News
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Hermaphrodite poses problem for prison
BANGKOK (AFP): Prison authorities in Thailand are debating where to house a suspected drugs offender found to possess both male and female sex organs, officers said this afternoon. Police initially sent the 22-year-old to the women’s wing of the jail in the central province of Lop Buri to be held pending trial, but officers there soon began to suspect she…
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Festival flag “may be one for the Guinness Book’
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization plans to contact the publishers of the Guinness Book of World Records to see whether a massive yellow flag, made specially for this year’s Vegetarian Festival, is a world record. The flag, which is 9,999 meters long and carries uplifting messages in Thai, may already be seen, running along the roadside from the…
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Woman found dead in Suan Luang Park
PHUKET TOWN: The body of a young Thai woman was found floating in a canal in Suan Luang Park on Chaofa Rd early Saturday morning. The body was discovered by a security guard in the park. He alerted police who, with the help of staff from the Kusonlatham Foundation, retrieved the corpse. Pol Maj Amnuay Kraiwutthianant, in charge of investigating…
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Gazette sports reporter comes up a champ
PHUKET TOWN: The Gazette’s own sports reporter, Elke Cheong, yesterday beat off all-comers to win the women’s prize in the 1st Phuket Mini-Marathon, run on the streets of Phuket Town. Elke covered the 10-kilometer course in a time of 44:07 minutes, beating Kanlaya Odoom and Jamruensuk Kao-ien to take the overall women’s title. Overall winner of the race was Pawin…
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Embassy raiders flee, hostages unharmed
BANGKOK (AFP): The siege of the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok ended this afternoon almost as swiftly as it began yesterday, with the five gunmen being flown in a police helicopter to Ratchaburi Province, near the Thai-Myanmar border, where they are reported to have fled into the countryside. On landing, they released Thai Deputy Foreign Minister Sukhumbhand Paribatra and one other…
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Armed group storms Myanmar embassy in Bangkok
BANGKOK (AFP): A group of 12 men armed with grenades and AK-47 assault rifles stormed the embassy of Myanmar (Burma) in central Bangkok just before noon today. Some 20 embassy staff are believed to have been taken hostage or to be trapped in their accommodation in the compound. In a statement faxed from inside the embassy, the group said the…
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Too much of a good thing
LOPBURI (AFP): Mike the orangutan has been hospitalized with serious fatigue after spending too much time making love to his new mate, the director of Lopburi Zoo said today. “Mike is very weak. His legs and arms are very weak and he refused to eat any food yesterday,” the director, Lt Col Virat Phupeingchai, said. Veterinarian Chisanu Tiyacharoensri said part…
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Police raid second house full of exotic fish
RAWAI: Police yesterday raided a second house in the Sea Gypsy village in Rawai and recovered more than 1,000 fish of 70 different protected species. The fish were taken to the Phuket Marine Biology Center. As in the previous raid, the police acted after receiving information from Chada Wangboonkong, the specialist head officer of the Phuket Provincial Fisheries Office, who…
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Police raid nets protected marine life
RAWAI: Police are trying to identify the owner of a house in the Sea Gypsy village in Rawai after a raid on it revealed 18 tanks containing 19 pieces of live coral, 130 sea anemones, and more than 2,000 fish of protected species. Pol Col Sati Malakanont, superintendent of Chalong Police Station, told the Gazette that the house was raided…
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Tong trial adjourned as witness fails to appear
PHUKET TOWN: The trial of five men accused in the June 1997 murder of American Danis Wayne Tong was adjourned again today after a witness failed to appear. Two witnesses were scheduled to testify for the prosecution, but only one attended the court. The defense argued that since the testimony of the two witnesses was in relation to the same…
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British teacher jailed for molesting six-year-old
BANGKOK (AFP): A 52-year-old British school teacher has been sentenced to six years in jail after pleading guilty to sexually molesting a Thai pupil, court officials said today. A judge in Thanyaburi court in Bangkok’s northern suburbs initially sentenced Peter William Maxey to 12 years in jail, but halved the sentence after taking into account his admission of guilt. Social…
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Tourists witness murder of tuk-tuk driver
PHUKET TOWN: A horrified group of Western tourists watched helplessly as their tuk-tuk driver was shot dead by a hit-man in the road outside The Metropole hotel in Phuket Town on Saturday night. Prasit Petchkong, 56, from Phattalung province, had just picked up the group when two men on a black Honda Dream motorcycle with no license plates stopped nearby.…
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Phuket wins “Most Idyllic Island’ award
PHUKET: Condé Nast Traveller, one of the world’s premier consumer magazines, has named Phuket “Most idyllic island in the world” following a survey of its readers. Phuket came ahead of Pangkor Laut in Malaysia, Hawaii, Sardinia, Tobago in the Caribbean, Bali and Koh Samui.
