MONDAY MORNING HEADLINES – All your local news in 3 minutes

PHOTO: Over 40 Gamblers rounded-up after a gambling den was raided in Songkhla. Many escaped.

The weather says rain, our eyes say sunshine. Still, it’s going to be 30 degrees. Many schools are back from today and the traffic seems to be getting back to its usual crawl. Here’s today’s main news stories…

Dusit Thani ask German tourist to move off their ‘private beach’

Dusit Thani Laguna are getting some social media attention following a Facebook post showing a staff member asking a German tourist and his two children to move off the beach, saying it was a private beach. Despite what can be seen in the clip, the hotel maintains that the staff member was only informing the tourist that he could purchase a day pass to use the hotel’s swimming pool.

To complicate matters further officials, including Cherngtalay OrBorJor President Ma’Ann Samran, have been checking out the title deeds and say, indeed, the title for the Dusit Thani Laguna and Angsana Laguna, do include the beach area. The Governor is calling for further investigation into the titles.

Spending Toon’s cash raised in the charity run

Donations raised by rock star Artiwara “Toon” Kongmalai will be spent on purchasing new medical equipment as per the original intention of the charity. This comes from directors of the 11 public hospitals which were listed as recipients of funds from the run, rejecting ideas to spend the money for other purposes.

Toon’s cross-country charity run raised more than 1.2 billion baht for 11 public hospitals across the country.

Doctors from two of the 11 hospitals have already confirmed that all of the money would be used to buy new medical equipment, not on preventive health promotion, as some health experts have suggested.

The doctors say they want to respect Artiwara’s original intention ahead of a meeting between all 11 hospitals and the Phramongkutklao Hospital Foundation later this month.

French national arrested over $10,170 theft at BKK Airport

A French national has been arrested at a Bangkok hotel yesterday for allegedly stealing US$10,170 (about 330,000 baht) cash belonging to an Egyptian tourist at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

The 33 year old French national was arrested and found to be in possession of the allegedly stolen cash which he initially claimed belonged to him.

The arrest followed a complaint lodged with Suvarnabhumi Airport Police by an Egyptian tourist saying that he had forgotten his bag at a SIM-card selling shop on the terminal’s second floor. When he rushed back to get the bag, he found the cash inside was gone.
Police looked through CCTV footage and identified the French man as a suspect, resulting in his arrest at the hotel.

PIA explain bizarre behaviour of South Korean on January 4

Phuket International Airport has issued an explanation letter regarding a video of a distraught naked man who went berserk in the international terminal. The South Korean, with an American passport, admitted that he had taken too many sex performance-enhancing drugs. The airport insists that the officers arrested him without harming him.

Officers say that when he regained his composure he admitted that he took too many Viagra pills and lost consciousness. According to the Airport’s letter, the man accepted responsibility to reimburse for any damages that he caused. The man’s trip to Incheon was cancelled and he was brought to Saku Police Station for further investigation. After being questioned at the Police Station, police decided that he needed further medical attention and took him to a hospital for further examination.

Household effluent flowing into Ao Nang in Krabi

Tour operators in Krabi province are calling on authorities concerned to quickly come up with effective measures to deal with household effluent which they claim is being discharged into the sea around Ao Nang beach. The mayor of Ao Nang says that the pollution problem has been left unchecked for years and it is now threatening the environment of the beach and tourism business because many tourists visit the beach to swim in the sea while many others take boat rides from there to offshore islands. A study into rectification of the pollution issue will be forwarded to the Mayor next month.

Over 40 gamblers rounded up at temporary den in Songkhla

Over 40 gamblers were arrested and equipment seized in a raid by military personnel at an illegal gambling den in a rubber plantation in Songkhla.

Troops from the Fourth Army region led by the regional commander were dispatched to a rubber plantation after they received a tipoff that a mobile illegal gambling den had been operating there for some time. Officials said that the illegal gambling den was just a temporary setup with a huge canvas tent which could be removed and transferred elsewhere at any time.
Several managed to escape but 42, including 31 women, were rounded up. Five cars and hundreds of motorcycles belonging to the gamblers were also confiscated.