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Airport taxi driver beaten to death
PHUKET: Airport limousine operators threatened to blockade Phuket International Airport yesterday after a “black” taxi driver allegedly beat a legitimate limousine operator to death on Saturday in front of the airport. A fight broke out between Kanisorn “Lert” Downchoowan, 35, the black taxi driver, and Chart Ketwongworachat, 58, the legitimate limousine operator, at around noon after the two argued over…
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Mother rescues daughter from beggar gang
PATONG: A mother from Isan has been reunited with her daughter after three terrifying years during which the girl was kidnapped by a gang and set to work begging on the streets of Patong. Three years ago, Huad Sooksaeng, 34, from Buri Rum, decided to come to work in Phuket. She left her four-year-old daughter, Kesorn, in the care of…
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Mob blocks road to get rid of eight police
THALANG: A mob of 500 blocked the road to the airport in front of Thalang Police Station for 2½ hours on Saturday afternoon, demanding the transfer of a police captain and seven other officers whom they accused of planting drugs on people and stealing money. The protestors, from Baan Kain in Tambon Thepkrasattri, marched after Pol Capt Sanich Kongnu raided…
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Navy thanks Governor with flowers
PHUKET: The Commander in Chief of the Royal Thai Navy Third Fleet, Vice Admiral Sathirapan Keyanon, today presented Phuket Governor Pongpayome Vasaputi with flowers to thank him for his role in resolving the Cape Panwa blockade last week. The Governor played a central role in resolving the blockade by local villagers after a Navy non-commissioned officer shot a local Muslim…
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New Tourist Police chief arrives
PHUKET: Pol Lt Col Supamit Sukjaroen has arrived on the island to head up the tourist police in Phuket, Krabi, Phatthalung, Trang and Nakhon Sri Thammarat. He replaces Pol Lt Col Chak Onnim, who has been reassigned to a post as deputy superintendent of Phra Kanong Police Station in Bangkok. Lt Col Supamit was previously Inspector of investigations with the…
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Villagers lift Cape Panwa blockade
AO MAKHAM: Following a mass meeting between villagers and high-level government officials last night, and agreement by the officials to two additional demands made by the villagers, the blockade of Cape Panwa ended peacefully this morning. A barricade across the road leading to the cape was erected on Wednesday as part of a mass protest at the shooting to death…
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Villagers issue ultimatum over boy’s death
AO MAKHAM: Dozens of protesters today continued to block the road to Cape Panwa with makeshift barricades, following the killing of a local 16-year-old boy. Some of their leaders threatened that if the police case against the boy’s killers is not sewn up by the end of tomorrow they will rally tens of thousands of Muslims from all over the…
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Tom yam gung ‘may block cancer’
BANGKOK (AFP): Tom yam gung, the Thai spicy prawn soup, contains ingredients that may help prevent digestive cancer, researchers announced today. Substances found in galangal, lemon grass and kaffir limes, three main ingredients in the soup, are effective in inhibiting tumors in the digestive tract, said the researchers, who work for Kyoto and Bangkok universities. “A combination of the main…
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OrBorTor takes over Chalong tap water
CHALONG: As of today, the Chalong Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor) will be responsible for supplying tap water to residents of Moo 6, Chalong, which includes Wat Chalong and Baan Na Kok. The OrBorTor will also collect money direct from users. Up until now, the water supply has been managed by the Provincial Administration Organization.
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‘Local’ soccer team beats celebrities
PHUKET TOWN: A team comprising local footballers and members of the Thai national soccer squad stamped their authority on Saturday’s match to celebrate the reopening of Surakul Stadium, with a 7-5 victory over a celebrity side. Thai international Sutree Suksomkit, playing for the “Locals”, was the first to find the net after just nine minutes. A few minutes later, Sutree’s…
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Banks continue threatened by bad loans
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand’s embattled banking sector will slowly begin to recover in 2001, but a morass of non-performing loans will continue to dog the industry, Merrill Lynch said in a report released today. The outlook for the banking sector next year is cautiously positive, but recovery could be pushed off course by the mountain of bad loans, or if the…
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Brit dies in car crash on way to airport
PHUKET TOWN: British national Allan Winston Allford, 50, died instantly from head injuries sustained in a car accident on Friday afternoon while on the way to the airport. Arriving at the scene on Chao Fa Nork Rd, opposite Soi Sa Nguan Sak, police found Mr Allford’s jeep upside-down in a drain. Mr Allford’s body was still trapped behind the wheel.…
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Phuket-Krabi flights mark launch of Air Andaman
PHUKET: The new Phuket-based airline, Air Andaman, will take to the air on Monday with a twice-daily service between Phuket and Krabi. The frequency will increase to three flights a day from Friday. Montri Rattanapiphop, Regional Sales Manager at Air Andaman’s Bangkok office, told the Gazette, “We will fly from Phuket to Krabi at 0930 and 1720. The return flights…
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King’s Cup: wind disappoints again
KATA: White caps on the waves and a spectacular start by the Premier Cruisers gave everybody hope that Wednesday’s Andaman Sea Race would see hard, fast competition. The race, sponsored this year by Volvo, has a reputation for being long and hard – a grueling 40 nautical miles around the southern tip of Phuket, between Koh Racha Noi and Koh…
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PM hopeful “forgot’ to declare assets
BANGKOK (AFP): Prime ministerial hopeful Thaksin Shinawatra admitted to Thailand’s anti-graft body today that he had failed to declare assets of nearly 15 million dollars, but insisted he had simply forgot. “I have filed an incomplete asset declaration, but I did not intend to, because I had no reason to conceal my assets,” Thaksin told reporters after a crucial appearance…
