News
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Rajabhat students scoop arts contest
PHUKET TOWN: Students from Rajabhat Institute Phuket scooped the top six prizes in the “King, Regatta and Phuket” drawing and essay writing competition, which drew some 230 entrants. The competition was aimed at involving the local community more closely in the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta, which takes place early next month. The students received their prizes on Sunday at the…
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Help us eradicate sex tours – TAT boss
PHUKET: Anupharp Thirarath, the Director of the local office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), has appealed for information about any person or company involved in promoting sex for sale in Phuket. The appeal comes after TAT officers discovered websites offering child sex as part of package tours. One website offered three days and two nights’ stay, including sex…
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Yacht skipper blasts mob violence
THALANG: The skipper of a 30-meter superyacht has blasted villagers in the north of Phuket for “lawlessness” after a member of his crew was beaten up by a mob on Sunday evening, and was then forced to apologize to them for driving through their village too fast. After brushing aside security staff at the Yacht Haven marina, the mob of…
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Three nighttime venues raided
PHUKET TOWN: Three nighttime venues have been cited for violations after police officers, led by Vice Governor Niwat Wattanasen and Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station, went on an inspection tour on Tuesday. The Sure Garden, in Soi Taling Chan, was ordered closed for 30 days because it was found to be serving customers under the…
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Mystery over fire-gutted car
KATHU: Police here are mystified as to how a saloon car rented by a Kathu resident ended up outside Dulwich International College, completely gutted by fire. Pol Lt Col Sanguan Muangtham told the Gazette, “Around 3 am on Saturday I received a phone call from a man who reported that the car, which he had rented, had disappeared.” Col Sanguan…
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Provincial intranet underway
PHUKET: Phuket Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi yesterday chaired a meeting on the development of a computerized central database for all government offices operating within Phuket, known as the Phuket Net project. The move to develop the IT system is part of the Governor CEO administration experiment. At the meeting, which was held at the Provincial Hall, Preecha Wongchakorn, Director of…
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Artist dies in head-on smash
PHUKET: Well-known Rawai-based artist Jirasak Patanapong, 45, died of severe head injuries after being involved in a head-on collision on Chao Fa Nai Rd at about 10 pm on Friday. Two other people were injured in the accident. Tawin Tongpeng today told the Gazette that he was driving his pick-up truck to his home behind Wat Thepnimit after picking up…
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Airport passenger traffic down 8pc
PHUKET: The number of passengers arriving or departing through Phuket International Airport in October is down 8.19% from the figure for the same period last year. Statistics released by airport officials show that passenger throughput was 259,889, compared with 283,062 in October last year. However, the figures show an 8.01% improvement over September, which saw 239,060 passengers arrive or depart…
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Swedish man hangs himself in Patong
PATONG: The body of Swedish national Bengt Anders Hilmar Lundberg, 56, was found hanging this morning from a post in the unfinished upper floor of his rented apartment near the Thara Patong Beach Resort, in what police say was a suicide. Pol Maj Pisit Cheanpetch, the Inspector of Kathu Police Station, told the Gazette that the victim was spotted by…
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Phuket Town wins prize
PHUKET: Phuket Municipality has won the King Prajadhipok (Rama VII) Prize, awarded to local governments that listen to the views of local people and give them the opportunity to take part in the running of the town. Phuket Municipality was one of just four municipalities in the whole country to win the prize, out of 432 towns that entered. The…
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Bangsen murder probe hits a wall
SURAT THANI: Investigations into the murder of Koh Yao boatman Bangsen Jaidee hit a wall yesterday when doctors refused to allow officers to interview the chief suspect. Police from Thalang Police Station went to Saranlom Hospital in Surat Thani, which specializes in diseases of the mind, intending to interrogate Siwadol “Dol” Lomin. Dol was taken to the hospital by his…
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Another bomb blast at Tesco Lotus
BANGKOK (AFP): A bomb blast rocked another branch of retailer Tesco Lotus this afternoon in the third attack against the chain since a deadly terror campaign began in July. Today’s bomb went off in the parking lot of the Lotus store in the northern province of Ubon Ratchatani, said provincial police commander Chalosak A-sa. Chalosak said police were still investigating…
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Two men caught in ya bah busts
PHUKET TOWN: Two men were arrested on Sunday on charges involving possession of 49 ya bah (methamphetamine) pills, a 12-gauge shotgun with four shells and 8,280 baht in cash. The arrests were made during a joint operation involving a total of 11 officers from the Phuket Branch of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board and Phuket’s Marine Police. Acting…
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Spectacular Leonids show this year
PHUKET: This year’s annual Leonids meteorite shower will be particularly spectacular, because it will be augmented by a phenomenon that occurs just once every 33 years. Prof Sakchai Petchshuai, professor of meteorological studies at the Rajabhat Institute Phuket, told the Gazette that the Leonids, so named because they appear to radiate from the constellation Leo, are the result of the…
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PTA protests air fares price hike
PHUKET: The Phuket Tourism Association (PTA) is making a last-ditch effort to convince Thai Airways (THAI) to reconsider its 15% price hike on domestic flights, due to come into effect tomorrow. Kitti Phatanachinda, Vice President of the PTA, told the Gazette today that PTA members are sending a letter to the board of THAI, the central government and the Tourism…
