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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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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Vendors caught with B500k in fakes
KARON: Police raided shops and stalls in Patong and Karon yesterday and seized 6,300 fake brand-name items with a street value of more than 500,000 baht. Seven vendors admitted selling imitation goods. The officers in the raid, from Chalong Police Station, were accompanied by Suparerk Tohwatcharakul and other officials from Bangkok, who were acting on behalf of Christian Dior and…
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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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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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Security boost planned for Saphan Hin
PHUKET TOWN: Police are planning to increase their presence in Saphan Hin and a police box will be erected there following another gang murder at the now-notorious recreation area. After dark, the park transforms from a peaceful area for sports and picknickers into a dangerous playground for thrillseekers and ruffians. The latest killing took place on Wednesday (see “Murder on…
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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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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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Arrest your friends, minister tells governors
BANGKOK: Interior Minister Wan Muhamad Nor Matha wants provincial governors to arrest any of their friends or relatives believed to be involved in the illicit drugs trade, the Bangkok Post reported today. Meeting governors yesterday, he said Bangkok wants them to focus on large-scale dealers rather than small ones. He also told them to seize all drug dealers’ assets, the…
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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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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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Stabbed man found in klong
PHUKET TOWN: Police are seeking to identify the body of a man found floating in a klong at the weekend, the apparent victim of a stabbing. A villager reported the body floating in Klong Bang Yai, on Rassada Rd, on Sunday. The body was dressed in a brown-and-white long-sleeved shirt over a blue long-sleeved shirt, and green tracksuit pants. The…
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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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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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Prison numbers rise
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Provincial Prison remains massively overcrowded, according to monthly statistics released by prison officials this week. And the Government’s war on drugs is likely to increase prison numbers, at least in the short term. The figures reveal that there are 1,035 men and 174 women incarcerated at the jail. This compares with 955 male and 204 female prisoners…
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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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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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Green-and-purple piddle puzzles police
PHUKET TOWN: A drug-test raid on restaurants and karaoke bars early yesterday morning along Wanich Rd produced 12 positive purple tests – and one new green-and-purple result that police had not seen before. While the 79 people who were tested went about their business as usual today, police puzzled over the unusual sample. “It was quite weird,” said Pol Capt…
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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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Last chance for dealers, addicts
PHUKET: Drugs dealers and addicts in Phuket have until Friday to turn themselves in and receive lenient treatment under the province’s amnesty program, part of the national War On Drugs. But from next Saturday (March 1), no mercy will be shown, Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi warned yesterday, stressing that, from the end of this month, there will be no more…
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Karaoke singer dies in tin lagoon
PHUKET TOWN: Police hope distinctive tattoos will help to identify a woman whose body was found floating in a disused tin mine lagoon yesterday afternoon. The woman, a karaoke waitress in her early twenties, is believed to have drowned in the tin lagoon behind the old tantalum factory, in a soi off Thepkrasattri Rd, Rassada, after sniffing glue. Pol Lt…
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Paying bills just got easier
PHUKET TOWN: Bangkok-based Counter Services Co has opened five counters in Phuket Town where people can settle a range of accounts, including utility bills and credit card accounts. The five counters are at: • Bo Dang, Big C supercenter (9 am-10 pm, every day); • Future AV, Tesco Lotus supercenter (10 am-10 pm, every day); • Amorn, Phang Nga Rd…
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Tah Chat Chai wins expo center vote
PHUKET TOWN: Tah Chat Chai in Tambon Mai Khao received overwhelming support as the site for the proposed International Convention and Exhibition Center (ICEC) this morning. At a meeting of 262 government officials, leaders of business organizations and members of the public, chaired by Vice-Governor Winai Buapradit at the Provincial Government Financial Center on Narisorn Rd, 226 people voted for…
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Pattaya or bust turns to French nightmare
CHON BURI: Most foreigners have fond memories of their first visit to Thailand. For many, especially those on their way to Pattaya, it brings back memories of being a child on Christmas morning. But for 29-year-old Frenchman Tony André Marichaud, the excitement was just too much to contain. Marichaud and his friend, 28 year-old Richard Henri Detroit, had just arrived…
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Killing two vices with one stone
PATTAYA: Police officers broke into a gambling den in Pattaya and found seven men gambling, not for money but for drugs. Apparently unaware that it is “open season” on drug offenders, the men were doubling up on their pleasure by combining the twin national vices into one fun activity. All was going well, until their uninvited guests arrived. All seven…
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