News
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Airport passenger traffic down 8pc
PHUKET: The number of passengers arriving or departing through Phuket International Airport in October is down 8.19% from the figure for the same period last year. Statistics released by airport officials show that passenger throughput was 259,889, compared with 283,062 in October last year. However, the figures show an 8.01% improvement over September, which saw 239,060 passengers arrive or depart…
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Elephant hurls keeper, injures tourist
PHUKET: A disgruntled elephant at Phuket Zoo picked up and threw its keeper with its trunk on November 6, causing Scottish tourist Louise Fletcher to fall from the elephant’s back. She was then kicked by the elephant, resulting in serious leg injuries. Recovering at Phuket International Hospital, Ms Fletcher yesterday recalled the incident. “A worker at the zoo suggested I…
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Swedish man hangs himself in Patong
PATONG: The body of Swedish national Bengt Anders Hilmar Lundberg, 56, was found hanging this morning from a post in the unfinished upper floor of his rented apartment near the Thara Patong Beach Resort, in what police say was a suicide. Pol Maj Pisit Cheanpetch, the Inspector of Kathu Police Station, told the Gazette that the victim was spotted by…
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Phuket Town wins prize
PHUKET: Phuket Municipality has won the King Prajadhipok (Rama VII) Prize, awarded to local governments that listen to the views of local people and give them the opportunity to take part in the running of the town. Phuket Municipality was one of just four municipalities in the whole country to win the prize, out of 432 towns that entered. The…
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Another bomb blast at Tesco Lotus
BANGKOK (AFP): A bomb blast rocked another branch of retailer Tesco Lotus this afternoon in the third attack against the chain since a deadly terror campaign began in July. Today’s bomb went off in the parking lot of the Lotus store in the northern province of Ubon Ratchatani, said provincial police commander Chalosak A-sa. Chalosak said police were still investigating…
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Police deny Duongchalerm is in Patong
PATONG: The Superintendent of Kathu Police Station has said he does not believe reports that fugitive Duongchalerm Yoobamrung, wanted in connection with the murder of an undercover police officer in Bangkok, is hiding out in the Patong area. Seventeen days after the shooting in a Bangkok nightclub, politician’s son Duongchalerm is still at large. Officers of the Crime Suppression Division…
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Two men caught in ya bah busts
PHUKET TOWN: Two men were arrested on Sunday on charges involving possession of 49 ya bah (methamphetamine) pills, a 12-gauge shotgun with four shells and 8,280 baht in cash. The arrests were made during a joint operation involving a total of 11 officers from the Phuket Branch of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board and Phuket’s Marine Police. Acting…
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Spectacular Leonids show this year
PHUKET: This year’s annual Leonids meteorite shower will be particularly spectacular, because it will be augmented by a phenomenon that occurs just once every 33 years. Prof Sakchai Petchshuai, professor of meteorological studies at the Rajabhat Institute Phuket, told the Gazette that the Leonids, so named because they appear to radiate from the constellation Leo, are the result of the…
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Suspect named in boatman’s murder
PHUKET: Police have named a man they wish to interview in connection with the murder of Koh Yao longtail boatman Bangsen Jaidee, whose body was found floating in the sea off Naka Noi island yesterday. Pol Col Chatchai Sakulporn, superintendent of Thalang District Police Station, named the wanted man as Siwadol “Dol” Lomin, also from Koh Yao, a member of…
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Villagers battle landowner
PA KHLOK: Fifteen villagers were warned by police yesterday for trespassing on land belonging to Taweesak Apichatmaneekul, a Bangkok-based businessman. The warning is the latest development in an increasingly heated dispute over land ownership and local fishermen’s rights of access to their boats. The latest confrontation came after K. Taweesak recently started fencing off the boundaries to his land, including…
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Briton to be extradited over killing
BANGKOK (AFP): A Briton wanted in his home country for murder, and who was found hiding out in Patong, is expected to be extradited from Thailand within the week, police said yesterday. Peter Mann, 45, was arrested in July in connection with the murder of David Maher, 37, whose dumped body was discovered by a milkman in Devon, southwestern England,…
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Duongchalerm’s brother arrested
BANGKOK (AFP): Thai police today arrested Wanchalerm Yoobamrung, older brother of fugitive Duongchalerm Yoobamrung, on charges of illegal weapons possession, conspiracy to assault, and interfering in the course of justice. The charges relate to the shooting of a police officer in the Twenty Club in Bangkok on October 27, allegedly by Duongchalerm. Police chief Gen Sant Sarutanond said several witnesses…
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Gov sparks furore with Phi Phi proposal
PHUKET: Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi has landed in the middle of a war of words after suggesting that the central government should buy the Phi Phi islands, kick out private businesses and run the islands as a state enterprise. During a speech about the CEO system at a Thai Rak Thai Party seminar on Friday at the Patong Beach Hotel,…
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Drugs claiming ever younger victims
BANGKOK (AFP): When Supabun Kosum took her first methamphetamine tablet she was a curious 18-year-old schoolgirl wanting only “to test” if the little orange pill delivered the euphoria and invincibility her friends raved about. But her schoolyard experimentation with the drug in Thailand’s northern Nakhon Sawan province touched off a seven-year addiction that would consume her life and her income,…
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Aussies dominate Laguna Triathlon
LAGUNA PHUKET: Once again, Australian competitors dominated this year’s 8th Thai Airways Laguna Phuket Triathlon, taking first and second places in both men’s and women’s competitions. Twenty-two-year-old Courtney Atkinson, from Australia, stormed in first to claim victory in an overall unofficial time of 2 hours, 30 minutes and 37 seconds. “It’s the nicest place I’ve ever raced,” Atkinson said afterwards.…
