News
Thailand news, politics, business, crime, lifestyle, and tourism—stay updated with breaking news and in-depth analysis from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond. The Thaiger delivers the latest national news that matters.
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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…
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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.…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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,”…
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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…
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Breaking up is hard to do
HAAD YAI: A former Drug Suppression Division officer who turned to retail petroleum sales in Haad Yai established a personal fortune of more than 100 million baht. This, he assumed, entitled him to just about everything in the little empire he had created, including the right to repeatedly rape the wife of one of his most trusted employees. The husband,…
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What’s wrong with this picture?
UBON RATCHATHANI: What’s wrong with this scene: a man and a woman sitting side-by-side, happily drinking beer together to celebrate the purchase of a new vehicle. Although it may seem like a scene straight out of a car commercial, this otherwise happy image becomes tainted when the man involved is a monk and the scene is the monks’ quarters in…
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Crackdown on kids in ‘net cafes
PHUKET TOWN: Children under 18 are banned from Internet cafes after 10 pm under a new national law – and parents have been told to keep a closer watch on their offspring. At the Governor’s regular media conference today, Sompong Tiranont, Chief of the Phuket Social Development and Welfare Office, said he had received complaints about children being allowed out…
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Stats show doubling of murder rate
PHUKET: Eight people were murdered in Phuket between February 1 and 24, more than double the monthly average, the latest police statistics reveal. Only two of those murders have been solved, reflecting the wider picture throughout Thailand, where the Government campaign against drug abuse has triggered a wave of professional killings. In the same period, 160 people were arrested for…
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Wachira dominates hospital games
PHUKET TOWN: Athletes from Wachira Phuket Hospital dominated the Phuket Public Health Sports Games which finished yesterday at the Saphan Hin Sport Center, beating squads from the Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO), the Thalang Hospital and the Patong Hospital. The tournament featured seven sport – table tennis, sepak takraw, pétanque, chair ball, volleyball, badminton and soccer. Wachira Phuket Hospital gained…
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Governor claims “success” in drugs war
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket’s campaign in the first month of the national war on drugs has been a “success”, Phuket Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi announced yesterday at the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization meeting hall. The Governor, the leader of the campaign in Phuket, said that 88 suspected drug dealers have been either arrested or killed between February 1 and 27. This…
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Hitman strikes outside busy Big C
PHUKET TOWN: A man was shot dead outside the busy Big C Supercenter on the bypass road this afternoon by a motorcycle-riding killer who scored with three bullets to his victim’s head before speeding off. Visanuwat Ngamjun, 38, from Phuket, slumped behind the wheel of his Toyota Corona Altis. The engine continued to run as a passerby attempted to open…
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Honest limo driver returns B900,000
PHUKET AIRPORT: In an act of outstanding honesty, 42-year-old airport limousine driver Nopporn Kreupanich on Wednesday returned the equivalent of more than 900,000 baht in cash to a German tourist who managed to forget it on the floor of K. Nopporn’s vehicle. K. Nopporn drove the forgetful passenger, Christian Biberger, from Phuket Airport to the Karon Villa Hotel on Wednesday…
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Worker shot dead in “revenge killing’
PHUKET TOWN: A furious argument yesterday apparently boiled over into violence early this morning, resulting in the death of a construction worker and a police manhunt being launched for a fellow-worker. The victim, Theerapong Kwantongyen, died on the way to Wachira Phuket Hospital after being shot at his home in Rassada Nakorn Village on Thepanusorn Rd about 1 am today.…
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Safari Pub raided twice and closed
PATONG: Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi has closed the Safari Pub in Patong for a month, sparking a row about interpretation of the 2 am closing law. The case involves prominent Patong businessman Chairat Sukbal and Surapong “Od Patong” Rittee, the newspaper and TV reporter gunned down by a lone hitman in Patong earlier this month. Police raided the Sirirat Rd…
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Swedish tourists die in car crash
KARON NOI: Two Swedish tourists died instantly and a third suffered serious head injuries late on Monday night when the jeep they were traveling in ran off the road and hit a tree near the entrance to Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort. Pol Maj Boonlert Onklang, an inspector at Kathu Police Station, told the Gazette that the accident happened 200…
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Child wounded as hitmen kill neighbor
PHUKET TOWN: A four-year-old girl was shot in the shoulder as hitmen murdered a man in what police say they suspect was another drug-related execution yesterday afternoon. Bullets hit pig keeper Jaruek Sae Tan, 35, in the chest, chin, back, neck and head and he died outside a no-name restaurant on Chao Fa Nai Rd, behind the Suan Luang Park,…
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