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Police nab American accused of race killing
BANGKOK, June 10 (AFP) – Thai police detained an American man accused of a racist killing in the United States after the FBI issued an arrest warrant, officials said yesterday. Immigration police Colonel Wisanu Muangpraesri said officers arrested Matthew Robert Stedman, 27, at a Bangkok apartment on Wednesday after he entered the country using a British passport. “The US embassy…
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Police report decline in tourist deaths
PHUKET: Twelve foreign tourists have died in Phuket so far this year, Pol Maj Arnont Kamolrat of the Tourist Police told the Gazette today. Of these, five drowned, three died in traffic and other accidents, two committed suicide, one died of illness, and one of unknown causes. In 1997, 30 tourists died, including two who were murdered. In 1998 the…
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Another drowning off Patong Beach
PATONG BEACH: A Thai tourist drowned yesterday while swimming in front of Patong’s Loma Park, Kathu police reported this afternoon. The tourist, 21-year-old Mana Kongpan from Phitsanulok, was swimming with a group of relatives when he disappeared. His body was found this morning in front of the Club Andaman hotel and was taken to Patong Hospital for autopsy.
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Major theft at Wachira Hospital
PHUKET: Police have issued a warning to patients visiting Phuket Town’s Wachira Hospital after a 73-year-old woman who went there for tests was robbed of valuables worth 500,000 baht. The woman, Khun Lamay Lakthan of Chaong, was asked to change into a hospital gown so that X-rays could be taken. A man she later described as being between 40 to…
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Two arrested for trafficking in amphetamines
PHUKET TOWN: Police on Monday arrested two young men for trafficking in amphetamines (ya bah) after an undercover operation in which they pretended to be interested in buying some of the drug. In the home the two were renting in Soi 1, Samkong Village, officers found and impounded 150 amphetamine pills. Arrested were Suchert Nunthip, 20, a student at Rajaphat…
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Local businessman commits suicide
PHUKET TOWN: Businessman Wiroj Anukulkan, 46, was found shot in the head at his home on Mae Luan Rd on Monday, in what police say was an apparent suicide. Arriving at Khun Wiroj’s house Monday afternoon, police found him still alive. He was rushed to Wachira Hospital’s intensive care unit where he died on Tuesday. Witnesses said he had used…
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Helicopter dash for 14-year-old mother
KOH YAO: The Police Aviation Division’s helicopter was in action again on June 5, picking up a young mother and her newborn baby from Koh Yao and delivering them to Phuyket Town’s Wachira Hospital. Dr Boonrieng Chuchaisangrat, head of the Phuket Health Office, was about to leave home for the opening ceremony of the Old Phuket Festival when the call…
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Thai officials linked to drugs
BANGKOK, June 7 (AFP) – More than a thousand Thai government employees are caught up in lucrative drugs trafficking, a senior minister admitted Monday. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Jurin Laksanavisit said 1,088 officials were involved in trafficking, most of them in the northeast and south of the country. “Most of the drug problem involves narcotics being smuggled in…
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Reduced phone charges to US and Canada
PHUKET: The Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT) has reduced call charges to Canada and the United States, including Hawaii, Khun Worawit Worapiboonpong, Chief of the Phuket Telecommunications Center, has announced. Reductions of up to 20% apply to all calls made from June 1, resulting in the following charges per minute: 5 am to 7 am, and 9 pm to midnight:…
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191 hurt in road accidents in Patong in May
PATONG: The Government Hospital in Patong has issued the latest dismal traffic accident figures, this time for May. During the month one person died and 190 people were hurt in traffic accidents. Of these, 29 were foreigners. Seven of the injured were pedestrians and five were in cars. The rest – 179 — were on motorcycles. Of the motorcycle victims,…
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Egyptian held as police probe murder of tourists
BANGKOK, June 5 (AFP) – Thai police are questioning an Egyptian tour guide over the apparant serial killings of six foreign tourists slain soon after touching down at Bangkok airport, police said this afternoon. Chanam Said Muhamad, 35, was arrested in connection with the murder of a French tourist who disappeared nearly a year ago. And police believe they can…
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Tourist jumps to death from hotel roof
PHUKET TOWN: A 67-year-old Australian tourist leapt to his death yesterday evening from the roof of the City Hotel in the heart of Phuket Town. The tourist, John Newman Cleverley, had been coming to Phuket for 10 years, arriving alone and staying up to a month each time at the nearby Suksabai Hotel. Police said Mr Cleverley walked into the…
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Gazettes thrash Aussie Navy 31-15
PHUKET: The Phuket Gazettes rugby team was in fine form on Sunday when they met a team from the visiting Australian Navy ship HMAS Arunta for a 10-a-side clash at Dulwich College. Early in the game the Gazettes declared their intention to show the younger Australians how to play by opening the scoring. By half-time, they were ahead by two…
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Airport figures don’t support gloom
PHUKET: In the midst of tales of gloom from Phuket’s retail and hotel sectors, the April figures from Phuket International Airport show a small rise (0.79 percent) in the total number of passengers arriving and departing. There was a hefty 24 percent rise in international travelers, from 76,528 last year to 94,750 this April. This was offset by a fall…
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Phuket’s “Great Mother 1999” announced
PHUKET: The best mum in Phuket is 67-year-old Sukanya Limsomboon, and that’s official. Khun Sukanya, who lives in Thanon Ranong in Phuket Town, has been chosen by the Bangkok-based Social Welfare Council to represent the island at a special ceremony on August 12, which is both HM Queen Sirikit’s birthday and Thai Mother’s Day. She was selected after her daughter-in-law…