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Dump truck careers off Patong Hill
PATONG: A dump truck loaded with sand swerved off a tight bend on Patong Hill at about 3 pm yesterday after its brakes failed. No one was hurt. The driver, Soontorn Chaichana, told the Gazette, “I noticed the brakes starting to fade just past the Chinese shrine [at the top of the hill]. “Then, just at the last curve, about…
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Turtle island to be opened to visitors
PHANG NGA: The Similan National Park authorities will open nine islands to visitors from next Thursday, including one that is usually closed to the public for the protection of sea turtles. Tipawadee Thambamrung, the park’s public relations officer at the Tub Lamu office, told the Gazette, “It’s very special for visitors this year. We’ve going to allow them to stay…
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Two seized boats sold at auction
PHUKET TOWN: Two confiscated yachts were sold at auction this morning at the Phuket Customs Region 5 office. Niwat Triemsantipap, the assistant general manager of the Maiton Resort, bid 720,000 baht to acquire the nine-meter speedboat “Seafarer” for the resort, while another resort, Moonlight Bay on Koh Lanta, bought the 9.8-meter Hatteras motor cruiser, “Old Crow”, for 619,000 baht. K.…
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THAI to hike domestic fares by 15pc
PHUKET: Fares for domestic flights on Thai Airways (THAI) will be hiked by 15% with effect from November 15, Viset Sontichai, THAI’s District Sales Manager for Upper Southern Thailand, announced today. The newspaper Thai Rath reported that the rise was because THAI’s domestic services, with the exception of those between Phuket, Bangkok and Chiang Mai, were unprofitable. The news agency…
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Rogue police a major worry: Governor
PHUKET: Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi has accepted that there is a major problem in Phuket with police officers engaging in criminal activities, and has called for a change in the system that encourages such activities. He told the Gazette that reports of police officers selling narcotics were particularly worrying. “It seems to me the number of reports is rising every…
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A job for Crocodile Dundee
BANGKOK: Thai authorities yesterday stepped up their hunt for about 10 fully-grown saltwater crocodiles that have been on the lam since escaping from a farm in flash floods last week. Four of the reptiles, measuring three to four meters in length, have already been captured near the Million Years Crocodile Farm, about 175 kilometers east of Bangkok. Another two reptiles…
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MAS ditches Phuket-Penang flights
PHUKET: Malaysia Airlines has canceled its regular thrice-weekly Phuket-Penang service and has instead increased the number of flights between Kuala Lumpur and Phuket. With effect from October 28, the airline boosted the number of KL-Phuket flights from nine to 14 a week. Tajul Arrissin Kamal, director of Malaysia Airlines Phuket, said the decision was made as part of an effort…
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Outrage at escape from murder rap
BANGKOK (AFP): The Thaksin government’s failure to apprehend the son of a widely distrusted politician has exposed glaring flaws in Thai democracy. Murder suspect Doungchalerm Yubamrung, a junior army officer and the son of a prominent member of Thaksin’s coalition government, has been on the run for a week since a police officer was shot dead in cold blood at…
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Illegal alien arrests continue to fall
PHUKET: The number of illegal immigrants arrested on the island has fallen dramatically for the second successive month, according to the latest crime statistics issued by the police. From October 1 to 24, only 10 illegal aliens were arrested, compared with 47 during the same period in September, and 230 in August. The dramatic fall has been credited to the…
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One-stop shop for yachts to reopen
CHALONG: Phuket Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi will reopen the “one-stop shop” in Chalong for visiting yachts and their crews next Monday. The Phuket Port Control Center (PPCC), was originally opened in 1999 by the then-Governor Chadej Insawang. It was closed down more than a year ago, officially because there were not enough officers to man it and there was no…
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Duongchalerm disappears; manhunt launched
BANGKOK (AFP): A nationwide manhunt was launched today for Duongchalerm Yoobamrung, wanted for the killing of a police officer at a city nightclub on Sunday, after he apparently slipped away from both the Thai military and the police. The search for Duongchalerm, son of Thai parliamentarian Chalerm Yoobamrung, was launched after he failed to surrender to authorities today, as promised…
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Cooking gas price rises on the way
PHUKET: The island can expect substantial rises in the price of cooking gas over the coming few weeks, after the government announced today that it had stopped subsidizing the fuel and was allowing vendors to set their own prices. So far, cooking gas prices in Phuket remain at much the same levels as before, at about 190 baht for a…
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Duongchalerm: Pressure mounts for arrest
BANGKOK (AFP): Pressure mounted Wednesday for Thai authorities to arrest MP’s son Duongchalerm Yoobamrung, who is accused of killing a police officer on Sunday. But first they have to find him, which appears to be causing some difficulty. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra called on the military to arrange for Duongchalerm to be handed over to police for interrogation after a…
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Road injuries toll nearing 10,000
PHUKET: Road deaths in Phuket between January 1 and September 20 are down on the past two years, according to the latest government statistics, but the number of people injured this year is heading rapidly for five figures. According to statistics from the Wachira, Thalang and Patong government hospitals, 11 people died as a result of traffic accidents between August…
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Rise in babies named Osama
BANGKOK (AFP): The name Osama has become popular for newborn babies in Thailand’s predominantly Muslim south since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, officials said today. “The name Osama can be applied to both boys and girls, and to my knowledge there are many newborn babies [receiving this name],” said Irfan Sulong, a member of the Yala…
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