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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US tourist drowns in Krabi
KRABI: American tourist Michael George Smith, 48, died while snorkeling at Koh Pai on Friday. Tour guide Suchart Aonrutee of Phi Phi-based Chao Koh Tour reported to Krabi police that he took Mr Smith and 10 other tourists from Koh Phi Phi to Koh Pai on a snorkeling trip. After they had spent an hour at Koh Pai, K. Suchart…
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Illegal labor raids to resume in earnest
PHUKET: The drive by the Phuket Provincial Employment Service Office (ESO) to register all Burmese, Laotian and Cambodian laborers working in Phuket came to an end on Thursday. The ESO has warned that raids to find unregistered workers will now resume in earnest. In a campaign that began on August 28 as part of a national effort, the ESO registered…
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Top brass tackle crimes against tourists
PHUKET TOWN: Top police commanders met today to discuss how to tackle problems affecting tourism in Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi. Speaking after the meeting, Pol Gen Kovit Wattana, Deputy Commissioner-General (Crime Suppression 1), said that the meeting was held to find ways of ensuring tourists’ safety, including ways to stop people cheating tourists, and ways to protect the environment.…
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Experts enter burned-out ammo dump
KORAT (AFP): Thai army experts today entered the smoking ruins of a badly damaged ammunition dump to search for victims of yesterday’s massive explosions that are thought to have killed at least 13 people and injured 80. The warehouse complex in Pak Chong District was torn apart yesterday when a truck overturned, setting off a deadly chain reaction that engulfed…
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Drowning victim identified
KARON: The foreigner who drowned off Karon Beach on October 13 has been identified as 53-year-old Per-arne Sivertsen of Norway. Pol Capt Chana Sutimard, of Chalong Police Station told the Gazette, “Today I received a call from a member of the reception staff at the South Sea Resort to tell me that a guest who was supposed to check out…
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Slow economy boosts Festival crowds
PHUKET: Slow times in the Thai economy and higher unemployment have had an effect on the Vegetarian Festival, with the number of people going to Chinese shrines for free vegetarian meals sharply up on last year’s figures. Partly, shrine spokespeople said, this was because they could save money. But it was also because believers felt that by taking part in…
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Patong Mayor forced to quit
PATONG: Members of the Patong Municipal Council have forced the resignation of the town’s Mayor, Pian Keesin, by rejecting his budget plan for the coming year. Pian lost by a vote of nine to two, the two being the mayor himself and Councillor Surasak Maneesri. Councillor Sakorn Cheua-yuan, who is secretary to local Member of Parliament Chalermlak Kebsab, said that…
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Krabi killer gets life
KRABI: Kasem ‘Maew’ Dumdee was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday for the October 1 murder of German tourist Cao Ghu. Pol Lt Col Somdej Sukkarn, the case investigator, told the Gazette today, “Kasem was charged with murder for the purpose of robbery and with concealing his crime. He was also charged with robbery resulting in death. He pleaded guilty…
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New park fees spark fury among dive firms
PHUKET: The good news is that the discriminatory fee system for entry into the Similan and Surin National Parks has been abolished. Thais and foreigners will pay the same fee. The bad news is that, from November 15, the entry fee for all divers will be 200 baht. And on top of that they must also pay a user fee…
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More trouble in Paradise
PATONG: A bus driver employed by Seatran Travel was arrested Thursday for attacking a Paradise Complex business owner with an iron bar over a parking dispute. Rick Hooper, the new director of Simple Computers, told the Gazette that he and his pregnant wife, Chatchada, went to their car parked outside the office, and found that it was blocked by two…
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CSD arrests Phuket policeman for murder
PHUKET: Officers from the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) in Bangkok yesterday arrested a fellow officer working in the Phuket Forensic Science Department on charges of murder and robbery. Pol Lt Col Chatkanok Keawsongsang, Deputy Commissioner of the CSD, explained that it was alleged that Pol Sgt Maj Soonthorn Krodtem stopped an airport limousine driven by 26-year-old Sampakorn Temtup of Krabi…
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Injured writer’s family appeals for funds
PHUKET: Friends and family of writer Karla Doberstein yesterday appealed for people to help Karla with her rising medical bills by making donations into an account specially set up to pay the hospital. Ms Doberstein, 38, fell down the stairs in her home late at night on October 3, striking the back of her head as she fell. She was…
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Drowned foreigner identified
PATONG: The foreigner who drowned off Patong on August 29 has finally been identified after relatives saw his photograph in the news section of the Gazette Online. For six weeks local police had hoped that someone would come forward to claim the unidentified man’s body. They issued descriptions of the man and finally passed a photograph to the Gazette. After…
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Tax cut in bid to salvage boating industry
PHUKET: In a move likely to prove ‘too little too late’, Thailand’s cabinet has approved reduction in the country’s levies on imported pleasure boats from 209% to 47%. Sources contacted by the Gazette in Phuket and Bangkok were not prepared to speculate on a firm date for final approval or implementation of the measure, but there was a consensus that…
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New chief bans police from golf courses
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand’s newly appointed police commissioner, General Sant Sarutanond, has banned senior officers from playing golf, saying they were shirking their duties by spending hours on the fairways. “Many police commanders are ignoring their responsibilities by going to play golf and passing all their duties to subordinate officers, which is not proper behavior,” he said in a directive released…
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Blackout slated for Kathu-Patong areas tomorrow
