Hot News
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Phuket Books: Madness in Miami
PHUKET: After a career of nearly 20 years as a demented humor columnist for the Miami Herald, Dave Barry has turned to writing comic novels. Insane City (CP Putnam’s Sons, New York, 2013, 341pp) is his third. He dedicates it to “the people of this truly insane city of Miami, for making this book easy. Without you, this book wouldn’t…
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British national’s extended holiday goes to pot at Phuket “dope hotel’
PHUKET: Phuket Immigration officers today arrested a British man for drug possession and for overstaying his visa by more than two* years. The arrest was made at the same resort, off Taina Road in Karon, where a Swedish man was arrested on drug charges last Thursday (story here). “At 11:30am, we received a report from our undercover officers to investigate…
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Phuket monks defrocked after being caught with drugs
PHUKET: Four monks and a lay worker at the well-known Wat Kajornrungsan on Ranong Road in Phuket Town were arrested Tuesday night after a tip-off led police to catch them with drugs.“We went to Wat Kajornrungsan after local residents reported to us that they suspected some monks were using drugs,” Phuket City Police Deputy Superintendent Prawit Engchuan told the Phuket…
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Phuket Police bust ATM card fraud gang
PHUKET: Tourist Police have arrested two French nationals and a Tunisian man for operating an ATM card fraud scam in Phuket.The foreigners – named by police as French nationals Mahamond Mhoussin, 22, and Zaidi Ganzouai, 29, and Tunisian national Ramzi Adjemi, 31 – were presented to the press at the Phuket Tourist Police headquarters in Phuket Town this morning.“Tourist Police…
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Phuket Books: So it is with San Miguel
PHUKET: Anything by T Corahessan Boyle is worth reading. His first two novels – Water Music, about two African expeditions up the Niger by 18th century Scottish explorer Mungo Park, and Budding Prospects, about modern day marijuana growers in northern California – rank among the two funniest novels ever written in English – are wildly exuberant dances of demonic prose.…
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National defense volunteer nabbed with marijuana at Phuket checkpoint
PHUKET: Thalang Police arrested a national defense volunteer with two bags of marijuana at a checkpoint in Thalang on Saturday. When police saw a white Toyota Vios attempting to avoid the checkpoint at Baan Yamu at 8:30pm, they stopped the car, driven by Supakij Benjamas, 29, and searched it. “We found two bags of marijuana and tobacco in a peanut…
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Police snap up “kratom’ grower in northern Phuket
PHUKET: Police in the northern Phuket area of Thalang yesterday raided and shut down a tropical fruit orchard that was also being used as a kratom-growing operation. The orchard owner, named by police as Nathee Tianthong,50, had five kratom trees growing on his property – in his house police found 400 grams of harvested leaves. All five trees were cut…
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World News: I killed Afghan insurgents – Prince Harry
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Britain’s Prince Harry says he killed Afghan insurgents during tour Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Britain’s Prince Harry says he killed Afghan insurgents during sorties against the Taliban while on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan where he was a gunner in Apache attack helicopters.Queen Elizabeth’s 28-year-old…
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Phuket Media Watch: Hindu pilgrims stream to mythical river in their millions for Maha Kumbh Mela
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Millions take to the Ganges at largest Hindu festival Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Upwards of a million elated Hindu holy men and pilgrims took a bracing plunge in India’s sacred Ganges river to wash away lifetimes of sins today, in a raucous start to an…
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Phuket Books: The Cambodian book of the dead
PHUKET: A veteran journalist on the Asian beat, Tom Vater certainly knows Cambodia. In the crime novel The Cambodian Book of the Dead (Crime Wave Press, Hong Kong, 2012, 287pp), his descriptions of Phnom Penh, Kep and Siem Reap are spot on. The hero is Maier (no first name) who grew up in East Germany under the communist government, where…
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Nepal’s former crown prince shipped to Bangkok: Phuket Police
PHUKET: Nepal’s former crown prince Paras Bir Bikram Shah Dev was transferred to Bangkok on December 4 to face charges at Thonglor Police Station, the Phuket Gazette was told. A senior officer involved in the case, who asked not to be named, told the Gazette that Mr Shah was transferred to Bangkok at 10pm on Tuesday. “He was sent to…
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The Curious Case of the Invisible Crown Prince Paras Shah
PHUKET: Journalists trying to catch a glimpse of Nepal’s infamous former crown prince Paras Bir Bikram Shah Dev, who was due to report to Phuket Provincial Court yesterday, were in for a long and ultimately fruitless wait.By midday, reporters who had been waiting since 9:30am, had still not clapped eyes on the former crown prince entering the court to report…
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Phuket Halloween kratom party a bust
PHUKET: Police arrested a Phuket hotel staff member with five kilograms of kratom leaves, allegedly being prepared for a “kratom party” on the island. On the eve of Halloween, Thanit Praditnipol, 21, was picked up by a sortie of officers led by Muang Chief Administrative Officer Thammarong Chuayaksorn as Mr Thanit stepped off a bus arriving from Trang province at…
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Phuket Books: A question of savages
PHUKET: I picked up Don Winslow’s Savages (Simon & Schuster, New York, 2010, 358pp) with a good deal of eagerness, having just finished the much-lauded prequel The Kings of Cool, which impressed me with its zany energy, veering between screenplay, poetic stanzas and wise-guy syncopated prose, deeply empathic with the surfer/grass dealer ethos of Laguna Beach, California. Winslow is a…
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Dealer busted after kratom smuggled into Phuket as ‘fresh vegetables’
PHUKET: Phuket Police acting on a tip-off yesterday arrested a dealer and seized 54kg of kratom leaves from an address in Cherng Talay. Col Jirasak Siemsak received the tip-off at about 5pm and quickly put together an investigation team under the command of Maj Pongnarin Suthin. On arrival at a house on Soi Pasak 4, off the Baan Don-Cherng Talay…
