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Tourists hurt by long-tail propeller
PATONG: A Swedish father and his son were badly lacerated on Thursday when a long-tail boat ran over them as they swam at Freedom Beach, just south of Patong. Pol Capt Boonlert Onklang of Kathu Police Station said that the father and son, whom he named as Olle Sundin, 43, and Maenus Sundin, 15, were apparently under the water when…
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Marijuana dealer arrested
CHALONG: Police yesterday arrested Pan Inraksa, 40, in Rawai for possession of marijuana with intent to sell the drug. Pol Lt Teerawat Liumsuwan of Chalong Police Station told the Gazette that the police had received reports that many people living in Baan Bangkontee, Moo 4, in Rawai had recently been robbed. The people believed that the robbers were local teenagers,…
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Police drop charges against dive instructor
CHALONG: Police today dropped charges against a foreign dive instructor who was arrested at the end of February for working without a tour-guide license. The charge was dropped on the grounds that a diver working in Thailand does not require such a license, contrary to assertions made earlier by the Phuket Tourist Police. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), which…
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Chuan ally named to replace Sanan
BANGKOK (AFP): The deputy leader of the ruling Democrat Party, Banyat Banthadtan, is to be appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister, Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai announced today. Banyat’s appointment will fill the two Cabinet posts left vacant by Sanan Kachornprasart who resigned last week after being accused of filing a false financial statement with the National Counter Corruption Commission.…
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Phuket to ‘get tough’ on jet-skis
PHUKET: Phuket is to get tough on jet-ski operators again, it was decided yesterday at a meeting of officials from across the island. Chaired by vice-governor Amnuay Sanguannam, the meeting brought together officials from the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), district offices, the Harbor Department, the Marine Police, the Tourist Police and other police. Representatives from the local jet-ski industry…
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Jet-ski race organizers slam Phuket
PHUKET: The Jet Sports Boating Association of Thailand (TJSBA) has hit back at Phuket for declining to host the Thai Airways International-Jet Sports King’s Cup Thailand Open 2000 jet-ski races. The criticism came soon after the Governor of Phuket, Charnchai Soontharamut, and about 30 others from different associations on the island turned down the TJSBA’s proposal on the grounds that…
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Similans to close on May 15
PHUKET: All nine islands in the Similan National Park will be closed to the public between May 15 and November 15 this year. Kittima Tinkohyao, an officer stationed at the park’s Tap Lamoo office in Phang Nga, explained that the islands are closed every year at about this time because the arrival of the monsoon season makes the seas too…
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Buffalo to face beach fees, gas tax
PHUKET: Pissit Raknamkwei, chief of the Phuket Buffalo Authority (PBA), announced this morning that all bovines in the province must obtain a Beach Use Permit (BUP) from his office no later than April 7. Those failing to do so will be “refrigerated”, he said. It was only the first setback of the month for the island’s water buffalo. The real…
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THAI boosts flights for Songkran
PHUKET: Thai Airways International announced yesterday that it will increase flights between Phuket and Bangkok during the Songkran festival next month. “The demand for Phuket during the festival this year has been stronger than last year because Songkran coincides with a weekend,” explained Pricha Nawong, district sales manager for Upper Southern Thailand. “So we have decided to add seven more…
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Road deaths slightly lower, but injuries rise
PHUKET: Thirty-four people died in road accidents in Phuket between January 1 and February 20, according to official statistics, a slight improvement on the same period last year when 39 died. According to statistics from the province’s three government hospitals, 2,050 people were injured in traffic accidents in the same period this year, an 11% rise on the 1,841 injured…
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Seven arrested on drug charges
PHUKET: Police yesterday arrested six men for possession of ya bah (methamphetamine) and one for possession of marijuana. The six, named as Prasert Tongruang, 23, Taewa Sansook, 21, Montri Pongkan, 22, Prasert Boopphakarn, 19, Nareth Kongkaew, 22, and Jaroong Pimkij, 26, were arrested in a police raid on a home in Moo 1, Tambon Karon, just after dawn. Pol Lt…
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Body found floating at fishing port
PHUKET TOWN: The body of a man believed to be a fisherman was found floating near a fishing wharf on Soi Si Sena yesterday morning. Pol Maj Sanya Thongsawas of the Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that the man, as yet unidentified, was wearing only blue jeans and a white amulet string around his waist. He is estimated…
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Police rethink death of Burmese woman
THALANG: Police are looking more closely into the death of a young Burmese woman found buried in a shallow grave in a rubber plantation near Baan Manik Mountain in Tambon Srisoonthorn two days ago. The woman was originally reported to have died of malaria and to have been buried secretly by her family. But Pol Col Prapakorn Saksupa, Superintendent of…
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Sanan resigns over corruption probe
BANGKOK (AFP): Sanan Kachornprasart, Thailand’s powerful Interior Minister, resigned today as a political storm raged around the government after a corruption probe found Sanan guilty of filing a false financial declaration. “I quit from my two political positions and as an MP,” Sanan, the Democrat Party’s political kingmaker, told reporters outside his house before leaving for a press conference at…
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Thai government in crisis after corruption accusation
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand’s government was rocked by scandal today after an investigation found Interior Minister Sanan Kachornprasart guilty of filing a false statement of his assets. The National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) ruled that Sanan had submitted a false declaration outlining a 45-million-baht (1.2-million-dollar) loan which he said he had obtained from a trading company. The NCCC says that no…
