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Pavena raid fails to free sex slaves
TUB LAMU: Politician Pavena Hongsakul, champion of abused women in Thailand, yesterday accompanied police on a raid on a brothel in this Phang Nga village in a bid to free women believed to have been forced into prostitution. But she and the police came away empty-handed, the owner of the brothel having apparently been tipped off minutes before they arrived.…
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Two held on fake gold charges
PHUKET TOWN: Two women were arrested on Saturday night for pawning fake gold in order to get money to gamble at a casino near Kathu. Pol Maj Sermpan Sirikong, Chief of the Special Duties Division of the Phuket Provincial Police Department, said that he received a complaint from Paisarn Vechawanichsanong, a pawnbroker, that he had paid 90,000 baht to vegetable…
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Tourist raped on Koh Samui
KOH SAMUI: A 26-year-old Norwegian tourist was allegedly raped by a sorng taew (local bus) driver around midnight yesterday. The woman, identified by police as Gry Slaem, told police that she had been drinking with a friend and had fallen asleep. When she woke, her friend was gone and she did not know the way back to her room at…
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Still no sign of fugitive mayor
PHUKET: Almost a year after a warrant was issued for his arrest on charges of involvement in a murder, the former mayor of Patong, Dr Anan Ananthanawat, is still being sought by police. Pol Lt Col Paween Pongsirin, Deputy Superintendent of Investigation at Phuket Town Police Station, told the Gazette that a team of Provincial Special Duty Squad officers had…
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Deadly rat disease “found in Phuket’
PHUKET TOWN: Health authorities in Phuket are waiting for the results of lab tests being performed in Bangkok to confirm a doctor’s diagnosis that a Phuket Town man has contracted the potentially deadly disease, leptospirosis. The victim is Thaweeporn Thongterm, 24. He reported to Phuket International Hospital on Monday evening suffering from symptoms which, said Dr Ekachai Singtiraj, were strongly…
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Police raid clothing warehouse
PATONG: Phuket Tourist Police yesterday evening raided a warehouse allegedly used to store forged brand-name shoes and clothing. Pol Capt Sanya Poachsalee, Sub-Inspector Section 14 of the Phuket Tourist Police, said that officers were tipped off by an informant that the warehouse, at 179/11 Soi Talad Nud Patong, off Rat-U-Thit Rd, was being used to store the counterfeit goods. The…
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PTA moves to new offices
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Tourist Association (PTA) this morning opened its new offices on the bypass road, opposite the Nissan showroom. It previously had offices in the Tourism Authority of Thailand building on Phuket Rd. At the ceremony, Sombat Atiset, managing director of the Kata Thani Hotel and Beach Resort, was officially installed as the new president of the PTA.…
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Power company schedules blackouts
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Electricity Authority (PPEA) has announced scheduled blackouts for the month of September. The PPEA will be clearing tree branches and installing orange insulating covers on power lines in these areas. The blackouts will last from 9 am to 4 pm. September 12: from Kwang Rd to Chalong Circle, including Chaofa Nai Rd, Moo Baan Tiwarathanee, Baan…
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Phuket police launch websites
PHUKET: Two police departments in Phuket have created websites to improve communication with the public. The Phuket Immigration Police have set up a website at https://www.phuketimmigration.com“>https://www.phuketimmigration.com. There, anyone may report aliens who break the law, appear to present a security threat, or are “behaving strangely”, the Superintendent of Phuket Immigration Police, Col Apilak Hongtong, explained. The Phuket Provincial Police website…
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Money row halts airport road construction
PHUKET: The long-drawn-out project to complete the highway from Phuket Town to the Sarasin Bridge has once again been brought to a standstill by disputes over compensation to land-owners. Visut Maiwatana, chief of the Phuket Highway Sub-district Office, and the civil servant in charge of the highway, explained that the billion-baht, 38-kilometer project was originally due to be completed by…
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Meningitis makes a deadly comeback
PHUKET: In the first seven months of this year, 15 people have died in Thailand of meningococcal meningitis. Of these deaths, two were in Phuket. The highest rate of infection was in the South, where 16 people contracted the disease. Six of them died. Next was Central Thailand, where 13 were infected, resulting in another six deaths. In the North…
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Danish tourist dies at waterfall
THALANG: Mrs Dorthe Malakiassen, a 41-year-old Danish tourist, died at the Ton Sai waterfall on Friday. Pol Capt Surat Muagsri of Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that the victim, a guest at the Thara Patong Hotel, went to the waterfall in Thalang with her husband and two friends around 2:30 pm. “After arriving, they went swimming and were…
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House burns on Mae Luan Rd
PHUKET TOWN: Police are investigating the cause of a fire in a house on Mae Luan Rd last night. The case investigator, Pol Capt Surat Moangsri of the Phuket Town Police Station, told the Gazette he was alerted at about 6:30 pm that the house, number 17/27 on Mae Luan Rd, behind the Tessaban Plook Panya School, was on fire.…
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Four to run in Patong by-election
PATONG: Four candidates are to run in a by-election on September 24 to fill a vacant seat in the Patong Municipality. The contenders are Weerasak Kaminthong of the Rak Patong Party – which currently holds the majority in the council – and three independents: Jamrak Eamsaad, Samran Ponkaew and Peerapan Suwannachart. As with the upcoming by-election in Phuket’s Provincial Administration…
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Six to run for OrBorJor seat
PHUKET: Six candidates have announced plans to stand in a by-election on September 23 to fill a vacant seat in Phuket’s Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor). The six hopefuls are Chockchai Kitsaloran of the OrBorJor Kao Mai Party – which currently holds the majority in the council – and five independents: Teerasak Wichutanont, Wisut Tangwittayaporn, Samran Jindapon, Chonramat Thanundornwat and Wittaya…