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Phuket hacks back drug “growers’ in Thalang
PHUKET: Thalang police and district officers hacked open a path for progress in the war on drugs in Phuket by cutting down more than 60 kratom trees in Srisoonthorn yesterday. Despite the trees being native to Southeast Asia, their leaves have been designated a controlled substance, in the same category as cannabis, since promulgation of the Kratom Act in 1943.…
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Phuket Gazette: Book and film review
PHUKET: Oliver Stone’s new movie is Savages, a thriller about the drug trade in Laguna Beach, California. Starring a roll call of Hollywood A-listers – Blake Lively, Salma Hayek, Benicio Del Toro, John Travolta – the film is based on a crime novel by Don Winslow. A former Private Investigator in real life, Winslow has written 15 novels and is…
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Thailand News: Verdict delay in war weapon case
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Verdict on eight Thais in war weapon case “could take two weeks” Phuket Gazette / The Nation PHUKET: The trial of eight Thais, arrested in Myanmar on charges of possessing war weapons, was scheduled to end today, but it could take two weeks before the court…
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Thailand News: Group to appeal; Myanmar decision expected; Forest fires
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Rayong people to appeal against court verdict on land documents Phuket Gazette / The Nation PHUKET: Local residents from Rayong’s Mae Ramphueng area will be appealing to the Supreme Administrative Court against the lower court’s decision to drop their complaint over the land rights documents held…
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Thailand News: Update on drug bust; Leaders oppose curfew; Drink still flowed
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Drug packaging warehouse raided after Aussie tip-off Phuket Gazette / The Nation PHUKET: A Thai warehouse for terracotta pots was searched by police who believe that it served as a transit point for illicit drugs to be smuggled into Australia. National Police chief Priewpan Dhamapong said…
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Phuket takes drug war to the coffee shop
PHUKET: In a marked departure from the usual line in tackling drugs on the island, Phuket Vice Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada yesterday took time out to sit down with local village leaders and discuss the drug problem over a cup of coffee. Joined by Col Jirasak Siemsak of Cherng Talay Police Station and Cherng Talay Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor) Vice President…
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Police crack Phang Nga drug network linked to “kingpin prisoner’
PHUKET: Acting on a tip-off police raided two separate addresses in Phang Nga yesterday resulting in the arrest of six men and the recovery of drugs, weapons, cash and other valuables. The gang was reportedly controlled by an inmate at Nakhon Sri Thammar at Provincial Prison who ordered drugs to be delivered to one of the suspects netted in the…
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Phuket Gazette: Central America most violent; U.S. Coast Guard crash; Hackers arrested
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community UN describes Central America as world’s most violent area, and the U.S. the biggest drug market PHUKET (News Wires): The United Nations (UN) on Tuesday described Central America as one of the most violent areas in the world as drug-related violence continues to rise, signaling the…
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Phuket books: Battle of the Eco-Warriors
PHUKET: T.C. Boyle is the hardest working man in the literary business. Like the late Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, he writes seven days a week, and it shows. He has written 13 novels and nine collections of short stories. His first two novels – Water Music and Budding Prospects – are about the 18th century African explorations of Mungo Park and contemporary…
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Phuket Police armed standoff ends on a high
PHUKET: A two-hour standoff between Phuket police and an armed man ended without bloodshed last night after officers finally persuaded him to stand down. Police arrived at a home along a soi opposite Chalong Temple at about 6pm after Sawai Thongyod called them, saying her 26-year-old son was armed, acting dangerously and she feared for her safety. Her son, Sukan…
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Phuket police arrest one in Burmese dope bust
PHUKET: Phuket police arrested a man for selling drugs in Rawai on Saturday, seizing his stash of marijuana and multiple bundles of kratom leaves in the process. Acting on a tip-off, Lt Col Charan Bangprasert of the Chalong Police dispatched a team to a construction site in Rawai, where the suspect was reportedly supplying drugs to Burmese workers. The suspect,…
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Phuket Police need help from tourists: investigator
PHUKET: Foreign tourists who are victims of crime in Phuket all too often leave the country before police can investigate their claims, allowing perpetrators to continue roaming the streets in search of new victims, a Patong Police investigator has said. “I want foreign tourists who are victims of crimes in Phuket to cooperate with us when we investigate their cases,…
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Phuket police bust uncovers dope ‘brick’ in woman’s shorts
PHUKET: Phuket Police acting on a tip-off arrested two people for possession and intent to sell marijuana on Monday night. One of the arrested was a woman who had a “brick” of marijuana stuffed into her shorts. The other was a man who was already wanted for dope charges. After receiving the tip-off that “someone” was selling drugs at a…
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Ex-cop caught smuggling 4.5kg of marijuana into Phuket
PHUKET: Police at Tah Chat Chai checkpoint – the northern tip of the island – yesterday arrested a retired policeman trying to smuggle 4.5 kilograms of marijuana into Phuket.Also arrested was a man who says he was just getting a ride from Ranong to Phuket with the former officer.Police stopped Natthawut Nuengklang, 61, at 2pm to conduct a standard inspection…
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“Monk’ hash mule nabbed at Phuket Airport
PHUKET: A Nepalese “monk” was caught on Saturday at Phuket International Airport (PIA) with eight kilos of hashish in his luggage. The haul was said to be worth an estimated 800,000 baht. The suspect, Hise Chhiring Tamang, was presented at a press conference yesterday by PIA Customs Director Montira Cherchoo. Also present was PIA Deputy Director Thani Chuangcho, who said…
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