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Woman found buried in rubber plantation
THALANG: The body of a young Burmese woman was found in a rubber plantation near Baan Manik Mountain in Tambon Srisoonthorn yesterday afternoon. A villager searching for wild vegetables alerted police after finding a mound that looked like a grave, with pieces of torn cloth and burned paper mixed in with the dirt. Pol Col Prapakorn Saksupa, Superintendent of Thalang…
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Tong Tin Kao Nah in landslide election win
KARON: The Tong Tin Kao Nah Party has won a landslide victory in the Karon Municipal Council elections, which took place on Saturday, winning all of the council’s 12 seats. Two thirds of the municipality’s 3,745 registered voters cast ballots. Tawee Thongchaem, the party’s leader, gathered the highest number of votes, 1,789, setting the stage for him to be selected…
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Nordstrand takes victory in first of Platu series
PHUKET: Strong winds and two firsts and two seconds gave Muzza Nordstrand and his crew victory yesterday in the first of this year’s Platu 2000 race series. The crew started by losing the first two races to David Bailey’s boat. In the third race, neither crew did well, with Bailey coming third and Nordstrand dropping to fourth. But strong winds…
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Tourist Police save American’s holiday
PATONG: American tourist Stanley Olchowski’s holiday in Phuket nearly came to an abrupt end when he left his waist pouch on the 5:30 pm bus from Patong to Phuket Town on Thursday. In the pouch were US$2,700 (about 100,000 baht), 11,480 baht and his passport. Mr Olchowski, 48, promptly contacted the Tourist Police. Pol Cpl Surin Pitpan was dispatched to…
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“Lenient’ visa rules slammed again
PATTAYA (AFP) – A senior security official has slammed Thailand’s lenient tourism policies for allowing international crime syndicates to enter the country and wreak havoc at will. “More and more international crime syndicates are basing themselves in Thailand because of the ease with which they can enter the country due to tourism policies,” said Khachadpai Buruspatana, secretary general of the…
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Phuket launches drive for Thai tourists
PHUKET: The Phuket Tourist Association (PTA) in coordination with the local office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and Phuket FantaSea will launch a campaign to draw more Thai tourists to Phuket in the coming low season. Pamuke Achariyachai, president of the PTA, said the aim of the campaign is to improve the domestic market for Phuket and to…
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Grisly find on Karon Beach
KARON: Tourists on Karon Beach were horrified last Thursday to see a half-eaten corpse wash up on the sand. The body, that of a man, was unidentifiable as much of the flesh had been eaten away by fish. The hands and feet were missing entirely. The corpse was wearing only a swimsuit. Pol Maj Thaneth Poungmanee of Chalong Police Station…
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Governor irked by scofflaws, flexed muscles
PHUKET TOWN: About 60 people from the Phuket Construction Association staged a protest yesterday afternoon outside Phuket Provincial Hall in an effort to pressure Governor Charnchai Soontharamut to extend the deadline for registration of foreign workers. Soothichai Pinkate, president of the association, first lodged a complaint that when the police went to construction workers’ camps in Patong on March 17,…
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Patong police beatings under investigation
PATONG: Officers from Kathu Police Station met yesterday with representatives of the Tara Patong Hotel to discuss the March 13 beatings of five employees of the hotel by undercover police. “We asked the police for two things,” said Sutham Saejea, personnel manager of the hotel. “First, we asked for 550,000 baht compensation for the victims and their families, and, second,…
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Silkair joins Shopper Card program
PHUKET TOWN: Samuel Lim, Silkair’s manager for Phuket, announced this afternoon that his airline will grant a five percent discount to local Phuket residents who are bona fide holders of the Gazette Shopper Card. The discount will apply to flights originating in Phuket only, and tickets must be purchased at the Silkair office in Phuket Town. The Shopper Card must…
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Vote cheaters may face uphill battle
BANGKOK (AFP): Thai election monitors have sent a simple message by disqualifying 78 victors in the Senate elections on grounds of vote fraud — cheats will no longer be tolerated, analysts said Tuesday. The decision to annul more than a third of the results from the March 4 polls serves notice that the Election Commission will carefully apply a new…
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Phuket says “no’ to jet-ski races
PHUKET: Phuket has declined a request to host a major jet-ski event, known, somewhat dauntingly, as the “Thai Airways International-Jet Sports King’s Cup Thailand Open 2000”. The Jet Sports Boating Association of Thailand had requested that Phuket – specifically Patong – host the competition, featuring participants from 18 countries. But at a meeting on Friday between Provincial Governor Charnchai Soontharamuth,…
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Businessman shoots himself
PHUKET TOWN: Jusim Tantiwit, owner of a large pig farm in Mai Khao, and a relative of Banlur Tantiwit, former president of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization, (Or Bor Jor), killed himself on Saturday evening. Jusim parked his pick-up truck in the Phuket Adventist Hospital car park, then shot himself with a .22-calibre rifle. Hospital staff found his body in…
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Chaos after jail break, riot at juvenile prison
BANGKOK (AFP): More than 1,000 youths smashed through the walls of a juvenile prison today and fought a pitched battle with police in eastern Bangkok, causing chaos throughout the neighborhood. The trouble erupted when wardens announced security crackdowns after about 30 prisoners escaped by scaling the walls. About 1,300 youths went on the rampage following the announcement, smashing through the…
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Senator seeks halt to dive shop arrests
PHUKET: According to several local dive shops, at least three tourists have suffered a somewhat ‘amazing’ experience over the past two weeks when tourist police accused them of being illegal divemasters, instructors, or guides. Two of them were Japanese unable to speak English. They were arrested and had to be bailed out, for 100,000 baht each, by the dive shop…
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