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Is cannabis really safe? Here’s what you need to know
Thai society’s views on cannabis continue to change for the better as the industry grows. More and more people are starting to embrace the plant for its medicinal and holistic wellness benefits. But despite growing acceptance, some stigma and perception...
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Bangsen murder probe hits a wall
SURAT THANI: Investigations into the murder of Koh Yao boatman Bangsen Jaidee hit a wall yesterday when doctors refused to allow officers to interview the chief suspect. Police from Thalang Police Station went to Saranlom Hospital in Surat Thani, which specializes in diseases of the mind, intending to interrogate Siwadol “Dol” Lomin. Dol was taken to the hospital by his…
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Another bomb blast at Tesco Lotus
BANGKOK (AFP): A bomb blast rocked another branch of retailer Tesco Lotus this afternoon in the third attack against the chain since a deadly terror campaign began in July. Today’s bomb went off in the parking lot of the Lotus store in the northern province of Ubon Ratchatani, said provincial police commander Chalosak A-sa. Chalosak said police were still investigating…
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Police deny Duongchalerm is in Patong
PATONG: The Superintendent of Kathu Police Station has said he does not believe reports that fugitive Duongchalerm Yoobamrung, wanted in connection with the murder of an undercover police officer in Bangkok, is hiding out in the Patong area. Seventeen days after the shooting in a Bangkok nightclub, politician’s son Duongchalerm is still at large. Officers of the Crime Suppression Division…
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Two men caught in ya bah busts
PHUKET TOWN: Two men were arrested on Sunday on charges involving possession of 49 ya bah (methamphetamine) pills, a 12-gauge shotgun with four shells and 8,280 baht in cash. The arrests were made during a joint operation involving a total of 11 officers from the Phuket Branch of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board and Phuket’s Marine Police. Acting…
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PTA protests air fares price hike
PHUKET: The Phuket Tourism Association (PTA) is making a last-ditch effort to convince Thai Airways (THAI) to reconsider its 15% price hike on domestic flights, due to come into effect tomorrow. Kitti Phatanachinda, Vice President of the PTA, told the Gazette today that PTA members are sending a letter to the board of THAI, the central government and the Tourism…
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Suspect named in boatman’s murder
PHUKET: Police have named a man they wish to interview in connection with the murder of Koh Yao longtail boatman Bangsen Jaidee, whose body was found floating in the sea off Naka Noi island yesterday. Pol Col Chatchai Sakulporn, superintendent of Thalang District Police Station, named the wanted man as Siwadol “Dol” Lomin, also from Koh Yao, a member of…
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Villagers battle landowner
PA KHLOK: Fifteen villagers were warned by police yesterday for trespassing on land belonging to Taweesak Apichatmaneekul, a Bangkok-based businessman. The warning is the latest development in an increasingly heated dispute over land ownership and local fishermen’s rights of access to their boats. The latest confrontation came after K. Taweesak recently started fencing off the boundaries to his land, including…
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Briton to be extradited over killing
BANGKOK (AFP): A Briton wanted in his home country for murder, and who was found hiding out in Patong, is expected to be extradited from Thailand within the week, police said yesterday. Peter Mann, 45, was arrested in July in connection with the murder of David Maher, 37, whose dumped body was discovered by a milkman in Devon, southwestern England,…
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Local boat owner shot dead
KOH YAO: A well-known and widely respected long-tail boat owner was found today floating in the sea off Naka Noi Island after he disappeared two days ago. The body of 52-year-old Bangsen Jaidee was found by his daughter who, with other family members, had been searching for the missing man since Saturday. The Gazette understands that he had been shot…
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Gov sparks furore with Phi Phi proposal
PHUKET: Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi has landed in the middle of a war of words after suggesting that the central government should buy the Phi Phi islands, kick out private businesses and run the islands as a state enterprise. During a speech about the CEO system at a Thai Rak Thai Party seminar on Friday at the Patong Beach Hotel,…
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Drugs claiming ever younger victims
BANGKOK (AFP): When Supabun Kosum took her first methamphetamine tablet she was a curious 18-year-old schoolgirl wanting only “to test” if the little orange pill delivered the euphoria and invincibility her friends raved about. But her schoolyard experimentation with the drug in Thailand’s northern Nakhon Sawan province touched off a seven-year addiction that would consume her life and her income,…
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Aussies dominate Laguna Triathlon
LAGUNA PHUKET: Once again, Australian competitors dominated this year’s 8th Thai Airways Laguna Phuket Triathlon, taking first and second places in both men’s and women’s competitions. Twenty-two-year-old Courtney Atkinson, from Australia, stormed in first to claim victory in an overall unofficial time of 2 hours, 30 minutes and 37 seconds. “It’s the nicest place I’ve ever raced,” Atkinson said afterwards.…
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Drug bust nets six men and over 4,000 pills
PHUKET TOWN: Police arrested six men on Tuesday in a plain-clothes bust involving more than 4,000 ya bah (methamphetamine) pills. Acting on a tip off, Pol Lt Worapojt Watanasuwan and his squad of plain clothes officers from Phuket Town Police Station, organized to meet Tawit Juansri, 23, Wasin Sotatas, 30, and Surachai Jankaew, 23, at 6:30 am at a public…
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Turtle island to be opened to visitors
PHANG NGA: The Similan National Park authorities will open nine islands to visitors from next Thursday, including one that is usually closed to the public for the protection of sea turtles. Tipawadee Thambamrung, the park’s public relations officer at the Tub Lamu office, told the Gazette, “It’s very special for visitors this year. We’ve going to allow them to stay…
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Two seized boats sold at auction
PHUKET TOWN: Two confiscated yachts were sold at auction this morning at the Phuket Customs Region 5 office. Niwat Triemsantipap, the assistant general manager of the Maiton Resort, bid 720,000 baht to acquire the nine-meter speedboat “Seafarer” for the resort, while another resort, Moonlight Bay on Koh Lanta, bought the 9.8-meter Hatteras motor cruiser, “Old Crow”, for 619,000 baht. K.…