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Electricity Authority (PPEA) has announced that a scheduled blackout will take place tomorrow (October 17), from 10 am to 4 pm, to allow staff to work safely on high-voltage power lines. The area affected will run from the Caltex gasoline station at the intersection of Wichit Songkhram Rd and Phra Phuket Kaew Rd in Kathu, to…
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Police appeal to identify drowned foreigner
KARON: Police have released a photograph of a foreigner who drowned off Karon Beach on Saturday afternoon, in the hope that someone may identify him. The victim is the second to have drowned at Karon Beach on Saturday, the first having been reported in yesterday’s Gazette Online. Pol Capt Chana Sutimard, of Chalong Police Station, told the Gazette that his…
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Suspect nabbed for thefts of 1.55 million baht
PHUKET TOWN: Police have caught a man suspected of stealing 200,000 baht from the Phuket Town Post Office in a break-in last month. Thavorn “Ord” Klomthong, 38, was arrested at his apartment yesterday. In the apartment, police found screwdrivers, pliers, a saw, a flashlight and other tools, as well as jewelry and cash. During questioning, Ord confessed to breaking into…
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Another tourist drowns
KARON: Philip Sams, a 40-year-old British tourist, drowned off Karon Beach in front of the South Sea Resort on Saturday afternoon. Pol Maj Jetsada Sangsuri told the Gazette that Mr Sams was swimming with his girlfriend, Wendy Murrin, around 3 pm. Ms Murrin returned to the beach, but Mr Sams chose to stay in the surf. Soon thereafter, he was…
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Appeal for blood donations
PHUKET: Wachira Phuket Hospital is appealing for donations of every type blood in advance of the Vegetarian Festival, which starts tomorrow. Pinwin Pinrarainont, a medical scientist at Wachira, told the Gazette that the hospital boosts its stock of blood every year for the festival to prepare for any accidents that might happen during the nine-day period. He added that, while…
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Airport passenger traffic falls
PHUKET: The number of people who arrived in Phuket via the International Airport has dropped by more than 20% in the past month, according to the latest statistics released by airport officials. The figures show that 118,382 passengers arrived in September, compared with 150,680 in August. The number of departures during the same period also dropped, by 25%, with 115,866…
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Deadline for company reports extended
PHUKET: The Department of Commercial Registrations (DCR) in Bangkok has extended until December 28 the grace period during which companies that are late in submitting their annual balance sheet reports will face only light fines. The announcement came in a release yesterday from Veerachai Tantiwathanavallop, Director of Phuket’s Commercial Registration Office (CRO). Companies that ended their fiscal year on December…
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Forensic tests “will nail Krabi murder suspect’
KRABI: Police are waiting for the results of an autopsy and other forensic tests which, they believe, will cement their case against boatman Kasem “Maew” Dumdee, accused of the murder of German tourist Cao Ghu on October 1. These results should be delivered to Krabi from Bangkok in two or three days, said Pol Lt Col Somdej Sukkarn, the case…
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City undeturd – fines for Fido’s streetside stools
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Town Mayor Phummisak Hongsyok vowed today that his town will no longer be a place for close encounters of the turd kind, thanks to an imminent drive to eliminate stinking dog faeces from the city’s streets. Speaking at his second “Mayor meets the press” conference, Mayor Phummisak warned that anyone who allows a dog in his or…
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Industry standards to be set for sea walking
PHUKET: The local Tourist Business and Guide Registration Office (GRO) is to set up a committee to regulate the sea walking industry, based on the recommendations of an environmental impact study on coral reefs. The announcement was made on Monday, after GRO officials met with officers of provincial government departments involved in overseeing the industry, including Phuket’s Fisheries Office, Harbor…
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Politician Hiran dies of cancer
PHUKET: Hiran Thepsiri-amnuoy, who stood for election as a Thai Rak Thai (TRT) candidate in the parliamentary elections at the beginning of this year, died on Friday of intestinal cancer. K. Hiran, 50, was the owner of the Mook Kohkaew souvenir shop and was chairman of Vichit Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor) for four years before stepping down in order to…
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Gov calls closed meeting on tourism
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi yesterday called a closed meeting of high-ranking officials to discuss potential problems for Phuket arising out of the conflict in Afghanistan. At the meeting were district chiefs and senior officers from the Phuket Immigration Office, the Royal Thai Navy Third Fleet, the Tourist Police, the local branch of the Tourism Authority of Thailand,…
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Srisaket wins DTAC soccer tourney
PHUKET TOWN: The superior teamwork of Srisaket’s provincial soccer team won them the 1st DTAC Super League Cup Tao Thep Invitational tournament on Sunday with a 4-3 victory in the final over Chiang Mai. The final, at Surakul Stadium, proved entertaining despite heavy rain. Within minutes of the opening whistle, Srisaket were awarded a penalty. Chayanon Rungsantee missed, but made…
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Policeman dies in explosion in Yala
YALA: An officer with the Border Police died early this morning in an explosion near the Ton Maphrao market in this southern city. Police said the blast, at 1:25 am, was unlikely to have been the work of Muslim militants. It was more probable, they said, that the officer killed himself accidentally with one of his own hand-grenades. Pol Sgt…
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Protestors demand park fee review
PHUKET: Two hundred protestors descended on a high-level government tourism workshop this morning to demand a review of the entrance fees for Phang Nga Bay National Park. The protesters included members of the Phuket Eco-Tourism Association (PETA) and Phang Nga residents whose livelihood depends on tourists visiting the park. The protestors’ demand was aimed at Plodprasop Suraswadi, the Director-General of…
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