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THAI silk turning to sandpaper?
BANGKOK (AFP): Thai Airways (a.k.a THAI) is re-launching the quest for a leader who can get the airline to shrug off its rapidly deteriorating image and revalidate its claims of running “smooth as silk”. THAI’s reputation used to be one of the best in Asia. But analysts and passengers are starting to see the airline fall apart. And Thailand’s prime…
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Phuket Town inches closer to public buses
PHUKET TOWN: Public bus services are set to start next month on two routes in Phuket Town as soon as the vehicles are ready, says a senior member of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor). The proposed transport breakthrough follows years of promises and postponements. The biggest hurdle now faced by the project is opposition from tuk-tuk drivers and motorcycle…
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Police traffic blitz set for January 16
PHUKET TOWN: January 16 will be D-day for traffic offenders in Phuket Town, Pol Lt Col Teeraphol Thipjaroen, Deputy Superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station, warned today. On that day, he told the Gazette, police will arrest anyone caught breaking traffic laws in Phuket Town, with special attention being paid to motorcyclists not wearing helmets. The crackdown will coincide with…
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Minister warns civil servants about prostitution
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand’s interior minister, who has been hailed for a clampdown on the country’s flourishing illegal sex trade, today warned civil servants of severe action if caught using under-age prostitutes. Purachai Piumsomboon has ordered the dismissal of any government employee found to use child prostitutes or women forced into prostitution, following a series of recent scandals. One 12 year-old…
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Police seize fuel-smuggling mother ship
PHUKET: Marine Police boarded and seized two Thai tankers laden with a total of 1.1 million liters of gasoline, which was being smuggled into the country on New Year’s Day. Pol Col Peera Boonliang, Superintendent of the Phuket Marine Police, said this morning that investigations into a smuggling ring led to the raids in which eight Thai crewmen were arrested.…
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When an island is not an island
PHUKET TOWN: Is Phuket an island? This was the difficult question that Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi was asked to rule on this morning after more than 70 Thai tour guides came to his office to protest against the arrests of two of their colleagues by the Tourist Police. The two guides were arrested after it was found they possessed only…
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Tourist in heated exchange with police
BANGKOK (AFP): An American arrested for refusing to pay his bill at a bar on the resort island of Koh Samui later started a fire at a local police station, authorities said this morning. Robert Alexander Sharkey, 36, was arrested at the bar last night when he refused to pay his food and beverage tab of about 1,000 baht (22…
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Phuket holiday road deaths down, but injuries up
PHUKET: In sharp contrast to the high road death toll around the country, only two fatalities were reported in Phuket between December 27 and January 1. Four people died in the province during the same period last year. Where Phuket did record scores more in line with the national statistics was in the number of people injured on the roads…
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One dead, two stabbed at ‘full moon’ party
BANGKOK (AFP): One foreigner drowned and two Britons were stabbed and seriously wounded during a giant beach party at a southern Thai resort last night. According to local reports, about 50,000 people – mainly foreigners – were at the party. A tourist police spokesman on the nearby island of Koh Samui said one foreigner was drowned after going for a…
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Resorts busy but suffering
BANGKOK (AFP): Many resorts have no rooms left, but Thailand’s key tourism industry has taken a battering over the New Year holidays because of the September 11 terror attacks, according to a study released today. Thai Farmers Research Center (TFRC) said fears of terrorism and the gloomy world economy would drive New Year revenue from foreign tourists down to 3.0…
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Yacht excise tax finally reduced
PHUKET: The chief of the Phuket Provincial Excise Office, Narong Srivanitchakorn, has announced that the long-awaited reduction in excise tax on foreign registered yachts has finally come into effect. The new rate of excise tax means that anyone keeping a foreign-registered boat in Thailand for longer than six months must pay taxes and duties totaling 37.6%, or 47.2% if the…
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Senator steps into land row
PA KHLOK: Phuket Senator Paiboon Upatising stepped into the middle of a dispute between local villagers and a Bangkok-based landowner yesterday, standing surety for 15 villagers accused of trespass and of obstructing government officials in the execution of their duty. The charges relate to a piece of land abutting the klong in which villagers keep their fishing boats. The villagers…
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Firecracker blasts restaurant window
PHUKET TOWN: A firecracker planted outside the Tokyo House Japanese restaurant exploded yesterday at 2 am, making a hole in the restaurant’s front window. A second firecracker failed to detonate. Tanongsak Vongsanikul, the owner and manager of the restaurant on Phang Nga Rd, played down the incident. He told the Gazette, “I’m not taking the matter too seriously, and I…
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CAT appeals for web watchdogs
THAILAND: The Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT) has appealed to the public to report any websites that contain rude words, that promote pornography or illicit drugs, or that defame royalty or any religion. The CAT will forward reports to the Royal Thai Police for investigation. To make a report between 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, call 02-6142514-5 or fax 02-…
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Baby elephant up for “adoption’
PHUKET: The Elephant Help Project (EHP) has appealed for people to “adopt” the soon-to-be-born calf of 18-year-old elephant Sairoong, who is expecting to see in the New Year with her first baby. The arrival of the newborn jumbo will not be a first just for Sairoong, according to Chotika Hotrapavanon, Executive Director of the EHP. She told the Gazette that…
