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Heartthrob DJ shot through the heart
PHUKET CITY: Sombat Aremsamkok, 25, a popular DJ renowned for his good looks, died after being shot in the heart at point blank range at 4:30 am January 26.Pol Lt Sathit Noovicht of Phuket City Police Station said that K. Sombat was shot in the back at Takrai restaurant, where he worked as a DJ, in Phun Pol Night Plaza.The…
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B300,000 reward offered for armed robber
PHUKET: A 300,000-baht reward is on offer for information leading to the arrest of a brazen bandit who made off with gold jewelry worth more than one million baht in a daylight robbery on Saturday.Officers report they have been following tips called in by a woman claiming to be the robber’s girlfriend, scouring the areas where she said he has…
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Barami 8 squatters pull up stakes
KALIM: Squatters living on government land on Soi Phra Barami 8 have slowly begun moving out, fearing court-ordered fines and possible arrest if they continue to stay in the area.The move comes about eight months after they received the first eviction notices.Poonsak Naksena, Chief Administrative Assistant of Patong Municipality, told the Gazette that the squatters in the first three homes…
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Phuket Immigration exempt from “smile and wai’ training
PHUKET: Immigration officers at Phuket International Airport are not required to undergo the “smile and wai” training that their counterparts at Suvarnbhumi Airport have been ordered to complete, because they have been doing it for a year already, says Pol Col Surasak Atthapanyawanich, Superintendent at Phuket Airport Immigration Office.Thailand Immigration Bureau Commander Pol Lt Gen Suwat Tumrongsiskul ordered the 1,200…
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Tourist Police nab Phang Nga murder suspect
PHUKET: Tourist Police have 23-year-old Wanasart “Bank” Jeensrikong, for his role in the June 28, 2003 murder of Sarawuth Yamying in Phang Nga’s Takuatung District.Following a tip-off, Wanasart was arrested on Thursday after he was found working as a chef at a hotel in Patong. Plainclothes police arrested the suspect at the hotel, which they declined to name.Wanasart had confessed…
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Nai Harn curve claims two lives
CHALONG: Two men, both 20, died in a motorbike accident when the driver overshot Ku Bua curve on Saiyuan Rd around 7:30 am yesterday.Pol Lt Col Sanguan Muangtam at Chalong Police Station said that the two men, one from Nakhon Sri Thammarat and the other from Trang, were friends who had come to Phuket to work.“The men were on their…
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Members only
RAWAI, PHUKET: Outraged residents of Village 2 are demanding the immediate removal of numerous Sivaleung (Shiva’s member, or lingam) statues that decorate a newly-built spa, claiming that the phalluses will embarrass tourists and other passers-by. On January 20 Aroon Solos, President of the Rawai Tambon Administration Organization, paid a visit to the Suppaya Spa (Suppaya means “Assets of the Supreme…
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Hotels get crash course in disease control
PATONG: Dr Wiwat Sitamanod of the Phuket Provincial Health Office on Wednesday said that the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) is investigating claims that six tourists contracted Legionnaire’s disease while on holiday in Patong.“The PPHO received a fax from a foreign embassy on January 9 about some of their nationals who were diagnosed as having Legionnaire’s disease after being on…
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Body found floating off Koh Bon
KOH BON: The body of an unidentified young man was found floating in the sea off Koh Bon yesterday afternoon. Police believe the victim was a Burmese fisherman.Pol Lt Col Chana Sutthimas, an Inspector at Chalong Police Station, told the Gazette that the discovery was made about 2 pm by a tourist, who then notified the Phuket Tourist Rescue Center…
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Local telephone book has arrived
PHUKET: The 2007 edition of the Gazette Guide, Phuket’s English-language yellow pages, has arrived and guestroom copies are today being delivered to the major four- and five-star hotels and resorts. The book goes on sale to the general public at noon on Thursday, February 1. The price of the directory is 140 baht. A full list of retailers in Phuket,…
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A really dumbo idea
PHITSANULOKE: A drunk was left with critical head injuries after being slammed into a tree by an elephant he was teasing. The unfortunate event transpired on the morning of January 17. A crowd of curious villagers had gathered near the entrance to Wat Muang Hawm (“Temple of the Fragrant Mango”) in Tambon Kaengsopha, Wangthong District, to see an elephant that…
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Brown nectar of the gods
PHRAE: Scores of villagers in Phrae were given a gut-wrenching shock when a “holy” spring they had prayed to and drunk from turned out to be the result of faulty plumbing rather than a gift from the gods. The font was discovered on January 4 by Anong Kwanphetch, 52, in the middle of her lawn in Tambon Mae Jua, Denchai…
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Hotels still refuse to pay rooms tax
PHUKET: Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) President Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr has again threatened legal action against hotels that refuse to pay the controversial 1% rooms tax.K. Anchalee said that the OrBorJor this year aims to collect 60 million baht in rooms tax, up from a little over 41 million during the fiscal year from October 1, 2005 to September 30, 2006.However, she said that…
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Teenager arrested for brutal murder
KATHU: Tung Tong Police have arrested a 17-year-old man for the brutal stabbing murder of 40-year-old Nongying “Sao” Sengton in her home near Tung Tong Market in the early hours of November 27.Pol Lt Col Witoon Kongsudjai, Deputy Superintendent of Tung Tong Police Station, said the arrest was made on January 16 at the youth’s home in Phang Nga’s Thapput…
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Phuket runs out of “smart” ID cards
PHUKET: People looking to be issued one of the new “smart” ID cards will have to wait until about mid-year to get their hands on one, as all District Offices on Phuket have run out of the new cards.Phuket City Mayor Somjai Suwannasuppana said that people will have to settle for an old-style card until the Department of Local Administration…
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Kamala to get traditional Thai-Chinese medical center