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Suspect named in boatman’s murder
PHUKET: Police have named a man they wish to interview in connection with the murder of Koh Yao longtail boatman Bangsen Jaidee, whose body was found floating in the sea off Naka Noi island yesterday. Pol Col Chatchai Sakulporn, superintendent of Thalang District Police Station, named the wanted man as Siwadol “Dol” Lomin, also from Koh Yao, a member of…
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Briton to be extradited over killing
BANGKOK (AFP): A Briton wanted in his home country for murder, and who was found hiding out in Patong, is expected to be extradited from Thailand within the week, police said yesterday. Peter Mann, 45, was arrested in July in connection with the murder of David Maher, 37, whose dumped body was discovered by a milkman in Devon, southwestern England,…
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Duongchalerm’s brother arrested
BANGKOK (AFP): Thai police today arrested Wanchalerm Yoobamrung, older brother of fugitive Duongchalerm Yoobamrung, on charges of illegal weapons possession, conspiracy to assault, and interfering in the course of justice. The charges relate to the shooting of a police officer in the Twenty Club in Bangkok on October 27, allegedly by Duongchalerm. Police chief Gen Sant Sarutanond said several witnesses…
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Local boat owner shot dead
KOH YAO: A well-known and widely respected long-tail boat owner was found today floating in the sea off Naka Noi Island after he disappeared two days ago. The body of 52-year-old Bangsen Jaidee was found by his daughter who, with other family members, had been searching for the missing man since Saturday. The Gazette understands that he had been shot…
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Gov sparks furore with Phi Phi proposal
PHUKET: Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi has landed in the middle of a war of words after suggesting that the central government should buy the Phi Phi islands, kick out private businesses and run the islands as a state enterprise. During a speech about the CEO system at a Thai Rak Thai Party seminar on Friday at the Patong Beach Hotel,…
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Aussies dominate Laguna Triathlon
LAGUNA PHUKET: Once again, Australian competitors dominated this year’s 8th Thai Airways Laguna Phuket Triathlon, taking first and second places in both men’s and women’s competitions. Twenty-two-year-old Courtney Atkinson, from Australia, stormed in first to claim victory in an overall unofficial time of 2 hours, 30 minutes and 37 seconds. “It’s the nicest place I’ve ever raced,” Atkinson said afterwards.…
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Dump truck careers off Patong Hill
PATONG: A dump truck loaded with sand swerved off a tight bend on Patong Hill at about 3 pm yesterday after its brakes failed. No one was hurt. The driver, Soontorn Chaichana, told the Gazette, “I noticed the brakes starting to fade just past the Chinese shrine [at the top of the hill]. “Then, just at the last curve, about…
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Drug bust nets six men and over 4,000 pills
PHUKET TOWN: Police arrested six men on Tuesday in a plain-clothes bust involving more than 4,000 ya bah (methamphetamine) pills. Acting on a tip off, Pol Lt Worapojt Watanasuwan and his squad of plain clothes officers from Phuket Town Police Station, organized to meet Tawit Juansri, 23, Wasin Sotatas, 30, and Surachai Jankaew, 23, at 6:30 am at a public…
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Turtle island to be opened to visitors
PHANG NGA: The Similan National Park authorities will open nine islands to visitors from next Thursday, including one that is usually closed to the public for the protection of sea turtles. Tipawadee Thambamrung, the park’s public relations officer at the Tub Lamu office, told the Gazette, “It’s very special for visitors this year. We’ve going to allow them to stay…
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THAI to hike domestic fares by 15pc
PHUKET: Fares for domestic flights on Thai Airways (THAI) will be hiked by 15% with effect from November 15, Viset Sontichai, THAI’s District Sales Manager for Upper Southern Thailand, announced today. The newspaper Thai Rath reported that the rise was because THAI’s domestic services, with the exception of those between Phuket, Bangkok and Chiang Mai, were unprofitable. The news agency…
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Rogue police a major worry: Governor
PHUKET: Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi has accepted that there is a major problem in Phuket with police officers engaging in criminal activities, and has called for a change in the system that encourages such activities. He told the Gazette that reports of police officers selling narcotics were particularly worrying. “It seems to me the number of reports is rising every…
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Children reminded about overstay fines
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Immigration Office has issued a reminder that foreign children over seven years of age who overstay their permits to be in Thailand – whether in their own passport or included in a parent’s passport – face fines of 200 baht for each day they overstay. Pol Lt Col Paisan Deedoykhar, Inspector of the Phuket Immigration Police,…
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A job for Crocodile Dundee
BANGKOK: Thai authorities yesterday stepped up their hunt for about 10 fully-grown saltwater crocodiles that have been on the lam since escaping from a farm in flash floods last week. Four of the reptiles, measuring three to four meters in length, have already been captured near the Million Years Crocodile Farm, about 175 kilometers east of Bangkok. Another two reptiles…
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Outrage at escape from murder rap
BANGKOK (AFP): The Thaksin government’s failure to apprehend the son of a widely distrusted politician has exposed glaring flaws in Thai democracy. Murder suspect Doungchalerm Yubamrung, a junior army officer and the son of a prominent member of Thaksin’s coalition government, has been on the run for a week since a police officer was shot dead in cold blood at…
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Illegal alien arrests continue to fall
PHUKET: The number of illegal immigrants arrested on the island has fallen dramatically for the second successive month, according to the latest crime statistics issued by the police. From October 1 to 24, only 10 illegal aliens were arrested, compared with 47 during the same period in September, and 230 in August. The dramatic fall has been credited to the…
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