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Rawai sea gypsy homes spared
RAWAI: Four sea gypsy houses originally slated for demolition have been spared the wrecking ball in Phuket Provincial Highway Office’s (PPHO) road-widening project in Rawai.Sarayuth Intarawichien, Assistant Project Manager of the PPHO, told the Gazette that the road-widening project will be finished by the contract date in March next year. The project began in May and extends along Chao Fa…
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The root of suffering
“Attachment is the origin, the root of suffering; hence it is the cause of suffering.” – The Dalai Lama at Harvard University, 1988 A devout monk in Phattalung’s Kongra District took the quest for non-attachment to an unprecedented level recently, when he cut off his erect penis, which was was distracting him during a meditation session. News of the story…
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Tuk-tuk driver stabs Welshman
PATONG: A Welsh tourist is expected to be discharged from Phuket International Hospital today after being stabbed in the chest following a dispute over a tuk-tuk fare early yesterday morning.Kathu Deputy Inspector for Crime Suppression, Pol Capt Leucha Polkarn, confirmed that Julien Bennett, 31, was stabbed on Nanai Rd about 3:30 am, following an altercation with Patong tuk-tuk driver Wisut…
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Former Kathu Land Office Chief found guilty
BANGKOK (The Nation): The Criminal Court in Bangkok on Monday sentenced former Kathu Land Office Chief Bunchoo Limraksasin to 20 years in prison after finding him guilty on 10 counts of demanding bribes for land titles between December 21, 2001 and March 8, 2003.The court also found a second defendant in the case, 34-year-old Meena Kalra, guilty on seven counts…
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Boy driver dies in smash
KOH KAEW: A 12-year-old boy died when he crashed his motorcycle while overtaking a car on a curved section of Thepkrasattri Rd on Tuesday.Pol Lt Apichart Rainchana of Phuket Police Station identified the boy as Adisak Det-aran, a student at Baan Sapam Mongkol Wittaya School. He was still in his student uniform when police arrived at the accident scene, about…
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70 Burmese arrested for having too much fun
KARON: Seventy Burmese workers celebrating a friend’s wedding were arrested and taken to Chalong Police Station after a neighbor complained that they were singing too loud.Chalong Police Inspector Pol Maj Peeranat Chatinkaew told the Gazette that his office received a complaint about 1:30 am on Tuesday, informing police that Burmese workers behind Wat Karon were disturbing the peace by singing…
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Full-House Fiasco
CHON BURI: Three unlucky vacationers from the Islamic Republic of Iran were taught a lesson on November 15, when they learned the hard way that pleasures of the flesh rarely come cheap – even in the steamy sois off south Pattya’s infamous Walking Street. The three men, Sedaghat Heiydari, 30, Saber Mobanazade, 31, and Nohsen Nadsill, 32, came to the…
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Turdiform terrorism
SURAT THANI: Monday mornings are usually tough enough to face, but imagine turning up for work and finding your desk covered in stinking excrement and swarming with flies. It was precisely that scenario that confronted workers at the Surat Thani Educational Service Area 2 on the morning of November 6. At the scene at about 11 am the same morning,…
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Aids Day campaign targets “karaoke sex’ kids
PHUKET CITY: As part of the preparations for this year’s World Aids Day on December 1, the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office (PPHO) has called for a close watch to be kept on private karaoke booths in the city because the “unsuitable behavior” by some youths in the rooms is putting them at risk of contagious diseases.The PPHO called for department…
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Couple injured in acid attack
PHUKET CITY: A woman was seriously injured after having acid thrown in her face on Friday. The woman’s boyfriend was also injured in the attack.Pol Sub Lt Thada Sodarak, Duty Officer at Phuket City Police Station, told the Gazette that the injured man, Pissanu Praduppet, told police that his wife had committed the attack after he had asked her for a…
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Prostitution rates second in latest crime figures
PHUKET: Statistics released by Phuket Provincial Police show that prostitution-related crime resulted in the second-highest number of arrests, 91, in October, knocking drug offenses from its usual number two position and trailing only the perennial leader, gambling.Of the 214 people arrests for gambling-related offenses, 23 cases involved the sale of illegal underground lottery tickets.Seventy-four people were arrested for drug-related offenses,…
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B50,000 reward for drive-by shooter
PHUKET CITY: Phuket City Police officers have announced a 50,000-baht reward for information relating to a drive-by shooting last Sunday night. During the attack, on Chao Fa East Rd at 8:30 pm, gunmen in a black pickup pulled alongside a silver-colored sports utility vehicle and opened fire, hitting the car at least six times. The victim managed to drive away…
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Man killed in drunken mass brawl
PHUKET CITY: A young man was killed and another critically injured after being stabbed during a drunken melee that broke out in a children’s playground at Saphan Hin early Tuesday morning.Phuket City Police Investigator Pol Lt Col Somkid Boonrat identified the dead man as Sompob Chumpan, 24, who died of a single three-inch-deep stab wound to the abdomen.The other victim,…
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Kathu roadworks to cause tailbacks
KATHU: Motorists traveling between Kathu and Phuket City can expect traffic delays over the next year, as the narrow, hilly stretch of Wichit Songkhram Rd west of Makro is now being widened into a four-lane divided highway with sidewalks on both sides.The work is underway by project contractor Noppawong Kosarng Company, which was awarded the contract after making a 45.9-million-baht…
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Fire engulfs stalls along Patong beachfront
PATONG: A fire broke out on Thaweewong Rd about 4 am yesterday, destroying eight vendors’ stalls and causing an estimated 10 million baht in damages.Firefighters took two hours to extinguish the blaze.The fire broke out in a row of shops near the Holiday Inn Resort. After being notified of the blaze by Kathu Police, 10 trucks from Patong Municipality Fire…
