News
Thailand news, politics, business, crime, lifestyle, and tourism—stay updated with breaking news and in-depth analysis from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond. The Thaiger delivers the latest national news that matters.
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Gov to hold “clinic’ in Kamala
KAMALA: Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi will hold a public service “clinic” at the offices of the Kamala Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor) on July 28. The Governor, with chiefs and staff from every provincial government department, will meet local residents to hear their grievances and to explain services. Officers will be on hand, from 9:30 am to 5 pm, to give…
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Bravery of recovery team acknowledged
PHUKET TOWN: The United States Ambassador to Thailand, Darryl Johnson, today presented certificates of commendation to the 24 Marine Police and Navy personnel involved in the operation to recover the body of American diver Dr Jeffrey Gall. Dr Gall, an experienced diver with more than 250 logged dives, disappeared on March 25 while exploring an underwater cave off Koh Ha…
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Bookseller charged over pornography
PATONG: Tourist police raided a shop on Tuesday and arrested a woman for selling pornographic books. Officers had been on patrol at about 8:30 pm on Rat-U-Thit 200 Phi Rd when local people drew their attention to the shop. Pol Capt Sanya Potchsalee, deputy inspector of the Phuket Tourist Police, said the shop, in the soi leading to the Royal…
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Wachira sets two national firsts
PHUKET TOWN: Deputy Public Health Minister Dr Surapong Suebwonglee today announced that Wachira Phuket Hospital has set two public health care firsts for Thailand. It is the first to have a government-owned hyperbaric chamber, and the first to treat HIV patients under the 30-baht medical scheme. Dr Surapong officially opened the hyperbaric chamber, which will be used to treat divers…
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Tenth Burmese fisherman murdered
PHUKET TOWN: The number of Burmese fishermen murdered since May 1 has reached double figures with another unidentified body dumped in the notorious “Burmese Cemetery”. The tenth victim was found Monday afternoon in long grass near the entry to the Sang Aroon Mai raft on Sri Sena Rd. Seven of the 10 corpses have been found in this area. The…
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Luck runs out for Diamond the dolphin
AO MAKHAM: Diamond the dolphin died on Sunday, just hours before a planned release back into the ocean at Patong. Rescued by villagers from the beach at Patong last month, Diamond (Jao Petch) had appeared to be recovering and biologists at the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) planned to free him today. The 1.83-meter striped dolphin (Latin name Stenella coeruleoalba)…
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50 arrested for night bike races
PHUKET TOWN: More than 100 police and volunteers led by Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi busted up a gang of night-racing motorcyclists in a raid at the weekend. The large group of officers descended on Saphan Hin about 11pm on Saturday and surprised about 100 riders, arresting about half of them. Police organized the raid following complaints about the noise from…
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18-year-old held over fake diplomas
PHUKET: Police have arrested an 18-year-old Bangkok student and are checking whether Dulwich College certificates were among fake diplomas she is alleged to have sold over the Internet. Officers spent two weeks tracing the student through an email “sting”. They raided her Rachaburi home yesterday and found fake diplomas and certificates in her computer. The girl, named only as Daeng,…
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Surasak offers B100,000 bounty on gunman
PATONG: Patong Mayor Surasak Maneesri said today he would give 100,000 baht to anyone who can name either the gunman who shot at his Mercedes last month or the mastermind behind the shooting. Police have yet to make any arrests in connection with the June 23 assassination attempt, which took place at the traffic light near the Tesco-Lotus Supercenter. Three…
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Tour boat propeller kills crewman
CHALONG: A crewman on a dive boat was killed when a propeller slashed open his stomach and almost severed his limbs on Wednesday off Koh Racha Yai. While recreational divers took a midday break, the crewman, Witaya Taktin, 25, had donned scuba gear and gone under the boat in order to clean the propeller. The boat, the Ladawan 2, had…
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Villagers lobby for expo center
MAI KHAO: About 200 people from Mai Khao yesterday lobbied Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi to designate Tah Chat Chai as the location for the proposed International Exhibition and Convention Center (IECC), so that visitors will spread income among local people. Somporn Tansakul, the leader of the Mai Khao deputation, said that if the government decided to build the center in…
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Hostage suspect tests negative for drugs
PHUKET TOWN: The suspect arrested in yesterday’s dramatic murder and hostage taking on Soi Hutchana Nivet was found to have no trace of ya bah (methamphetamine) in his system, though during the hostage negotiations he had claimed to have taken the drug in large quantities over the past few weeks. Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station,…
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Brutal double murder in Chalong
CHALONG: Police are searching for a Burmese rubber tapper after the discovery on Tuesday in Soi Nakok, Moo 5, of the mutilated bodies of a man and a woman, in what police are calling a “love triangle” double homicide. Pol Capt Anak Mongkul, of the Chalong District Police Station, said the bodies were found in a rubber plantation 100 meters…
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Robber caught, another on the run
CHERNG TALAY: Police yesterday arrested Laotian construction worker Kae Kampukao, 19, for his part in a robbery in which a woman was threatened with a hammer, and are hunting his Thai partner-in-crime. Pol Maj Gen Kongpol Suwannaraks, Commander of Phuket Provincial Police, said this afternoon that at about 4:30 pm on Tuesday, local resident Saowarak Inyam, 28, reported to police…
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Fishball seller in hostage drama
