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  • Last chance for drug offenders | Thaiger

    Last chance for drug offenders

    PHUKET TOWN: Police have given drug dealers and addicts until February 15 to surrender in the face of the national crackdown on illegal drugs. The leeway in the campaign was announced by Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station, and Phuket Town District Chief Weerawat Janpan, who said the dealers would have a chance to be converted…

  • Two die as drug dealers crack down on “squealers’ | Thaiger

    Two die as drug dealers crack down on “squealers’

    PHUKET TOWN: Two suspected drug dealers have been shot dead in separate incidents, and police fear a wave of gangland-style slayings could follow in Phuket. The executions, within hours of each other, indicate that the island’s drug overlords are having potential “squealers” permanently silenced rather than risk them talking to police. Elsewhere in Thailand, scores of killings over the past…

  • Democrats fight back | Thaiger

    Democrats fight back

    PHUKET TOWN: Confident Democrat Party leaders said yesterday that they would hold their three seats in Phuket at the next election and could even topple the Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party. About 1,000 people attended the Phuket Merlin Hotel yesterday to hear Abisit Vejjajiva, Deputy Leader of the Democrats, and Chamni Sakdiseth, the party’s Deputy Secretary. K. Chamni said that…

  • Chalong TOT office to open soon | Thaiger

    Chalong TOT office to open soon

    CHALONG: Telephone Organization of Thailand (TOT) customers living in the south of the island will be able to pay their phone bills at the new TOT office on Chao Fa West Rd from February 24. The payments counter will be open from 8 am-4:30 pm on weekdays, while other services, including applying for a telephone line and transferring numbers from…

  • Man dies in wild Saphan Hin brawl | Thaiger

    Man dies in wild Saphan Hin brawl

    PHUKET TOWN: A 45-year-old man was shot dead and others were wounded as a minor confrontation escalated into a wild brawl at Saphan Hin last weekend. At its height, about 30 people were involved, with at least eight shots fired and long knives being used to slash opponents. When police reached the scene at 2 am on Sunday, the group…

  • Couple held for marijuana deal | Thaiger

    Couple held for marijuana deal

    PHUKET TOWN: Police arrested a couple for selling marijuana after a plain-clothes officer posed as a customer in a drug deal sting. Mahamasu Dearama, 29, and Suwannee Libong, 27, from Phuket Villa 3, were arrested after they met the officer in Sakdidet Road about 6:30 pm on Monday. Police confiscated one kilogram of compressed marijuana and goods allegedly linked to…

  • Attack on jogging German couple | Thaiger

    Attack on jogging German couple

    PHUKET TOWN: Police are hunting two attackers who bashed a German jogger and her husband at Saphan Hin early on Wednesday. Police said that Andrea Tran, 28, was jogging in the park about 6:30 am with her husband, Toan, 29, accompanying her on a motorcycle. The two men, who had been sitting at a roadside pavilion, ran to the couple…

  • Marine Police seek drug informants by post | Thaiger

    Marine Police seek drug informants by post

    PHUKET: In keeping with the central government’s three-month, all-out war on drugs, the Phuket Marine Police are encouraging informers to send anonymous tip-offs to PO Box 42, Phuket Town, 83000. Pol Maj Prasert Srikunnarath, Inspector of the Phuket Marine Police, told the Gazette, “PO Box 42 is intended to help us get information about drug dealers and addicts, especially those…

  • 17 tourists hurt as bus crashes | Thaiger

    17 tourists hurt as bus crashes

    PATONG: Police are still investigating the cause of a bus crash in which 17 tourists bound for Phuket FantaSea were injured last night. The driver was also injured. The bus, coming from Karon about 8 pm, went through a safety rail, hit a drain and flipped to one side, bringing down power lines and knocking over two pillars and a…

  • Pytheus Aura in startling regatta win | Thaiger

    Pytheus Aura in startling regatta win

    PHANG NGA BAY: The most startling result in this year’s QBE Phang Nga Bay Regatta was surely the victory by Pytheus Aura in the Racing class. Last year the boat managed only a third place in the Cruising A class. Summersalt made it two in a row by winning the multihull class, while Tag repeated its second place in Cruising…

