries high risks and will result in severe financial penalties,” said Heuy Tan of the Business Software Alliance (BSA) in…
- Phuket News
Qantas 747 accident closes airport runway
BANGKOK (AFP): One runway at Bangkok’s Don Muang Airport was closed today after a jet belonging to the Australian airline Qantas ploughed off the end of it while landing in heavy rain last night. None of the 410 passengers and crew aboard the plane was seriously injured, a Qantas spokeswoman said, but the Boeing 747 sustained damage to the nose,…
- Phuket News
Swedish tourist drowns in pool
PATONG: A 23-year-old Swedish tourist drowned yesterday evening in the swimming pool at the Patong Beach Hotel. Ken Anders Thunhtrom was in Phuket on holiday with three friends. All four went swimming in the pool, which was crowded with other tourists. The friends told police that they realized they had not seen Mr Thunhtrom for about 20 minutes. After looking…
- Phuket News
Appeal for help in dugong preservation drive
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Provincial Forestry Office has issued an appeal for people to help in a national survey of dugong. The aim is to preserve these slow-moving, vegetarian, marine mammals. Dugongs are one of the 15 species of animals protected by Thai law, but their numbers have diminished significantly over the past few years, partly because of destruction of…
- Phuket News
Fruit seller charged with rape of child
PHUKET TOWN: A 53-year-old man has been arrested by Phuket Town police and charged with the repeated rape of a 13-year-old girl. The man was arrested after a Patong Beach food seller reported that her daughter had been raped a number of times by the man, a fruit merchant in the Patong area. The daughter told police that she had…
- Phuket News
Police “know who Supercheap killers are’
PHUKET TOWN: Police believe they now know the identities of the two men involved in the recent Supercheap murder-robbery, but are compiling more forensic and witness evidence before they can move to arrest them. Pol Col Chalit Thintanee, superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that he and his men are currently awaiting the results of forensic tests…
- Phuket News
14-year-old girl sold her body to buy drugs
PHUKET TOWN: Shortly after the discovery recently of the body of a man stabbed 58 times on the playing fields near the public housing estate in Tambon Rassada, Phuket Town, police were again in action in the area on Saturday, this time after a tip-off that drugs were being traded there. Their raid netted four young people in possession of…
