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“Chicken feeding’ lands Thai tourists in trouble
PHNOM PENH (AFP): A group of 28 Thai tourists visiting Cambodia’s famed temples of Angkor had to be rescued by police after being surrounded by a mob enraged at their treatment of temple beggars, a report in a Cambodian newspaper said today. The tourists – reportedly laughing and throwing candies to throngs of scrambling urchins – were escorted by police…
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Charn re-elected as Chamber Chairman
PHUKET TOWN: Members of the Phuket Chamber of Commerce, meeting late into the night, voted on Saturday to re-elect Charn Wongsatayanont as Chairman of the chamber. K. Charn received 11 votes, just one vote more than his rival for the position, Pamuke Achariyachai, president of the Kata Group of Hotels. The 21-member committee elected at the same time includes eight…
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IBAP looks at BoI advantages
PHUKET TOWN: The International Business Association of Phuket (IBAP) saw a record turnout of around 100 members and guests for its bi-monthly general meeting on Friday. Guest of honor was Charn Wongsatayanont, chairman of the Phuket Chamber of Commerce. The main topic of the meeting was the Board of Investment (BoI), its aims and the ways it can help businesses.…
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Danish tourist drowns
PHUKET: A Danish tourist, named by police as Per Gregersem, 67, drowned off Raya Island on Thursday afternoon, while another tourist was saved from a similar fate off Patong. Mr Gregersem and his family, who were staying in Karon, went to Raya Island to enjoy an afternoon of swimming and sunbathing. After swimming for about half an hour, Mr Gregersem…
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Police bust karaoke selling ya bah
PHUKET TOWN: Teerawit “Jiew” Saefu, the 32-year-old owner of Nong Kim Karaoke on Soi Sri Sena, was arrested during a police raid on Tuesday on drugs charges. Two minors were also arrested. Pol Maj Sanya Thongsawat of Phuket Town Police Station said that sources had informed him that ya bah (methamphetamine) was for sale at the karaoke bar, near the…
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Valhalla raid nets 5 underage girls
PATONG: Five underage girls were detained yesterday afternoon and charged with performing improper acts in public during a raid on the Valhalla Entertainment complex on Soi Sunset. Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of Kathu Police Station, said he received a call from Jenjira Heepkaew, 37, who said that she worked at Valhalla as a cook’s helper. She urged the police…
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Policeman wins luxury yacht auction
PHUKET TOWN: A police officer who declined to give his name, but who works in the Economic Crime Investigations Division in Bangkok, today won the auction for a luxury motor yacht at the Phuket Customs Region 5 office. And thanks to the fact that there were no other bidders, he got the boat for a song – just 5.5 million…
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Dog pound to be built in Rawai
RAWAI: Samart Jaranyanont, Chief of Phuket Provincial Livestock Office (PPLO), has announced that a dog pound is to be built on a two-rai plot behind Wat Sawangarom to provide a home for Phuket’s stray dogs. K. Samart told the Gazette that the Phuket Public Works Office is currently drawing up construction plans for the pound, which will keep healthy dogs…
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Foot-and-mouth outbreak
KATHU: An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease discovered in Baan Mai Riab is now under control, according to Samart Jaranyanont, Chief of Phuket Provincial Livestock Office (PPLO). The PPLO was alerted to the presence of the disease on February 12 by a veterinarian who discovered the disease among a herd of water buffaloes. PPLO officers discovered that 67 animals had been…
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Passengers taken off cruise ship
AO MAKHAM: About 250 passengers aboard the cruise ship Andaman Princess were taken off the vessel yesterday afternoon after a bilge pump broke down near Maiton Island. “The problem arose in the engine room at 4:30 pm when a pump stopped working and the ship began to list,” said Narong Chinsot, Phuket Operations Manager of the Andaman Princess. K. Narong…
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Police learn about international crimes
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Provincial Police hosted a seminar today aimed at educating police in Region 8 about economic and international crimes. Topics discussed at the seminar, held at the Royal Phuket City Hotel, included detection of counterfeit US currency and forged credit cards, and crimes involving international criminals. The seminar brought together police officers from Phuket, Surat Thani, Nakhon Sri…
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Seized luxury yacht to be auctioned
PHUKET TOWN: A luxury motor yacht, which was seized when its Singaporean owner failed to pay import duty, is to be auctioned on March 20 at Phuket Customs Region 5 on Phuket Rd. The yacht’s owner kept it more than six months in Phuket without paying the crushing import duty of about 200%. The yacht, a Sealine T46 built in…
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New dad ends up in handcuffs
PHUKET: Robert Clarke received more than he bargained for when he visited his Thai wife at the Bangkok Phuket Hospital after she gave birth to their child. As he watched over her early on Friday morning, police officers marched in and arrested him. Pol Capt Anukul Nuket of Phuket Town Police Station said that the Norwegian Embassy in Bangkok had…
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Fire rips through Patong stalls
PATONG: A fire raged through a collection of vendors’ stalls near Ocean Plaza on Thaweewong Rd early on Saturday morning, causing damage estimated at 20 million baht. Firefighters took about one hour to put out the fire. Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, superintendent of Kathu Police Station, told the Gazette that no one was hurt in the blaze. The forensic science…
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Police hit sour note in pub arrests
CHERNG TALAY: Several tourists from five-star hotels at Laguna Phuket narrowly escaped arrest Friday evening when they joined in a jam session at a neighboring pub. Not so lucky were well-known charity musicians Tyesan Hartall (American), Nick Paul (English), and Steve Anderson (Australian). They were arrested shortly after the tourists had left, at about 11:40 pm. They were charged with…