KAMALA: Cabinet has approved a plan to build a traditional Thai-Chinese medical center with the assistance of the Chinese government at the site of the Kamala Public Health Office.Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO) Chief Dr Wanchai Sattayawuthipong told the Gazette the center will provide Thai and Chinese traditional treatments to both Thai and foreign patients.The PPHO, which drew up the…
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TTVI chief Khemmarin transferred
BANGKOK (Kom Chad Luek/Gazette): Pol Col Khemmarin Hassiri, the Superintendent in charge of the Thailand Tsunami Victim Identification (TTVI) center, has been transferred to an inactive position at the Police Forensic Science Office pending an investigation into allegations that money donated to the TTVI was used improperly.Ireland and Denmark have now added their names to the list of countries demanding…
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Cost of Phuket living rises 4.9%
PHUKET: The consumer price index in Phuket increased 4.9% in 2006, comprising sharp increases in several food categories, the Phuket Commercial Affairs Office has reported.Food and beverage prices increased 6% overall, led by sharp increases in fruits and vegetables (12.9%); basic ingredients (17%); and meat, poultry and seafood (8.6%).The combined increases in all non-food-and-beverage categories was 4%, led by the…
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Doubt lingers over Legionnaire’s “outbreak’ claims
PATONG: Reports in the Finnish press of Legionnaire’s Disease being contracted by a group of tourists staying at a hotel in Patong have yet to be confirmed, as tests are still being conducted by the Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO), Ministry of Public Health and the World Health Organization.As of press time, no proof of the bacteria Legionella has been…
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Former Sheriff robbed en route from Bangkok
MAI KHAO: A former Sheriff in San Bernadino County, California, had valuables stolen from his luggage while it was on an Orient Thai Airlines One-Two-Go flight from Bangkok to Phuket on January 10.Californian Larry Morgan, who is in Thailand on a month-long trip, said that he checked his bag in with One-Two-Go staff at Suvarnabhumi Airport about 7 pm on January…
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Hotel thieves nabbed at airport
PATONG: A 20-year-old man and a 14-year-old girl were arrested at Phuket International Airport January 10 while in possession of more than 250,000 baht’s worth of Swiss francs and a digital camera they had stolen from a couple staying in Patong.Duty Inspector Pol Lt Col Pisit Chunpet, of Kathu District Police Station, said the thieves, whom he declined to name, were…
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Desalination plant finally comes onstream
KARON: The new desalination plant capable of producing up to 12,000 cubic meters of potable water a day is in its final testing stages and will begin full production by the end of this month, says the head of the island’s largest water supply system.Phuket Provincial Water Supply (PPWS) Manager Sayan Wareearoonroj told the Gazette that the plant, which uses…
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Property expo expected to set record
PHUKET CITY: The Property Investment Exhibition 2007 (PIE), the annual property show staged by the Phuket Provincial Land Office and Phuket Real Estate Club, is expected to set a record 500 million baht in sales and reservations, Thanet Traiwut, Managing Director of exhibition organizer Delice Thai, told the Gazette.Most of the properties sold or reserved were valued at five to…
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Jungceylon borrows B2.6 billion for expansion
PATONG: Jungceylon’s parent company, Phuket Square Co Ltd, has borrowed an additional 2.6 billion baht to further expand the Patong shopping complex.The money will be spent on the plaza area, building decorations, a road expansion and to finish construction of the on-site hotel. Last week Suchad Chiaranussati, President of Phuket Square Co Ltd, signed a six-year loan with the Bank…
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Tsunami buoy warning would be “too late’ – Smith
PHUKET: Because of its location, the lone tsunami direct detection buoy deployed last month in the middle of the Indian Ocean would offer little advance warning to Phuket in the event of another tsunami generated off the Indonesian Coast, Dr Smith Dharmasaroja, head of the National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) in Nonthaburi, has told the Gazette.Dr Smith said that the…
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Gambling still Phuket’s top vice
PHUKET: With 62 cases resulting in 204 arrests from December 1 to 30, gambling remains the most popular crime committed in Phuket. Illegal lottery ticket sales counted for 44 of the arrests. Drug-related cases totaled 105 with 125 people arrested. Ya bah (methamphetamine) was involved in 35 of those cases, with 53 people arrested and 938.5 pills seized.There were 33…
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Patong to set new parking zones
PATONG: New parking zones will go into effect in Patong on January 15, when a one-way traffic system will begin operating along three major roads in the central tourist district. Starting at 6 am on January 15, all southbound traffic will be routed along Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Rd, which will become one-way. Northbound traffic will be routed along the beach road.All connecting…
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US experts lead counter-terrorism workshop
PATONG: Some 30 Thai police and military personnel are undergoing a two-week “Military Law Enforcement/Boarding Officer” course conducted by US military experts at the Patong Resort Hotel.The training, which began Monday, is the latest of many ventures funded by the US Defense Department’s Counter Terrorism Fellowship Program (CTFP) for Thailand. The program, which in 2006 had a budget of about…
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Tourism Minister affirms tourism targets
PHUKET CITY: Tourism and Sports Minister Dr Suwit Yodmanee yesterday affirmed the government’s national targets for 2007 of 14.8 million foreign tourists and 82 million Thai tourists, with earnings of 547,500 million baht and 377,800 million baht respectively.Dr Suwit announced the targets at a meeting of about 280 government and private sector representatives from the 14 southern provinces at The…
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More than 5,000 fake credit cards seized
KATHU: Police have arrested three Sri Lankan men for credit card fraud, seizing more than 5,000 bogus credit cards allegedly encoded with information from real credit cards.Police suspect the three men may be part of a much larger ring operating in popular tourists areas throughout Thailand and other parts of the world.Pol Lt Col Boonlert Onklang of the Kathu Police…
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