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THAI to hike domestic fares by 15pc
PHUKET: Fares for domestic flights on Thai Airways (THAI) will be hiked by 15% with effect from November 15, Viset Sontichai, THAI’s District Sales Manager for Upper Southern Thailand, announced today. The newspaper Thai Rath reported that the rise was because THAI’s domestic services, with the exception of those between Phuket, Bangkok and Chiang Mai, were unprofitable. The news agency…
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Children reminded about overstay fines
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Immigration Office has issued a reminder that foreign children over seven years of age who overstay their permits to be in Thailand – whether in their own passport or included in a parent’s passport – face fines of 200 baht for each day they overstay. Pol Lt Col Paisan Deedoykhar, Inspector of the Phuket Immigration Police,…
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A job for Crocodile Dundee
BANGKOK: Thai authorities yesterday stepped up their hunt for about 10 fully-grown saltwater crocodiles that have been on the lam since escaping from a farm in flash floods last week. Four of the reptiles, measuring three to four meters in length, have already been captured near the Million Years Crocodile Farm, about 175 kilometers east of Bangkok. Another two reptiles…
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MAS ditches Phuket-Penang flights
PHUKET: Malaysia Airlines has canceled its regular thrice-weekly Phuket-Penang service and has instead increased the number of flights between Kuala Lumpur and Phuket. With effect from October 28, the airline boosted the number of KL-Phuket flights from nine to 14 a week. Tajul Arrissin Kamal, director of Malaysia Airlines Phuket, said the decision was made as part of an effort…
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Outrage at escape from murder rap
BANGKOK (AFP): The Thaksin government’s failure to apprehend the son of a widely distrusted politician has exposed glaring flaws in Thai democracy. Murder suspect Doungchalerm Yubamrung, a junior army officer and the son of a prominent member of Thaksin’s coalition government, has been on the run for a week since a police officer was shot dead in cold blood at…
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Carnival marks start of high season
PATONG: The Patong Carnival 2001 yesterday marked the opening of this year’s tourism high season. The day’s activities, which began in the morning with a merit-making ceremony, included a beach clean-up, a coral exhibition and a mini-marathon fun run. The highlight of the carnival was the colorful evening parade along Thaweewong Rd and into Soi Bangla. The parade, which was…
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One-stop shop for yachts to reopen
CHALONG: Phuket Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi will reopen the “one-stop shop” in Chalong for visiting yachts and their crews next Monday. The Phuket Port Control Center (PPCC), was originally opened in 1999 by the then-Governor Chadej Insawang. It was closed down more than a year ago, officially because there were not enough officers to man it and there was no…
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Duongchalerm disappears; manhunt launched
BANGKOK (AFP): A nationwide manhunt was launched today for Duongchalerm Yoobamrung, wanted for the killing of a police officer at a city nightclub on Sunday, after he apparently slipped away from both the Thai military and the police. The search for Duongchalerm, son of Thai parliamentarian Chalerm Yoobamrung, was launched after he failed to surrender to authorities today, as promised…
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Cooking gas price rises on the way
PHUKET: The island can expect substantial rises in the price of cooking gas over the coming few weeks, after the government announced today that it had stopped subsidizing the fuel and was allowing vendors to set their own prices. So far, cooking gas prices in Phuket remain at much the same levels as before, at about 190 baht for a…
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Seized speedboat to be auctioned
PHUKET: A nine-meter British-built speedboat with twin 200hp Mercury engines, seized from a dive company in Ao Chalong earlier this year, will be put up for auction on November 8 at the Phuket Customs Region 5 offices on Phuket Rd. As with previous vessels put up for auction, the speedboat, “Seafarer”, was seized for alleged non-payment of Thailand’s crushing boat…
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Road injuries toll nearing 10,000
PHUKET: Road deaths in Phuket between January 1 and September 20 are down on the past two years, according to the latest government statistics, but the number of people injured this year is heading rapidly for five figures. According to statistics from the Wachira, Thalang and Patong government hospitals, 11 people died as a result of traffic accidents between August…
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Rise in babies named Osama
BANGKOK (AFP): The name Osama has become popular for newborn babies in Thailand’s predominantly Muslim south since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, officials said today. “The name Osama can be applied to both boys and girls, and to my knowledge there are many newborn babies [receiving this name],” said Irfan Sulong, a member of the Yala…
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New Provincial Palad takes office
PHUKET: Vithit Jiannai took office yesterday as Phuket’s new Provincial Palad, Governer CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi announced this morning at the monthly meeting of provincial department heads. K. Vithit, who was transferred from Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, replaces Dr Sumeth Chailertvanitkul, who yesterday moved to a new post as Palad of Nakhon Sawan Province.
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Murder warrant issued for Chalerm’s son
BANGKOK (AFP): Thai police today issued a warrant for the arrest of Duongchalerm Yoobamrung, 29-year-old son of top MP Chalerm Yoobamrung, for shooting dead a police officer in a Bangkok nightclub. Inspector General Suraphon Kanchanajittra said he ordered the arrest of Sub-Lt Doungchalerm for premeditated murder after witnesses reported seeing him fire the fatal shot last night. “There were two…
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Top businessman dies of heart attack
PHUKET: Banlue Tantiwit, former President of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) died this morning of a heart attack. Phuket-born K. Banlue, who was 70, was also the Founding Chairman of the Phuket Rotary Club, a former Chairman of the Kathu Shrine and Chairman of the Phuket Sports Association. A well-known businessman, he was Chairman of the Board of the…
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