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Four arrested in pirate DVD sting
PATONG: About 13,000 pirate DVDs were confiscated and four vendors were arrested in raids by police at Jintana Plaza Market around 6 pm on April 4.After Capt Nikom Tienhao, an Inspector at the Children, Juveniles and Woman Division’s Sub-Division 3, led the sting on the vendors, officers moved in and confiscated 13,000 DVDs, including 139 pornographic movies.Sub Lt Naruewat Phutthawiro,…
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Violent crime rises by 130%
PHUKET: Crime statistics for March 1 to March 31 released by Phuket Provincial Police show that reports of violent crime in Phuket rose by 130% compared with the same period last year.Three murders and nine attempted murders were reported, with two and eight arrests made respectively. There were 27 reports of assault with 16 arrests made and eight reports of…
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Dead baby found floating off Saphan Hin
PHUKET CITY: A dead baby boy was found floating near the mouth of Bang Yai canal in Sapan Hin on Thursday.The grisly find was reported to police at 8:30 am by a tourist.Lt Col Somkid Boonyarat, an Investigating Inspector at Phuket City Police Station, told the Gazette that the body was that of a baby boy of Thai appearance.Doctors estimate…
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Kamala OrBorTor installs temporary President
KAMALA: Karoon Seeden has been installed as Acting President of Kamala Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor) after a vote by the council’s 11 other members.K. Karoon was installed after a vote of seven to four in his favor. Three councilors voted for Prajak Yayee, and one councilor abstained.He replaces Jaral Sararak, who was removed from office by Kathu District Chief Khantee…
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Dam dirty dealings in Chalong
PHUKET: The Irrigation Department has almost completed negotiations to acquire all of the land needed to build the Klong Krata Reservoir in Chalong, but the project now faces an unexpected new hurdle because some landowners have been excavating and trucking away topsoil from the project site.Theerachart Sangkaha, the Irrigation Department official in charge of the project, informed Governor Niran Kalayanamit…
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Daily tsunami warning tests deferred
PHUKET: Testing of the National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) tsunami warning system, scheduled for this morning, was canceled by the agency out of fear that it could create a public panic in areas where the public had not been adequately informed.Dr Smith Dharmasaroja, who heads the Nonthaburi-based NDWC, told the Gazette this morning that a comprehensive system test will take…
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Eight teenagers nabbed for muggings
PHUKET: Phuket City Police on Wednesday rounded up eight teenagers suspected of at least two gunpoint muggings.Police reported that the boys – all aged 16 or 17 – confessed to two attacks, one at Saphan Hin on Tuesday and one at Khao Rang viewpoint on March 29. In both cases, the boys used knives and a homemade short shotgun to…
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Tsunami warning tower daily tests start tomorrow
PHUKET: The National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) has announced that about 9 am each day – starting tomorrow – it will audibly test its 79 tsunami warning towers along the Andaman Coast.NDWC staff hydrologist Jumleang Chutab told the Gazette that the siren towers have been regularly tested since their construction, but only on a “silent” basis.Under the new testing the…
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B100,000 reward offered for Karon murder suspect
KARON: A 100,000-baht reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of Suban Pon-iamsaen, 40, the prime suspect in the murder of Mala Peng-iam, who was gunned down in her Mala Seafood beachfront restaurant on March 27.Suban owns the restaurant next door to Mala Seafood.Police believe that the killing was the climax of a long-running feud between the…
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Water mains fiasco stalls Chalong roadworks
PHUKET: Work on widening Chao Fa West Rd has been further delayed due to a dispute over moving water pipes and the expiration of the contract with the company assigned to carry out the work.The Phuket Provincial Highways Office (PPHO) is still unable to give a completion date for the project, which began in 2005.PPHO Chief Supphasak Nunsang told the…
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Free rabies vaccinations