  • New reservoir on hold for tests | Thaiger

    New reservoir on hold for tests

    THALANG: Construction of Phuket’s new reservoir, which Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has agreed will be paid for by the central government, is to be delayed while tests are made of the site. The tests center on the quality of the soil at the spot in Thalang where the 300-million-baht Bang Neaw Dam is to be built as a solution to…

  • Arrests start the anti-drug crusade | Thaiger

    Arrests start the anti-drug crusade

    PHUKET TOWN: Two alleged drug dealers arrested for selling ya bah (methamphetamine) on Sunday were among the island’s first casualties in the national crackdown on illegal drugs. Vice-Governor Winai Buapradit said that the arrests came about because of a tip-off to Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi, who is concentrating his energies on the anti-drug war for the next three months. Phuket…

  • Petty robbers pose as policemen | Thaiger

    Petty robbers pose as policemen

    PHUKET TOWN: Two young men impersonating plain-clothes policemen searching for Ecstasy tablets robbed a 16-year-old boy on Sunday outside the Phuket Public Library on Phuket Rd. Pol Capt Pin Inmak, of Phuket Town Police Station, told the Gazette that Somkeat Maliwan was riding his motorbike along Phuket Rd at about 5 pm when two men on a motorbike pulled alongside…

  • Krabi airport to get upgrade | Thaiger

    Krabi airport to get upgrade

    KRABI: Krabi International Airport is now handling visas on arrival and will gain a longer runway and an expanded car park, thanks to a 700-million-baht government grant. Attapol Mansutthi, the airport’s Director, told the Gazette, “The total area of the airport is 2,300 rai including one building, car park and airfield. We will expand the car park and lengthen the…

  • Valentine’s Day crush expected | Thaiger

    Valentine’s Day crush expected

    PHUKET: The island’s district offices are getting set for an invasion by hundreds of couples who wish to tie the knot on Valentine’s Day next week. A free stay in a five-star hotel and other prizes are on offer in a lucky draw on the big day at Phuket Town District Office, when Registration Officer Karnjana Hongboonyanurak expects that about…

  • Gambling tops crime stats in January | Thaiger

    Gambling tops crime stats in January

    PHUKET: Police statistics for January 1-25 reveal that gambling is still the island’s number one crime, with 147 arrests for the period in 69 cases. This figure is down significantly from the same period last year, however, when 180 arrests were reported. Drug-related offenses were the second most common crime for the period, with 117 arrests in 114 cases. The…

  • Mystery surrounds restaurateur’s death | Thaiger

    Mystery surrounds restaurateur’s death

    RAWAI: Mystery surrounds the death of 38-year-old restaurateur David “Fat Fingers” Jones of Britain, who was found by the side of the Wiset Rd on the evening of February 2, near the Banthai Restaurant, which he ran with his wife Yuwaluk. Pol Capt Anek Mongkol of Chalong Police Station initially told the Gazette that Mr Jones died in a motorcycle…

  • What’s on at the movies? | Thaiger

    What’s on at the movies?

    Get ALL the details – Titles, Summaries, Ratings, Languages and Screening Times – updated DAILY at https://thethaiger.com/movies Avoid disappointment – know before you go!

  • Three robbed in teenage gang spree | Thaiger

    Three robbed in teenage gang spree

    PHUKET TOWN: Police have arrested two members of a teenage motorcycle gang who carried out three robberies in the space of two hours early on Thursday. One of the robberies involved snatching a necklace from a foreigner who was behind the wheel of his car at the time. Pol Maj Pissanu Poonwongs, of Phuket Town Police Station, named the victim…

  • More killed, maimed on roads in 2002 | Thaiger

    More killed, maimed on roads in 2002

    PHUKET TOWN: Statistics show that at least 181 people died on Phuket’s roads in 2002 and another 13,064 people were injured. Of the dead, 161 died in motorcycle accidents and 20 from crashes involving cars. The toll was a considerable increase over 2001, when 148 deaths were recorded, but down on the 189 fatalities listed for 2000. The worst month…

