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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Laem Phromthep to get B20m facelift
RAWAI: Popular tourist site Laem Phromthep will be improved by a 20-million-baht beautification project spanning seven months, it was announced yesterday. Arun Sorot, President of the Rawai Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor), said, “We plan to build a new car park first. It will take as many vehicles as the old one. Construction will begin in the middle of February.” In…
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Party-trick escapee back in custody
PHUKET TOWN: A 17-year-old motorcycle thief who escaped from the Phuket Juvenile Observation and Protection Center during a Children’s Day party last Saturday was arrested again after he stole another motorbike. A police patrol spotted the teenager, originally from Sakhon Nakhon, behaving suspiciously in Suan Luang park, off Chao Fa Rd, about 3 am yesterday. Pol Lt Col Anukul Nookate,…
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Briton arrested in love triangle slaying
PHUKET: Police arrested a British diving instructor at Phuket International Airport yesterday as he was about to flee the island on charges of strangling and stabbing his Thai girlfriend in a love-triangle murder. Police said that Mark Leighton Storey, 48, confessed he had killed his girlfriend after discovering there was another man in her life. The woman, Rattanaporn Pimkot, 30,…
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Phuket to promote health tourism
PHUKET TOWN: “Come to Phuket for your health” will be the catchy slogan for a new strategy aimed at attracting tourists who need medical or dental care to come to Phuket. Thailand’s inexpensive surgery is to be used as the lure to make the island a center for health care, in addition to its traditional beach, diving and golf attractions.…
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Bold trio rob tourists of 200,000 baht
PHUKET TOWN: A couple on vacation in Phuket had cash and belongings worth about 200,000 baht stolen from their car yesterday afternoon by a gang who distracted their attention while their possessions were taken. Luckana “Ann” Polthep, 26, from Nonthaburi, came to Phuket on vacation with her foreign boyfriend. The couple, who were staying in Patong, withdrew 60,000 baht from…
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Phuket proposed as air hub for the South
PHUKET TOWN: Kanok Abhiradee, President of Thai Airways International (THAI), yesterday announced that the airline will propose that Phuket become the regional aviation hub for Southern Thailand. The announcement, which follows the central government’s plan to have three regional aviation hubs in Thailand – the other two being at Chiang Mai and Ubon Ratchathani – was made at a seminar…
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Smuggling of drugs by boat “declining’
AO MAKHAM: The new commissioner of the Royal Thai Navy visited Phuket today and told the Third Naval Area Command to continue to be vigilant in looking out for smuggled drugs. Vice Admiral Taweesak Somapa’s New Year message to the base at Ao Makham was that there appeared to be less of a problem now in the Andaman Sea. “More…
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Gunmen make off with 70,000 baht
PHUKET TOWN: Motorcycle raiders knocked a man off his motorbike, held a gun to his head and escaped with cash and checks totalling 70,000 baht yesterday, in a bold daylight robbery. Police said the two men pounced as Pramote Sanmongkol, 24, rode the 500 meters along Rassada Rd from Phuket Adventure Group Co, where he works, to a nearby bank,…
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Skull and bones found on island
RAWAI: Forensic scientists are trying to identify a skull found washed up last week on the bank of a stream on an island off Rawai. The skull and some small bones from a hand and a leg were found at about 10 am on Friday by a resident of Koh Bon. Pol Maj Jessada Sangsuree of Chalong Police Station said…
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Bottom’s up for Okker shockers
PATONG: Many Australians have been known to have a drink or two every now and again and perhaps a lie-in as a result. The three young Aussies who performed a strange show for bystanders in front of the souvenir shops in Patong’s Thaweewong Rd earlier this month probably wished they’d stayed in bed. The scene was quite remarkable, even by…
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A job for ghost busters
SAKHON NAKHON : Old beliefs die hard in the villages of the Kusumal district, where a wave of ghost stories spread panic this month. Villagers said that four monks, on a walking pilgrimage, awakened ghosts and took magic oil from dead bodies. The monks, however, were not well-practiced in black magic, so they couldn’t control the awakened spirits. Among the…
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Is there a real doctor in the house?