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Work begins on new Bang Tao stalls
BANG TAO: After January 1, 32 beach vendors currently encroaching on Bang Tao Beach will move into small new stalls now being built for them by the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor).Thalang District Chief Administrative Officer Nikorn Torhirunyapreuk told the Gazette that work is now underway on the first 11 stalls being built for the vendors, allowing them to hawk…
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Phuket Prison now a tourist attraction
PHUKET CITY: For most societies, prison is an undesirable place to which law-abiding citizens send the the community’s undesirables, i.e., the deviants, perverts and miscreants. But in Phuket, prison has become just another tourist attraction.Helping to keep alive the strong local tradition of anywhere-anytime tourism, Paisarn Suwannaraksa, Director of Phuket Prison, told the Gazette that the 1,500-inmate prison is now…
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“Peanut gambling’ gang caught
KAMALA: Four men, including a retired police officer, have been arrested for their participation in a “peanut gambling” swindle after a woman, whose name is being withheld at her request, was conned out of 1 million baht before reporting the racket to the police.The woman reported the con to police on November 8 and cooperated in a sting operation, luring…
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Pencak Silat moved to Turkey
PHUKET: The 13th Pencak Silat Martial Arts World Championship, set to open in Phuket this Saturday, has been moved to Turkey due to the coup.The competition was originally scheduled to be held November 18 to 26, with more than 500 competitors from 25 countries registered for the event.Pencak Silat is a group of martial arts of Indo-Malaysian origin that can…
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Swedish bar owner in knife fight
PATONG: Bar owner Nicolas Cazus, 40, from Sweden, slashed a Thai man with a knife in a fight over a collision with a motorcycle in the early hours of November 7.Pol Lt Col Pisit Chunpet told the Gazette that police responded to a call from Cazus’s bar on Soi Sainamyen at 3:45 am.He explained that Cazus had just parked his…
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Barami 8 squatters spared – for now
KALIM: Fearful of inciting a riot, municipal officials yesterday decided not to remove three squatters homes along Soi Phra Barami 8.The three homes, the first of 61 to be removed to make way for a government road-widening project, was ordered on Monday by Phuket Provincial Chief Administrative Officer (Palad) Nivit Aroonrat at a meeting at Kathu District office.Owners of the…
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Alcohol advertising ban threatens Johnnie Walker Classic
BANGKOK (The Nation): Riche Monde, distributor of Johnnie Walker whiskey, has urged the government to decide within two weeks whether it can use the logo and brand to promote the upcoming Johnnie Walker Classic golf event at Blue Canyon Country Club in Thalang.If the government bans the use of the logo and brand, as well as prohibits the company from…
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Weapons seized in Kathu
KATHU: Four men were arrested yesterday after a routine inspection of their pickup at the Phra Barami Rd vehicle control point uncovered four pistols, ammunition, a walkie-talkie and two pairs of latex gloves.Tung Tong Police Deputy Inspector for Crime Suppression Pol Capt Wiwut Chumnankit said police pulled over the red-gray Mitsubishi pickup, with a Phuket license plate, at the checkpoint…
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American caught with fake “visa’
PHUKET CITY: Following an American man being caught with a fake permit-to-stay stamp in his work permit application, the Phuket Provincial Employment Office (PPEO) has warned all foreign workers – and the companies that employ them – to remember that forgery of Immigration stamps and documents is a serious crime.At the “Governor Meets the Press” meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall…
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Dive operators get court reprieve
PHUKET: The Administrative Court in Nakhon Sri Thammarat has ruled the new regulations affecting Phuket dive operators suspended indefinitely, pending the results of a court case challenging their legality.News of the suspension came from Aekachai Soonthorn, who has been appointed defense attorney for the province in the case. Aekachai is also Secretary to the Phuket Provincial Chief Administrative Officer (Palad),…
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Chinese take FIVB gold in Phuket
KARON: It was an all-China final in the Swatch FIVB Phuket Thailand Open international women’s volleyball tournament on Sunday. The last stop on the FIVB world tour pitted third-seeded Xue Chen and Zhang Xi against compatriots Tian Jia and Wang Jie in the final.Xue and Zhang went on to win in the third all-Chinese final of this season’s FIVB tour.…
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Chetwynd-Talbot still in Phuket jail
PHUKET CITY: Briton Paul Chetwynd-Talbot is still being held at Phuket Provincial Prison, though he is expected to be transfered to the more comfortable Klong Prem Prison in Ladyao, Bangkok, before the end of the year.Paisarn Suwannaraksa, Director of Phuket Prison, told the Gazette, “It will be more comfortable for the prisoner because he is a foreigner, and easier for…
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Rape-murder case awaiting forensics results
RAWAI: Police investigating the rape and murder of Phuket native Tada Sa-nguansak, 49, whose body was found in broad daylight on Friendship Beach June 28, are awaiting the results of forensics tests being carried out in Bangkok.Pol Lt Col Peerapan Meemak of Chalong Police Station told the Gazette, “We are waiting for tests results from the Forensic Laboratory Institute in…
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I’ve got WHAT in my hair?
Hair styling has long been a key part of the female beauty regimen, regardless of what fashions have come and gone. Hair accessories, however, do not usually come flavored, lubricated or coated in spermicidal jelly – well, not until now. The latest rage in hair products was brought to light by some young women in Chiang Mai, who discovered that…
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Trio of transgressors
Three monks welcomed the end of Buddhist Lent, called Ork Pansa, with an over-indulgence in bad habits this year: one crashed his pickup drunk-driving, one forced himself on a young woman, and another shot and killed a fellow monk… all on the nights of October 7 and 8. The first, a monk from Buri Ram, celebrated the end of Lent…
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