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Bangkok airport to close one runway
BANGKOK, June 29 (AFP): The Airports Authority of Thailand (AAT) announced this afternoon that it will close down Bangkok international airport’s west runway for maintenance for four months. The repairs to the 3.8 kilometer (2.3 mile) runway are to cost 420 million baht (11.4 million US dollars) and are scheduled to be completed in February 2000, the AAT said. The…
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Province plans census of forest dwellers
PHUKET: The Provincial Forestry Office is to take a census in forest land occupied for decades by squatters, most of them engaged in market gardening. The census is part of a nationwide exercise aimed at finding out just how many people are living in publicly-owned forests, and issuing them with papers that will legitimize their occupation of the land, though…
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Nabbed robbing Robinson’s
PHUKET TOWN: A Thai man in the process of robbing Robinson’s department store was apprehended after security guards found his shoes in the bathroom. The man was caught red-handed [and barefooted] trying to steal watches, mobile phones, and pagers in the early hours of the morning last Sunday. After hiding in the men’s toilet until the store closed, the thief…
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Public urged to exchange sub-standard LPG bottles
PHUKET: Following the introduction of new safety regulations covering gas containers of the sort commonly used in homes and restaurants for cooking here, the government has urged consumers to check whether they have sub-standard liquid petroleum gas (LPG) bottles and, if so, to exchange them. After July 31, the only brands that will be legally available will be those manufactured…
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Police open rice shop to help poor officers
PHUKET: Police in Phuket have gone into the rice business as a way for impoverished officers and their families to supplement their income. Pol Col Chalit Thintanee, superintendent of the Phuket Town Police Station, and his deputy, Pol Lt Col Samarn Chainarong, came up with the idea after seeing how Bangkok Police had successfully allowed officers in the capital to…
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Taiwanese tourist drowns at Hey Island
PHUKET: Mr Lin Ching Shiung, 52, a Taiwanese visiting Phuket with his wife, drowned on Tuesday while swimming at Hey Island. He became the fifth tourist to drown in Phuket waters in the past two weeks. Mr Lin was on a day trip to the island, 30 minutes southeast of Chalong, with a tour group. Weather conditions were said to…
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Phuket Rugby Sevens: On schedule for kick-off
PHUKET: Final preparations at the Sapan Hin stadium are being made as the Singha Phuket International Rugby Sevens tournament draws near. When the July 3-4 event kicks off, the stadium will be fully ready, organizers say. Flags of the 12 nations taking part will be fluttering, six at each end of the field. Four temporary changing rooms with 20 showers,…
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Report casts gloom on Thai banks
BANGKOK, June 23 (AFP) – Thailand’s banking sector plunged into fresh gloom Wednesday as US ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service said the crisis-hit industry remained “deeply impaired.” The judgment came at a time when many investors had been expecting ratings upgrades from foreign agencies for debt-laden Thai banks which have been struggling to recapitalise. In a report received here Wednesday,…
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Cool coop for traffic cops
PHUKET TOWN: Police monitoring traffic congestion at the intersection of Thepkrassatri Rd and Thung Kha Rd can now be a great deal more comfortable, thanks to a new air-conditioned police box. The box is a gift to the town from Bangkok-based Sangmit Electric Co, who manufacture it. It was presented to the mayor of Phuket Municipality, Phumisak Hongyok, on Friday.…
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Three arrested for trafficking in ya bah
PHUKET TOWN: Police raided two houses on Friday and Saturday and arrested three Thais for trafficking in amphetamines (ya bah). They also seized 278 tablets of the drug. On Friday evening, after undercover officers had bought 10 tablets from a house on Soi 4, Surin Rd, police returned with a search warrant. They found 98 ya bah tablets and arrested…
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Phuket residents in tantalum rush
PHUKET TOWN: Dozens of Phuket residents have been digging recently along the left bank of the cape at Saphan Hin, in a frantic search for the metal tantalum. The scene, reminiscent of a gold rush, was sparked by an ex-miner, Khun Vichian Sonlarp, who found tantalum along the shoreline just over two weeks ago. Diggers have been finding an average…
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HIV-infected katoey in suicide leap
KATHU: A katoey (transsexual) who had learned he was infected with HIV jumped to his death from the sixth floor of the Patong Condotel in Rat-U-Thit Rd yesterday. Kathu police, called to the building, found Jeera Unarom, 22, standing on a ledge. He jumped soon afterwards. A friend, Khun Pitichai Wongsa, 33, who lived in the same building and worked…
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Gasoline smugglers arrested
PHUKET: The skipper and four crewmen of a boat smuggling gasoline into Thailand were arrested yesterday near Ardung Island in Satun Province, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Phuket Marine Police. Pol Maj Gen Mongkol Kamolbuth, Bangkok-based Deputy Commissioner of the Marine Police, said 70,000 liters of fuel was found on board the Kaewmanee Nava 2, which was stopped…
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Fisherman gather in mass protest
PHUKET TOWN: A large group of the fishermen who operate in Phang Nga Bay gathered yesterday at Saphan Hin to protest against nocturnal fishing for anchovy. The 200 fishermen paraded in Phuket Town, handing out leaflets demanding an end to the practice, which uses electric lights. They argue that stocks of anchovy and other marine life have been severely depleted…
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Fantasea offering tours from Bangkok
KAMALA: Phuket Fantasea is casting its net wider in a bid to bring in more visitors, by offering a special coach tour from Bangkok. Starting June 18, the weekly “Fantasea Tour” will leave Bangkok every Friday evening, arriving in Phuket the following morning. Passengers will be taken on a tour of Phuket, ending up at Fantasea for a buffet dinner…
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Star Aid raises a million baht for AIDS children
CHERNG TALAY: Over one million baht was raised on Saturday night at the Star Aid dinner held at the Sheraton Grande Laguna Beach. Funds were raised by raffles, auctions of donated prizes, and the 750-baht ticket price paid by each of the more than 300 diners. All proceeds have gone to the Phuket AIDS Foundation to provide treatment for children…
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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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