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Red herring in reef bombing probe
KRABI: Investigators probing the dynamiting of coral in Koh Lanta National Park thought they had made a breakthrough yesterday when a tip-off led them to two men who, they found, were in possession of explosives. Questioning revealed, however, that the two suspects had not been involved in the destruction of the Hin Daeng and Hin Muang reefs. Pol Col Adisak…
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Pirate goods warehouses raided
PATONG: More than 50 officers from Bangkok’s Crime Suppression Division (CSD) netted more than 7,000 items of fake brand-name merchandise yesterday evening in raids on five warehouses near the market off Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Rd. The officers organized the raids after being tipped off by private investigators hired by popular brand-name companies. Raphee Chumprapa, who tracks down illegal copies of…
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Stats show tourism boom – up to September
THAILAND: Before the effects of the September 11 atrocities hit, Thailand’s tourism was booming, with the number of tourists visiting the country up by more than 7% on the figure for 2000. According to the latest statistics issued by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), 7,496,718 international tourists arrived between January 1 and September 30 – a 7.16% increase on…
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15th murder this year in fishing port
PHUKET TOWN: A man was found murdered on Sunday in the fishing port on Soi Si Sena, raising this year’s murder toll in the area to at least 15. Pol Maj Jiradej Kawinkij of Phuket Town Police Station said that police, after receiving a report at around 8:30 am, arrived at the scene to find the body floating in the…
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Ambushes kill five police, one guard
BANGKOK (AFP): Gunmen opened fire in simultaneous attacks on police checkpoints in three southern Thai provinces, killing five officers and a civilian guard, officials said this morning. The unidentified attackers hit five police outposts – one in Yala, one in Pattani, and three in Narathiwat – at about 7:30 last night, local police said. Thai Interior Minister Purachai Piemsoomboon said…
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Vendor arrested for selling protected fish
PHUKET TOWN: A vendor has been arrested for selling protected fish species at the Rassada Pier today, just days after Phuket Senator Paiboon Upatising lodged an official complaint with Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi about gaps in the law that allow many arrested for illegal fishing to walk free. Acting on a tip-off, the Marine Police and officers from the Provincial…
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60,000 nabbed in clean-up
BANGKOK (AFP): Almost 60,000 people were arrested in the first three months of the ongoing crackdown on Bangkok’s after-hours nightspots, brothels and gambling dens, police said today. Thai police spokesman Pongsapat Pongcharoen said the crackdown had resulted in 24,867 cases involving 58,894 people. Some 8,621 people were caught betting in Thailand’s huge underground lottery while 540 people were busted for…
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Police step up festive season security
PATONG: Police will tonight launch a campaign to improve tourists’ safety over the festive season by beefing up the police presence on the street. The campaign will run until January 15. A task force of 100 officers, drawn from Phuket’s Tourist, Marine and Highway Police as well as officers from Kathu Police Station, will assemble at 8 pm tonight at…
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Naughty tour guides in the spotlight
PHUKET: Vice-governor Vinai Buapradit chaired a meeting of high-ranking officials, tour guides and tourism industry representatives on Friday to discuss the problem of tour guides who damage Phuket’s tourism. At the meeting, K. Vinai highlighted the importance of the issue, saying, “The problem with tour guides is important because they represent 60 million Thais. “I’ve asked everybody here today to…
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Judgment soon on murder suspect’s sanity
PHUKET: Specialists at the Suan Saranlom Hospital in Surat Thani say that by the end of this month they will be able to form a judgment as to whether murder suspect Siwadol “Dol” Lomin is insane or not. Dol is the prime suspect in the murder of popular Koh Yao long-tail boatman Bangsen Jaidee, 52, whose body was found floating…
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Cabinet slashes visas on arrival
BANGKOK (AFP, Gazette): The cabinet decided at a meeting yesterday to axe 81 nations from a list of 97 whose citizens may obtain a 15-day tourist visa on arrival. The new list of 16 is expected to be brought into force about a month from now. Citizens from the countries chopped off the list will then have to obtain a…
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Boom in business registrations
PHUKET: The latest statistics on business registrations show that business people on the island are not nearly as pessimistic as might be thought, given the global downturn and the expected effects of the September 11 atrocities. In fact, the numbers from the Phuket Commercial Registration Office (CRO) show, there has been an increase in new business registrations. Veerachai Tantiwathanavallop, Director…
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Rassada Port officially opened
PHUKET TOWN: CEO Governor Pongpayome Vasaputi today officially opened Rassada Port. The port, which was built by and belongs to the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor), is managed by SeaTran Travel Co, which on August 20 was awarded the contract to operate the port for 30 years. SeaTran plans to develop the port into a center for tourist distribution, and…
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All-night opening for Christmas, New Year
PHUKET: The Royal Thai Police announced today that, as in previous years, entertainment venues may stay open from Christmas Eve until 6 am on Christmas Day, and from New Year’s Eve until 6 am on New Year’s Day. Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station, told the Gazette, “All entertainment venues will be allowed to trade through…
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Gov backs away from Phi Phi row
PHUKET: Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi today backed away from his controversial suggestion that the national government should buy out existing businesses on the Phi Phi islands and run the islands as a state enterprise. Addressing a press conference, the Governor said, laughing, “I don’t want to talk about this. I just wanted to shed some light on the subject. “I…
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