  • Police complete emergency training | Thaiger

    Police complete emergency training

    PHUKET TOWN: Certificates were handed out this morning to 35 police officers on completion of a three-month course in counter-terrorism, marine rescue, protecting VIPs and handling emergency situations. Pol Maj Gen Kongpol Suwannaraks, the Commander of Phuket Provincial Police, told the graduates, “Security is very important. We must improve it all the time because terrorists also improve their ways.” Those…

  • Phuket people vow to battle drugs

    PHUKET TOWN: About 3,500 people gathered this morning at the Provincial Hall on Narisorn Rd and pledged to help eradicate illegal drugs on Phuket. At a mass ceremony starting at 9 am, people from all walks of life, including students, community leaders, members of clubs and associations and owners of entertainment venues, vowed not to become involved with drugs and…

  • Brit nabbed for theft of B245,000 ring | Thaiger

    Brit nabbed for theft of B245,000 ring

    PHUKET TOWN: Thomas James Wynn, 36, from Liverpool, England, was arrested today and charged with theft after allegedly stealing a quarter-million-baht diamond ring from Pornthep Gems on Montri Rd this morning. The shop’s owner, Thanongsak Sakasamekit, said that Wynn came into his shop and asked to see diamond rings with him. “I let my wife take care of him. He…

  • Indian Deputy PM to visit Phuket | Thaiger

    Indian Deputy PM to visit Phuket

    PHUKET: India’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Lal Krishna Advani, will spend the weekend in Phuket as a guest of the Thai Government. He and his wife will fly in tomorrow with the Thai Minister of Interior, Wan Muhamad Nor Matha. In the evening they plan to go to Phuket FantaSea. On Sunday, the couple will tour Phang…

  • Diamond dazzler’s winning ways | Thaiger

    Diamond dazzler’s winning ways

    CHIANG RAI: The owner of seven diamond-eyed cats has refused to sell her precious felines, despite offers as high as 35,000 baht for a kitten. The owner, 53-year-old Suk Namwong, has been breeding cats out of her small mom-and-pop store in Chiang Rai’s Muang district for 20 years. But she had never seen anything quite like Jao Yok, a regal,…

  • In vino stupiditas | Thaiger

    In vino stupiditas

    BANGKOK: Most drunks will stop imbibing when they have spent their last baht on the devil’s brew, but not 41-year-old Kiat Sommee. Kiat was out drinking with friends one day when he ran out of cash. A bank, he reasoned, is a place where a lot of money is kept. There was only one possible course of action, so Kiat…

  • Bus driver scuttled | Thaiger

    Bus driver scuttled

    BANGKOK: All the cockroach did was behave the way any cockroach is expected to behave – by scuttling about the room in an annoying fashion. Yet its perfectly normal behavior started a chain of events that resulted in one man being killed and another being arrested. Bus driver Prayad “Pui” Kwanyun, 29, came home after work on January 13 and…

  • Governor to lead the war on drugs | Thaiger

    Governor to lead the war on drugs

    PHUKET TOWN: Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi plans to devote the next three months to personally leading the fight against illegal drugs. His pledge, announced today, follows a promise by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to obliterate the illegal drug trade in Thailand within three months, starting from February 1. At the regular meeting of senior officials at Phuket Provincial Hall this…

  • Police hunt food vendor’s killer | Thaiger

    Police hunt food vendor’s killer

    PHUKET TOWN: Police believe a love triangle led to the murder of a fried sausage vendor who was found stabbed to death beside his cart on Tuesday morning. Nearby residents discovered the body of Sritanonchai Kornsopa, 30, about 8 am at Kuan Din Dang-Samkong Rd in Moo 6, Rassada. Investigating officers later determined he had been dead for about six…

  • “Foreigners grabbing Thai jobs’: Karon Mayor | Thaiger

    “Foreigners grabbing Thai jobs’: Karon Mayor

    KARON: The Mayor of Karon Municipality has lodged a complaint with Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi that foreigners in the Karon area are “grabbing” jobs that Thais can do, and has urged the authorities to be more thorough about checking work permits and other licenses. The Mayor, Tawee Thongcham, told the Gazette that the Governor went to Karon on Saturday as…