UDON THANI: Laborers Samrit Rattanawong, 38, and Prayad Ubolkrut, 29, knew that doctors’ bills could be expensive, but they didn’t realize that a routine check-up would end up costing them 60,000 baht each. The two went to Panyavej Hospital for a medical certificate they needed to apply for work in Singapore. A doctor, who introduced himself as Dr Charnwit Sattayaprasert,…
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Students aim to cut road accidents
PHUKET TOWN: Students from Rajabhat Institute Phuket have launched a project aimed at reducing road accidents on the island, which for its size has one on the highest road death and injury tolls in Thailand. The students, studying for master’s degrees in development strategy, will campaign to publicize telephone numbers people should call if they see bad driving they believe…
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Longest cake bake for Children’s Day
CHALONG: About 1,000 children are expected to turn out tomorrow to watch an attempt to produce a record-size cake for Children’s Day at Chalong Police Station. Pol. Lt. Col. Worrapong Wongjom told the Gazette that the officers there had organized activities on Children’s Day for the past six years. Last year they produced a cake 22 meters long. This year…
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Korean drowns in honeymoon tragedy
PHANG NGA: An idyllic honeymoon ended in horror and tragedy for a South Korean couple on Tuesday when the 33-year-old husband drowned in a boating tour accident. His young bride is due to fly home tonight, carrying her husband’s ashes. The cremation of Lee Dong Keun was due to take place just hours before his bride’s flight. Details of the…
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PMs’ visit puts pressure on illegals
PHUKET TOWN: The weekend visit to Phuket by Singapore’s Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, who arrives this evening, has triggered a crackdown by police on illegal immigrants. The Commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, Pol Lt Gen Chanwut Watcharapook, said last night that aliens would be repatriated to get rid of troublemakers and to make Thailand a safer place. He said…
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New prison chief invites visitors
PHUKET TOWN: The new Chief of Phuket Prison has invited groups of people, including students, to tour the prison to see facilities and watch convicts’ activities. The Chief, Panya Panatnachee, who arrived in Phuket two months ago, explained that the new activities he has introduced are batik making and the manufacture of bamboo blinds. Both products are in big demand,…
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Businesses, Movies and Tides
The 2003 edition of the Gazette Guide, Phuket’s ‘yellow pages’, will go on sale (at 140 baht) from January 17, with bulk deliveries to the hotels scheduled for the following day. For a list of retailers selling the Guide, or for discounts on bulk orders (10 or more copies) for guesthouses, clubs, associations and other non-profit organizations, please contact Guide@PhuketGazette.net…
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Undercover police nab Ecstasy pusher
PHUKET TOWN: A man accused of selling the illegal drug Ecstasy at Phuket nightspots has been arrested after selling the drug to an undercover police officer. Phuket Town’s Chief of Drugs Suppression Pol Lt Col Witoon Kongsudjai, was among officers who arrested Prasit Ploy-iam, 34, on Tuesday afternoon. “He had been selling drugs for a long time,” Col Witoon said.…
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Mayor clears out the touts
PATONG: The new mayor of Patong Municipality has taken resolute action over the past few weeks to clear Patong’s streets of aggressive sidewalk vendors – long a leading complaint of tourists walking around the town. Speaking today with the Gazette, Mayor Chalermsak Maneesri, who took up his new post less than two months ago, said officers of Patong Municipality had…
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Well surrenders murder secret
THALANG: Mystery surrounds the death of a tattooed man whose body was found in a well on Friday. He was probably murdered in an argument and dumped there, police say. Rubber-cutters discovered the body in a disused well about 200 meters from workers’ cottages in Baan Maa Nik after noting a bad smell. A rescue team lassoed the body, which…
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Skipper hacked to death by Burmese crew
PHUKET TOWN: Police believe the Thai skipper of a fishing vessel found dead on Sunday was murdered by members of his Burmese crew and dumped in the water after an argument that ended in violence. Jirachai Krairat, 35, who had gone missing the previous night, was found floating face down with his head almost severed from his body, in water…
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New IT course for Phuket
KATHU: Prince of Songkla University (PSU) is to introduce a bilingual bachelor degree course in Information Technology (IT) in the Faculty of Applied Sciences from June this year, says Asst Prof Puwadon Bootrat, Director of PSU’s Phuket Community College.Prof Puwadon said, “There’s a lack of IT staff in Phuket now and this has been contributing to the high costs of…
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Student news readers head for finals
PHUKET TOWN: Students who picked up awards in a news reading contest today will have the chance to compete in a national competition on Children’s Day next weekend. Awards were given to young Phuket news readers at primary and secondary levels. The winner for news reading in Thai at the primary level was Pabhasara Boonsukul, from Tessabaaan Plookpanya school, followed…
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PM to visit Phuket twice
PHUKET: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is scheduled to make two weekend-long visits to Phuket this month, first for a bilateral summit then for a Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party congress. The PM will make his first visit next weekend, from January 10-12, to meet Singapore’s Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and his entourage of 30 to talk about mutual economic…
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Hotels report bumper New Year
PHUKET TOWN: Resorts and hotels have been full over New Year and the three-star sector has solid bookings for January, but Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi anticipates a possible drop in top-end occupancy rates. “I hear that hotel bookings during the New Year holiday were good,” he told a press conference yesterday. “Three-star hotels, especially, will be full until the end…
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Holiday road toll sparks traffic crackdown
PHUKET: The three deaths and 468 injuries on Phuket roads from last Friday through to yesterday has prompted the Governor to order a crackdown on driving offenses. Speaking at a press conference today, Phuket Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi said, “We tried to reduce the number of accidents with police checkpoints, testing drivers for alcohol and an anti-drunk driving campaign but…
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Warning on secondhand mobile phones
PHUKET: Police have warned people buying secondhand mobile phones, especially pawn shop owners, to be on the lookout for stolen items. The warning came after the recent discovery of 500-600 mobiles, some stolen, in a raid on a phone shop. Pawnbrokers could face jail if they bought stolen items, said Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of Phuket Town Police. “Nowadays,…
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Prison still packed
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Provincial Prison remains massively overcrowded, according to the monthly statistics released by prison officials yesterday. The figures reveal that there are 955 men and 204 women incarcerated at the jail, where the official capacity is 666 male and 83 female prisoners. Of the 1,159 inmates, 458 are being held for narcotics offenses, 256 for theft, 157 for…
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Send the backpackers packing: Deputy PM
PHUKET TOWN: Backpackers should be discouraged from visiting Phuket because they bring problems such as drugs, Deputy Prime Minister Korn Dabbaransi has told local officials. In a wide-ranging meeting with local leaders at Provincial Hall on Wednesday, he also mentioned that employers in Phuket should take responsiblity for controlling levels of Burmese laborers and that the runway at Phuket Airport…
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