PHUKET: Phuket Provincial Livestock Office (PPLO) is offering free rabies vaccinations for cats and dogs at Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor) offices until April 30.PPLO Veterinarian Veeraphap Termkeitpisan told the Gazette, “We have already vaccinated about 5,000 dogs and cats in the Phuket City, Rawai, Wichit and Chalong this year.”“The last human death from rabies in Phuket was in 1984,” K.…
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Songkran road toll targets set
PHUKET: Phuket officials have declared that they want no more than three deaths, 34 accidents and 53 injuries during the Songkran holiday period from April 11 to 17.Last year’s Songkran holidays, from April 7 to 16, and saw six deaths and 99 accidents, with 96 accident victims requiring hospital care.A meeting to discuss the targets for this year’s Songkran was…
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Driver charged over fatal Samkong accident
PHUKET CITY: Lanju Saechiw, the driver of a pickup truck involved in a fatal head-on collision with a tuk-tuk in Samkong on February 14, has been charged with reckless driving resulting in a death.Tuk-tuk driver Payao Junjue and passenger Eero Untamo Malim, from Finland, died in the collision in front of the popular Steak Samkong restaurant on Yaowarat Rd.Two other…
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OrBorJor extends school MoUs
PHUKET: The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) agreements between the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) and seven Phuket schools have been extended for three years, effectively allowing the OrBorJor to continue providing support for the schools through to 2009.The seven schools are Baan Maireab, Kathu Wittaya, Cherng Talay Wittayakom, Muang Phuket, Baan Talad Neua, Thalang Pranangsang and Baan Nabon.OrBorJor President Anchalee…
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Drastic new measures to save Patong
PATONG: Following the overwhelming success of the one-way traffic system that went into effect in Patong in January, local officials will extend the concept to include pedestrian traffic by making Soi Bangla one-way for people traveling on foot.When the new system is brought into effect, currently scheduled for April 15, pedestrian traffic will only be permitted in an easterly direction, i.e.…
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Chalong bomber investigation stalls
CHALONG: After hearing that the police investigation into the November bombing of three houses in Chalong had stalled, Phuket Vice-Governor Worapoj Ratthasima ordered police to step up efforts to catch the person or persons responsible.The three homemade bombs, described as “fertilizer bombs”, detonated at about 2:30 am on November 28 on Soi Songkun, about one kilometer off Chao Fa East…
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1,881 more people register as living in Phuket
PHUKET: Between February 21 and March 20, 1,881 people registered with the government as living in Phuket, bringing the island’s official population to 313,955.Provincial Chief Administrative Officer (Palad) Piya Bharatasilpin reported the increase to Phuket Vice-Governor Worapoj Ratthasima yesterday.Part of the increase is thought to be in response to the Governor calling for island residents to register themselves on Phuket…
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Rock City co-owner dies after heart attack
PATONG: Swedish national Carl Essler, 47, one of the investors in the popular Rock City nightclub in Patong, died after suffering a heart attack early on Wednesday.He was rushed to Patong Hospital after suffering chest pains in the early hours of the morning and was later pronounced dead.Fredrik Klingvall, Managing Director of Rock City, told the Gazette, “It has come…
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Karon restaurateur kills next-door rival
KARON: Police are on the lookout for Karon restaurateur Suban Pon-iamsaen after eyewitnesses reported that he calmly walked into the kitchen of the Mala Seafood restaurant, next door to his own restaurant on the beach road, and shot dead the owner, Mala Peng-iam, 52.Eyewitnesses reported that Suban carried out the execution at point blank range at about 7 pm yesterday.He…
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Slum dwellers of Phuket unite
PHUKET CITY: About 300 angry villagers representing more than 20 slum communities from around Phuket protested noisily outside Phuket Provincial Hall Thursday morning, demanding that Phuket Governor Niran Kalayanamit help alleviate their poverty.A protest leader, Supat Nunkhao, from Pla Katak Pattana community on Koh Sireh, told the Gazette that the villagers want the provincial authorities to develop their homes and…