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Thief stabs store manager in neck
PHUKET TOWN: A manager of a Kata jewelry store is lying in the Bangkok Phuket Hospital tonight after being stabbed in the neck during a struggle with a thief at his Sam Kong home yesterday. Police said that Prasit Rattanakultontip, 40, a manager of P James Jewelry in Kata, was stabbed by an unidentified man while he was cleaning his…
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Illegal immigrants top crime stats
PHUKET: Illegal immigration cases overtook gambling to top the list of crimes committed during the month of August, according to statistics released today by the Phuket Provincial Police. The figures show that 170 illegal immigrants were arrested in Phuket between August 1 and 25. In the same period, narcotics possession and trafficking cases came in second with a total of…
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Stats show business is booming
PHUKET: Business in Phuket is booming this year, if the latest figures from the Provincial Revenue Office and the Commercial Registration Office are any guide. Statistics covering the tax collected in the first 10 months of the 1999/2000 tax year show that the number of businesses paying tax has risen by 10.91% and that they are making money – the…
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Phuket to get new governor
PHUKET: The Governor of Phuket for the past year, Charnchai Soontharamut, will move to a new post as Governor of Surat Thani Province on October 1, as part of a nationwide reshuffling of 34 governors and senior staff of the Ministry of Interior. He will be replaced by Pongpayome Vasaputi, currently the Governor of Narathiwat province, the southernmost province of…
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Bangladeshi murdered by gangsters
PHUKET TOWN: A Bangladeshi man was murdered on Monday near the Ta & Yai restaurant on Soi Taringchan, allegedly by a member of a Burmese gang. Pol Maj Pissanu Poonwongs of the Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that officers received a phone call yesterday around 3 pm, informing them that somebody had been murdered next to the restaurant.…
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19 die in traffic accidents
PHUKET: Nineteen people died in traffic accidents between June 20 and July 20, according to statistics from the Wachira, Thalang and Patong government hospitals. Ampaipan Pawawattananusorn of the Phuket Provincial Health Office reports that 18 of the victims died while on motorcycles, while one was in a car. In the same period, 57 people were injured in car accidents, while…
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Phang Nga counts storm damage
PHANG NGA: Provincial officials have been counting the cost of damage caused by Tropical Storm Kaemi after it hit Southern Thailand last week. Deputy Provincial Governor Wut Sitthisurat yesterday submitted a report on damage caused by the storm to officials at the Ministry of Interior, in which he estimated damage in six districts at 1.1 million baht. He added in…
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Airport throughput up in July
PHUKET: Heartening news again for the low season comes with the latest monthly figures issued by Phuket International Airport. These show an 8.69% rise in passengers using the airport in July, compared with July 1999. The statistics show that 267,436 passengers went through the airport in July of this year compared with 246,062 in the same month last year. The…
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Police station wins top prize again
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Town Police Station has beaten 60 other police stations in seven southern provinces to win first prize in the “Police Station for People” competition for the second year in a row. Pol Col Chalit Thinthanee, the police station’s superintendent, explained that the competition covered police stations across Region 8, which comprises Surat Thani, Chumphon, Ranong, Phuket, Nakhon…
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Crime statistics for July released
PHUKET: District patrolmen and crime suppression officers arrested more than 300 people for various crimes during the month of July. Gambling once again topped the monthly crime statistics released today by Phuket Provincial Police. 202 people were arrested for gambling in the course of 109 raids. Narcotics arrests were next on the list, with 129 defendants arrested in 106 cases.…
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Storms contribute to fatal traffic accident
PHUKET TOWN: Two people were killed in a weather-related traffic accident on the bypass road Saturday night. Pol Maj Pitsanoo Poolwong of Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that the deaths occurred when a Toyota pick-up truck was involved in a collision with a bus coming in the opposite direction around midnight. Maj Pitsanoo said that the accident occurred…
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Tropical Storm Graeme rattles Phuket
PHUKET: Amorn Chantanavivate, Director of the Southwestern Regional Meteorological Center, told the Gazette today that the heavy downpours in southern Thailand over the last four days were being caused by a southwesterly monsoon named Tropical Storm Graeme. TS Graeme was created when a low-pressure system from the South China Sea developed into a depression, causing heavy rains and strong winds…
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Live grenade found at Karon Beach
KARON: A grenade with the trigger held locked only by a rusty wire was found behind Wat Karon near Karon Beach on Saturday. Chalong police informed officers from the provincial Special Duties Squad just after midnight that an M-67 grenade had been discovered behind Wat Karon, which is on the Karon Beach road. Pol Sgt Maj Thongsook Thongchang, leader of…
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Phuket Gazette under investigation
PHUKET TOWN: Investigators from the Tourist Police and the Phuket Provincial Employment Service Office (ESO) spent this afternoon at the offices of the Phuket Gazette, probing into an allegation that the newspaper employs numerous foreigners without work permits. The allegation was made in a letter to the Tourist Police signed by “Jobless Graduate”. The writer complained that he or she…
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Hotels move to block provincial tax
PHUKET: The Phuket Tourism Association (PTA) and the island’s Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) appeared today to be on a collision course over a proposed new tax on hotel rooms. According to the Provincial Administration Organization Act of 1997, any OrBorJor may collect a tax equivalent to as much as 5% of room revenue from all forms of accommodation in its…
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