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Thai wins country’s first surfing contest
KATA BEACH: Chalong Tonaus, 24, is no longer just a lad from Phitsanulok working as a beach boy in Patong. On Sunday, he became the first surfing champion in Thailand. Chalong was elated by his victory over some 50 other surfers in the Quicksilver Phuket Surfing Contest, organised by Aloha Surf Sports in cooperation with the Tourist Authority of Thailand…
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Police say burglary detection rates up sharply
PHUKET TOWN: Police detection rates in burglary offences have risen significantly this year compared with the previous two years, latest statistics from Phuket Town Police Station show. In 1997, police received 372 reports of burglary, and made arrests in 258 of them, a detection rate of 69%. Last year there were 401 reported burglaries, of which 282, or 70%, were…
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Patong may be first beach to have lifeguards
KATHU: Pol. Col. Kokiat Wongvorachart, Superintendent of Kathu Police Station, told the Gazette this morning that his unit is sponsoring two new tourist safety projects for the coming high season in Patong. The proposals are currently awaiting approval from the Ministry of Interior in Bangkok. Khun Kokiat says he is optimistic that approval, along with the required budget allocations, will…
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Phuket Town has “best police station in the South’
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Town Police Station has won a special award for being the best police station in southern Thailand, beating 111 other police stations in the seven provinces that comprise Police Region 8. The citation came as part of a nationwide drive by the Ministry of Interior to improve police operations in Thailand. Police stations were evaluated on…
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Qantas 747 accident closes airport runway
BANGKOK (AFP): One runway at Bangkok’s Don Muang Airport was closed today after a jet belonging to the Australian airline Qantas ploughed off the end of it while landing in heavy rain last night. None of the 410 passengers and crew aboard the plane was seriously injured, a Qantas spokeswoman said, but the Boeing 747 sustained damage to the nose,…
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Swedish tourist drowns in pool
PATONG: A 23-year-old Swedish tourist drowned yesterday evening in the swimming pool at the Patong Beach Hotel. Ken Anders Thunhtrom was in Phuket on holiday with three friends. All four went swimming in the pool, which was crowded with other tourists. The friends told police that they realized they had not seen Mr Thunhtrom for about 20 minutes. After looking…
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Appeal for help in dugong preservation drive
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Provincial Forestry Office has issued an appeal for people to help in a national survey of dugong. The aim is to preserve these slow-moving, vegetarian, marine mammals. Dugongs are one of the 15 species of animals protected by Thai law, but their numbers have diminished significantly over the past few years, partly because of destruction of…
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Taiwan businessman robbed of a million baht
PHUKET TOWN: Police are investigating the theft on Saturday or Sunday of more than a million baht from a visiting Taiwanese businessman. The businessman, Ho Min Sun, 56, came to Phuket with his son and two friends to buy tuna for export to restaurants in Taiwan. All four stayed in the Daeng Plaza Hotel on Phang-Nga Rd. When he checked…
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Police “know who Supercheap killers are’
PHUKET TOWN: Police believe they now know the identities of the two men involved in the recent Supercheap murder-robbery, but are compiling more forensic and witness evidence before they can move to arrest them. Pol Col Chalit Thintanee, superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that he and his men are currently awaiting the results of forensic tests…
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14-year-old girl sold her body to buy drugs
PHUKET TOWN: Shortly after the discovery recently of the body of a man stabbed 58 times on the playing fields near the public housing estate in Tambon Rassada, Phuket Town, police were again in action in the area on Saturday, this time after a tip-off that drugs were being traded there. Their raid netted four young people in possession of…
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Factory explosion kills 22, injures dozens more
CHIANG MAI, (AFP): At least 22 people were killed and dozens injured this morning when an explosion destroyed a Taiwanese-owned fruit factory in San Pa Tong, northern Chiang Mai province, police said. All of the victims were Thai. The blast ripped through a longan processing plant while 30 people were working in it. Bodies and charred equipment lay in the…
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Local team in shock defeat of national side
PHUKET TOWN: A scratch soccer team made up of players from Phuket and Chumphon beat Thailand’s national under-17 team 1-0 on Thursday, with a last-minute goal at the Saphan Hin stadium. The loss was a blow for the national squad, who are the Asian champions in their age group, and who preparing for the Under-17 Football World Championships in Napier,…
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Court told how Tong murder suspects were arrested
PHUKET TOWN: A senior policeman gave evidence in court today about the circumstances surrounding the arrests of four of the five people charged in connection with the 1997 murder of American businessman Danis Wayne Tong. On trial for the murder are Thais Manit Panme, Pratin Praktong, Prajuab Sukkong and Pairat Raksawong, and Belgian Hugo Vandervelde. Prosecution witness Pol Maj Sian…
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Man found dead with 58 stab wounds
PHUKET: Police are trying to identify a man found dead yesterday of multiple stab wounds in the playing fields on Soi Si Sena, near Phya Thai Hospital. Pol Maj Vinai Kongkaew of the Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that the man had 58 stab wounds — in his back, neck and ears. The victim, Pol Maj Vinai said,…
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Film to be screened free to dodge censorship
BANGKOK (AFP): Organizers of the Bangkok Film Festival refused today to cut scenes from a controversial Dutch film and said they would hold free screenings in order to avoid violating a censorship law passed in the 1930s. Festival director Brian Bennett said he had been told by police that the film “Jesus was a Palestinian” would have to be cancelled…
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Police step up action against fuel smugglers
PHUKET TOWN: The Marine Police have stepped up checks on Thai-flag vessels in an effort to curb any rise in gasoline or diesel smuggling, following the latest increase in fuel prices. A further 30 satang per liter was added to fuel prices yesterday, the result of a combination of rising international oil prices and the falling value of the baht…
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Thailand to lead SEA force in East Timor
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand today agreed to a request from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan that it lead the Southeast Asian contingent in the international force for East Timor, officials said. Thailand will take the post of deputy commander of the operation under Australia’s overall command, government spokesman Akapol Sorasuchart said. “Kofi Annan wanted to see Thai cooperation and involvement as…
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