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Search for bypass shooter continues
PHUKET CITY: The search continues for a Phuket youth suspected of shooting and beating a man along the bypass road near the Tesco-Lotus intersection on February 19. Chatchai Chuenjitsoonthorn and his wife, Maliwan, were attacked by a motorbike gang of about 20 youths while on their way home from a late-night meal. The couple was able to identify the shooter…
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Austrian found dead in hotel room
PATONG: An Austrian man was found dead in his hotel room on the afternoon of March 22, an apparent victim of alcohol poisoning. According to the Kathu Police daily log for that day, 38-year-old Dr Werner Jellen was found dead in room 302 of Patong Resort Hotel at 2:30 pm.Pol Lt Col Sophon Borirak reported that there was no evidence…
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7-Eleven robbed at gunpoint
KOH KAEW: A bandit toting a shotgun made off with about 4,900 baht in a robbery on a 7-Eleven in Koh Kaew at about 4 am yesterday.Staff at the mini-mart, located on Thepkrasattri Rd just north of Boat Lagoon, told police that the robber was tall with light-colored skin and was wearing a black jacket and motorcycle helmet. Approaching the…
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Phuket-Penang direct flights to launch April 13
PHUKET CITY: As part of a drive to boost the number of tourists to Malaysia, Malaysian Airlines’ new low-cost carrier Firefly airlines will start daily direct flights between Phuket and Penang beginning April 13. Malaysian Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor discussed the new service at a press conference at the Royal Phuket City Hotel on Thursday. Firefly,…
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Domestic flights return to Don Muang
PHUKET: Thai Airways International (THAI), Nok Air and One-Two-GO domestic flights between Phuket and Bangkok will resume using Don Muang Airport, Bangkok’s former international airport, this weekend.Kalayapha Panich, THAI’s District Sales Manager for Upper-Southern Thailand, explained that THAI flights to and from Bangkok will run from both airports in the capital.“Passengers are welcome to choose which destination they want: Don…
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Cocaine mules nabbed at airport
PHUKET: Two Peruvian men were arrested at Phuket International Airport on Wednesday with more than two kilograms of cocaine that they were carrying internally.A press release from Somyot Santarvorn, Chief Customs Inspector at Phuket International Airport, reported that Godoy Paz Sadi Mercedes, 29, was found in possession of 91 packets of the cocaine, weighing a total of 882.7 grams.His accomplice,…
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Police box torched
RASSADA: A “temporary” police box installed at the entrance to Pahin Namsai Village, located off Ruam Pattana Rd, has turned out to be very temporary indeed. It was burned to the ground by persons unknown at about 4:30 am on Monday – just one week after it was installed.Lt Col Adul Niraphai, Duty Inspector at Phuket City Police Station, told…
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Second incinerator “not likely’
PHUKET CITY: Phuket will likely have to wait for a new government before getting a second incinerator to deal with the island’s increasing volume of trash, Wisut Singkhachornworakul, Advisor to the Ministry of Interior, told a meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall on Monday.During the meeting, held to discuss problems faced by the province, Phuket City Mayor Somjai Suwannasuppana said that…
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Burn victim Saijai slowly healing
PHUKET: Saijai Phromdaen, the woman set on fire at Patong Beach in February, is continuing to improve at Vachira Phuket Hospital, where she is undergoing skin graft surgery. Pennee Phromdaen, K. Saijai’s mother, told the Gazette that Saijai’s wounds are healing properly and she is now able to speak, eat basic foods and wash herself. “Every day she exercises by…
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Police to press charges over sea gypsy assault
PHUKET: Police are preparing to press grievous bodily harm charges against a businessman accused of cutting the oxygen line of a sea gypsy diving off Nui Beach in January, Lt Col Peerapan Meemak of Chalong Police Station announced at a meeting at Provincial Hall to discuss Rawai sea gypsies’ fishing rights.“I received a report from two sea gypsies on January…
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