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Interpol to be contacted over murder suspect
KAMALA: Police have applied to the Governor of Phuket for an arrest warrant for Walter Ober Lener, 39, who is wanted in connection with the November 13 murder of his 21-year-old Thai girlfriend, Waraporn Tawaetwong. “The Chief of Kathu District has sent a request to the Governor which, once signed, will authorize us to notify Interpol that Lener is a…
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King’s Cup sees better conditions on Day 2
KATA: After a first day’s racing that ended with no results in most classes thanks to lack of wind, yesterday’s King’s Cup racing saw better conditions. An enthusiastic start to the Boathouse-QBE race saw a collision on the start line between Mats Johansson’s Diah Tantri and Rodney Cran’s Slice of Heaven in the Performance Cruising class, which cost the former…
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S & P maintains ratings, outlook for Thailand
NEW YORK (AFP): U.S. ratings agency Standard and Poor’s yesterday announced that it has maintained all its credit ratings on Thailand and that its outlook on the country remains stable. The agency predicted no change in Thailand’s general economic policy and reform efforts following national elections on January 6. But it also warned that ratings could weaken if the pace…
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Road accident figures improving
PHUKET: A total of 855 people were killed or injured in traffic accidents between September 20 and October 20, according to statistics from the Wachira, Thalang and Patong government hospitals. Of the 12 fatalities during the period, nine involved motorcycles while the remaining three involved cars. The death rate was lower than the average per month for the year to…
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Second singer kills herself
PHUKET TOWN: Kannika Chuaynuphap, 23, a singer from Phattalung, killed herself on Saturday by hanging herself with a sarong from the bars across a window of the room she rented on Wichitsongkram Rd. She was the second singer to commit suicide in Phuket in the space of 48 hours. A friend who found the body told police that she had…
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Another murder in fishing port
PHUKET TOWN: A man believed to have been a Burmese fisherman was found murdered near the fishing port yesterday morning. This was the second such murder in the space of 24 hours, and the 13th in or around the fishing port this year. Pol Maj Adul Nirapai of Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that the man, as yet…
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Mass reburial of unclaimed bodies planned
PHUKET: The Kusonlatham Foundation has announced that it will exhume and rebury some 2,000 unclaimed bodies between February 7 and March 27 next year. This will be the fourth time that unclaimed bodies in Phuket have been reburied. The first time was in 1976 and the most recent was in July 1989. About half of the corpses involved in the…
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Phuket tops list for AIDS in pregnant women
PHUKET: The island has Thailand’s highest rate of HIV infection in pregnant women, the Chief of the Phuket Provincial Health Office, Dr Boonrieng Chuchaisangrat, has revealed. He said that of every 100 woman going to the province’s hospitals for pre-natal care or to give birth, four test positive for the deadly disease. Dr Boonrieng stressed that all government departments should…
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Donations sought for flood victims
PHUKET TOWN: The Thavorn Grand Plaza Hotel has joined with TV’s Channel 7 to collect donations for the victims of Southern Thailand’s recent floods, which left thousands homeless. Juejan Panvickarn, PR manager of the hotel, told the Gazette that no money will be accepted. “People hit by the disastrous flooding need immediate help in the form of canned food, clothes…
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Police crack down on pubs
PHUKET TOWN: In the run-up to national elections, Phuket Town police have been cracking down on errant entertainment venues. In a series of raids in the town between Monday and Thursday last week, establishments known for ignoring opening and licensing laws were targeted, resulting in 18 pubs and restaurants being charged with a variety of offenses. Boopachon Pub, Sip Tam…
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Three Germans arrested on paedophile, theft charges
BANGKOK (AFP): Three German fugitives, wanted on a range of serious charges including child rape, theft and murder, have been arrested at the seaside resort of Pattaya, police said this afternoon. Thai immigration police said the three men were detained separately over the weekend. Jahn Robert, 37, faces two paedophile charges after attacks on children in Munich. Heinz-Peter Ohlenschlager, 52,…
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Prison cancels Open Days
PHUKET: Phuket Provincial Prison has canceled its Open Days, scheduled to take place between December 2 and 8, following the breakout and hostage drama at Samut Sakhon prison last week. Pairoj Pankaew, chief of the prison, told the Gazette today that he had received instructions from the director of the Region 8 Prison Service, in Nakhon Sri Thammarat, that Open…
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Senior policeman dies after car smash
PHUKET: Pol Lt Col Kamtorn Preecha, Deputy Superintendent of the Tai Muang Police Station in Phnag Nga province, died in a car accident in Phuket early Saturday morning, while on his way home from a party given by the Phuket police. Lt Col Kamtorn’s Honda CRV smashed into a coconut tree near the Ta Chat Chai police checkpoint on Thepkrasattri…
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Cyberport meeting identifies challenges
PHUKET TOWN: Experts who gathered on Thursday in Phuket all agreed that the island has the potential to be a “cyberport” — a center for information technology — but that it still has challenges that need to be met. “We still need to address three important factors,” said Prof Dr Pairash Thajchayapong, president of the National Science and Technology Development…
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Governor backs IBAP
PHUKET TOWN: At a meeting also attended by the Senator for Phuket, Paiboon Upatising, Provincial Governor Pongpayome Vasaputi today gave his support to the International Business Association of Phuket (IBAP). The Governor said that he could see IBAP’s potential as a forum in which Thais and foreigners could work together to come up with new ideas to benefit society. Also…
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