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One dead, 21 hurt in bus crash
KAMALA: A guide from Bangkok-based tour company Mandarin Express was killed when the bus he was in crashed not far from the Thavorn Beach Village. Twenty-one other guides from the same company were injured in the accident, three of them seriously. The bus was taking the guides from Phuket FantaSea to Patong when the driver lost control after the brakes…
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New bikes for police
PHUKET TOWN: Police in Phuket this week took delivery of 73 motorbikes for use in patrol duty, as part of a nationwide project by the Royal Thai Police to upgrade police patrol transport. At a ceremony on Thursday at Phuket Town Police Station, the commander of the Phuket Provincial Police, Pol Maj Gen Kongpol Suwannaraks, handed over 14 motorbikes to…
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Burmese beaten to death, dumped
PHUKET TOWN: An unidentified man believed to have been a Burmese fisherman was found dead in front of the Fish Marketing Board’s refrigerated warehouse on Soi Si Sena just after midnight on Wednesday. “Motorbike taxi drivers witnessed a pickup truck with several Burmese in the back make a U-turn in front of the warehouse and then leave,” said Pol Capt…
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Thai-foreign firms face crackdown
PHUKET: As the crackdown on work permits in Phuket takes effect, both Thai and foreign shareholders in companies that have failed to restructure their shareholdings to conform with the Alien Business Law (ABL) of 1999 face close scrutiny and the possibility of severe penalties. As one of the members of the committee set up by Provincial Governor Pongpayome Vasaputi to…
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Bloody robbery at currency exchange
PHUKET TOWN: An employee at the Bank Thai PLC currency exchange booth on Tilok Utit 1 Rd was brutally attacked in a robbery this afternoon. At about 3:15 pm, a foreign customer, wanting to change some money, peered into the window of the booth in front of the Ocean Shopping Mall. She saw the employee, 44-year-old Urai Taweekul, lying on…
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Austrian drowns at Patong beach
PATONG: Austrian Herbert Kodat, 60, drowned off Loma Park at Patong Beach on Monday afternoon. According to witnesses, Mr Kodat went for a dip to cool off after sunbathing. He swam out about 30 meters from the shore. A jet-ski operator sitting on the beach saw Mr Kodat waving for help and went to rescue him, but by the time…
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18 Burmese “waitresses” arrested
PATONG: Phuket Immigration Police officers last night arrested 18 Burmese “waitresses” at the Phatpong Karaoke on Taweewong Rd. They also arrested Wicharn Sakatekarn, 32, the manager of the establishment, on charges of harboring illegal immigrants. Pol Col Apirak Hongthong, superintendent of the Phuket Immigration Office, said he had received a tip-off that there were Burmese women working illegally at the…
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Economic recovery facing severe challenges
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand’s nascent economic emergence from the depths of the crisis is in jeopardy. Recently released indicators provide stark evidence that falling exports are crippling the recovery. The slump has been spurred by a decline in demand in the United States as the economy there slows, but it also reflects a failure to stimulate fresh investment, analysts say. “Foreign…
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One dead, four injured in plane fire
BANGKOK (AFP): At least one person was killed and four others were injured when a Thai Airways Boeing 737-400 burst into flames this afternoon on the tarmac at Bangkok’s domestic airport, police and airport officials said. Police Major General Amnuay Ditkavee, Bangkok’s deputy police commissioner, told reporters at the airport that the dead body of a Thai Airways crew member…
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Work permits: Governor gets tough
PHUKET: With effect from yesterday, a new multi-department committee will vet all work permit applications in Phuket, Provincial Governor Pongpayome Vasaputi announced today. The committee will also check extensions and renewals, and all information will be added to a central database accessible to all the departments whose chiefs are members of the committee. These departments are the Commercial Registration Office…
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Tourist figures up by 10.7pc
BANGKOK, (AFP): International tourist arrivals to Thailand grew 10.7% last year, to 9.57 million, according to figures released by the Tourism Authority of Thailand. Although the average length of stay decreased slightly, to 7.7 days, tourist spending in Thailand was up, at 3,850 baht a day. The TAT estimates that tourism generated revenue of 292.6 billion baht in 2000, up…
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Swiss man stabbed to death
PATONG: Dokkaew Niyonrum, 38, from Buri Ram, has been charged with the murder of a 40-year-old Swiss national named by police as Christoph Albert Hartmann. Dokkaew is alleged to have stabbed Mr Hartmann in the chest during a fight in their home on Sai Nam Yen Rd in the early hours of Sunday morning. Pol Maj Komdech Poathong of Patong…
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Bookmaker gunned down
PHUKET TOWN: A restaurant owner, who was also a bookmaker specializing in gambling on soccer matches, was murdered on Tuesday morning outside his restaurant on Phuket Rd. The victim, Supachart “James” Panumassakul, 36, from Phuket, owned the Khrua New James restaurant, opposite the Imperial hotel on Phuket Rd. A witness told police that she was waiting for a friend on…
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Slow start to Governor’s email hotline
PHUKET: Governor Pongpayome Vasaputi’s entry into cyberspace at the beginning of the month has so far received a lackluster response. “We receive only one or two emails a day,” the Governor’s secretary, Boonchai Somjai, told the Gazette. Every morning, K. Boonchai checks the email and then prints copies of relevant messages for the Governor’s in-tray. About 70% of the email…
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Villagers find hanged man
PHUKET TOWN: Villagers found the hanged body of an unidentified man on Monday evening on a hill about two kilometers to the east of Kuan Din Dang Rd and Soi Panieng, in Tambon Rassada. Pol Capt Chaum Kaosrisuwan of Phuket Town Police Station said he was informed by Sataporn Pokaboot, phuyai baan of Moo 6, Tambon Rassada, that the villagers…
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