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Governor opens King’s Cup Regatta office
CHALONG BAY: The Governor of Phuket, Chadej Insawang, officially opened the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta organizing committee’s permanent office in Chalong Bay on Saturday. At the opening, the committee announced that the 13th Phuket King’s Cup Regatta is scheduled to begin on Monday, December 6, 1999 off Ao Nang in Krabi and finish on Saturday, December 11, 1999 at Kata…
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Sea World project a dead duck for now
CAPE PANWA: Phuket’s ambition to build a major tourist attraction around its sea life has been put on hold, indefinitely. The original plan was to build a “Sea World”, costing about 1.5 billion baht, as a major tourist attraction. The centrepiece of the facility would have been a huge three-storey-high, 2-million-litre aquarium with a glass tunnel running through it, allowing…
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Boxes on sale for Phuket Rugby Sevens
PHUKET: Organisers of the Phuket Rugby Sevens have announced that corporate boxes for the two-day international event are now available. The tournament takes place at Saphan Hin, Phuket Town, on July 3 and 4, and will feature top international teams from Asia and Europe. The boxes cost 60,000 baht and include 15 tickets and two meals per person per day.…
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Sun Vista sinks off Malaysia
PENANG: The luxury cruise liner Sun Vista, a familiar sight in the waters off Phuket, sank at 1:22 this morning after its engine room caught fire yesterday. The 210-meter ship, which was en route to Singapore with 472 passengers and 632 crew, went down about 60 nautical miles south of Penang. The Gazette understands that everyone on board was rescued…
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Inferno yacht to be salvaged
PHUKET: The Head of the Harbour Master’s Office has told the Gazette that the wreck of the yacht Catalina, which burned and sank in Chalong Bay in March, will be salvaged. Khun Soontree Hirunwan said that following talks with a representative of the Catalina’s owners, a salvage company has been contracted to raise the wreck in the coming week. Following…
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Chicken wholesaler shot dead
PHUKET TOWN: Chicken farmer and wholesaler Yunud Kayankit was shot in the head in the garage of his Koh Kaew home early yesterday morning. He died in the emergency room at Wachira Hospital. Phuket Town Police told the Gazette that Khun Yunud, 31, was shot twice, once in the left cheek and once in the forehead, as he prepared to…
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Poll: Most people want Soi Bangla closed to traffi
PHUKET: Just under two thirds of the voters in the latest Gazette online poll believe that Patong’s Soi Bangla should be closed to traffic and designated “pedestrians only”. But, interestingly, there was a considerable difference of opinion between foreigners and Thais. Participants in the poll were asked to vote on the statement “Soi Bangla should be closed to vehicles and…
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Fisherman finds unidentified corpse
THALANG: A fisherman yesterday found the body of an unidentified man in the water near Baan Tah Chat Chai. Police said the dead man was Asian, dressed in brown trousers and shirt. They estimated his age at around 25 to 30 years, and his height at about 1.6 metres. The corpse carried no identification, but police believe he may have…
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Emergency helicopter saves sick islander
ANDAMAN SEA: A police helicopter from Phuket braved stormy weather earlier this week to rush a woman with acute appendicitis from Koh Yao Yai to hospital in Phuket Town. The woman, 35-year-old Khun Sukanya Jittanavee, was whisked from the island to Phuket’s Wachira Hospital on Tuesday for emergency surgery, thanks to a new initiative by the Phuket Provincial Health Office…
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Phuket prepares for regional sports contest
PHUKET TOWN: The local office of the Sports Authority of Thailand is currently putting together the squad to represent Phuket in the “Four Ages Sports Against Drugs” tournament in Songkhla between May 29 and June 2. Khun Wirat Visuttarom, head of the office, explained that the purpose of the tournament is to promote sport, to build relationships between various groups…
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Rugby star’s wife hospitalised after accident
PHUKET TOWN: The wife of top Australian rugby player Kerrod Walters was rushed to the Bangkok Phuket Hospital in the early hours of Sunday (May 9) after an accident in a tuk-tuk near the Safari Club in Patong. Mr Walters told the Gazette that his wife Maureen, 31, was on holiday in Phuket with a friend, staying at the Patong…
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Pipe work begins on wastewater treatment system
PHUKET TOWN: Traffic on Mae Luan Road is likely to be disrupted for about three months from next Monday (May 17) as pipe-laying work begins on the second phase of Phuket Town’s sewerage system. The excavations will extend from the offices of Phuket Prevention Guard Co to the junction with Wichit Songkram Road. Phase 1 of the project, which involved…
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Mountain hikes to resume
PATTANI PROVINCE: Local authorities here have decided to repeat their successful eco-hikes to the top of Sankalakiri Mountain, the highest peak in southern Thailand. Over the course of two days and one night, hikers will be guided through the forest and to the top of the mountain. From the summit, 1,300 metres above sea level, they can look down into…
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Advice on spotting funny money
PHUKET TOWN: Khun Chaiyos Chinda-Udomset, president of the Phuket Commercial Banks Association, has offered advice on how the public can identify forged 1,000- and 500-baht notes that are circulating in Thailand. He said the fake bills are printed on thinner paper than the real ones, and the surface of the paper is more slippery than that of genuine notes. In…
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Taxmen on target for 2.5 billion baht
PHUKET TOWN: Halfway through the revenue year, (October 1, 1998 – Spetember 30, 1999), Phuket’s taxmen have collected almost exactly half their targeted tax. Against a budget of 2,459.496,000 baht for the full year, 1,233.884,000 baht, or 50.17%, had been achieved during the six months to March 30, 1999. All revenues are up apart from the Special Business Tax, which…
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