PHUKET TOWN: Police this morning rushed a knife-wielding man and ended a four-hour hostage siege in Soi Hutchana Nivet, near the abandoned Phya Thai hospital. The hostage drama began at about 6:30 a.m. when, it is alleged, Tiem “Tia” Srisuktham, 34, from Srisaket, first bludgeoned his nephew, “Ta”, 23, also from Srisaket, with a heavy iron bar, then killed him…
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Drug abuse in Phuket “on the rise’
PHUKET: A two-day conference involving 60 officers with an interest in controlling drug abuse was told today that the number of narcotics cases in Phuket could rise dramatically this year. “There were about 1,500 cases last year. This year the number may be 2,000,” Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi told the conference. Concern is also growing about the increasing use in…
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Dengue danger “greater this year’
PHUKET: Dr Wanchai Sattayawutthipong, chief of the Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO) warned yesterday that the chances of people contracting dengue fever this year are higher than they were last year. According to figures released from the Ministry of Health, in the year to June 29 there have been 43,893 reported cases of the mosquito-borne disease in Thailand, and 64…
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Sri Lanka diplomat in talks over weapons
PHUKET: Nimal Sirinathan, First Secretary of the Sri Lankan Embassy in Thailand, today met with senior police officers from Phuket to discuss the weapons seized at the fishing port last week. Mr Sirinathan met with Pol Maj Gen Kongpol Suwannaraks, Commander of Phuket Provincial Police, and Phuket Town Police Superintendent Pol Col Paween Pongsirin. After the meeting, Col Paween said…
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Police arrest motorbike bag snatchers
PHUKET TOWN: Police arrested three teenagers yesterday after a motorcycle gang snatched a bag from a tourist as she walked along Thalang Rd on Sunday night. Ingrid Monica Green, 23, from Ireland, told Phuket Town police that she was walking with friends in the weekly “walking street” when three teenagers on a motorbike stopped nearby. One came over and tried…
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Thai-Burma border “may reopen soon’
RANONG: Speculation is growing that Thailand’s border with Burma, closed since May 22, may reopen later this month. Closure of the border has resulted in major economic losses on both sides of the border, and has restricted visa run options for foreigners in the South of Thailand An officer at the Immigration Department in Ranong told the Gazette today, “We’ve…
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Swiss tourist ignores warning, drowns
KARON: A Swiss tourist drowned and another man was pulled from the water after ignoring a beach guard’s warning not to go swimming yesterday. The visitor, named by police as Peter Dominik Kennel, 40, was pulled from the sea unconscious and died on the way to hospital. Officers said that at about 3:30 pm the two friends finished drinking in…
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Another body found in “Burmese Cemetery’
PHUKET TOWN: The string of murders of Burmese fishermen continues with yet another body found in the notorious “Burmese Cemetery” area at the weekend. The body, stabbed more than 10 times, was found face-down at the end of Laem Tukkae, near Sri Sena Rd, on Sunday afternoon. The killing follows murders in two separate incidents last week. It brings the…
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Police make headway in Burmese murders
PHUKET: Police investigating two separate murders of Burmese workers have finally come across people willing to talk to officers about what they know of the victims. Pol Maj Umpolwat Saenroeng, of Tung Tong Police Station, told the Gazette yesterday that on Wednesday afternoon he received a call from a local resident saying that a body had been found close to…
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Island facing drought crisis
PHUKET: The current water shortage on Phuket could become a crisis by the end of this month unless substantial rain falls in the meantime. Water is no longer being supplied from Bang Wad Dam, the island’s main reservoir, for fear that the dam wall may crack if the level falls too far. Water from nine former tin mines is now…
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Sex-change operation draws a crowd
PHUKET TOWN: A large audience of doctors, hospital staff and representatives of the press today watched a man become a woman during six hours of sex-change surgery. The onlookers, including some 40 visiting members of the Thai Physicians of America Association, snacked on lunch while they watched the video conference broadcast. Phuket’s own world-renowned sex-change expert, Dr Sa’nguan Kunaporn performed…
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Manhunt for second war weapons suspect
PHUKET: Police yesterday began a search for a second man they believe was involved in the transport of weapons seized at the fishing port Tuesday, after they discovered he was the registered owner of the pick-up truck seized for allegedly being used to transport the weapons of war. When Prachumpon Raampung, who had been driving the Toyota Tiger pick-up, was…
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Weapons of war seized at fishing port
PHUKET TOWN: Police yesterday seized a haul of weapons and ammunition at Por Pichai raft on Sri Sena Rd. The man arrested in possession of them told police that the weaponry was bound for “terrorists in Indonesia”. About 20 officers, including Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi and Phuket Town and Marine Police officers, nabbed 36-year-old Prachumpon Raampung, from Trang, while he…
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Governor shuts three nightspots
PHUKET TOWN: Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi has ordered three entertainment venues to close for 30 days because under-age patrons were found on the premises. Random checks by police on other venues are to continue between midnight and 2 am as part of the “better social order” policy of the province. The three venues are the Jammin Music Club on Poonphol…
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Woman robbed in motorbike ambush
WICHIT: Three men on two motorbikes early yesterday morning forced a woman riding her motorbike along Sakdidet Rd to pull over and then robbed her of her mobile phone and 2,000 baht. Pol Lt Parichat Chaturonpan, from Phuket Town Police Station, told the Gazette that Jiemjit Baewtungnoi, 31, reported the robbery at 7 am yesterday. He said that K. Jiemjit…
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Man drowns in rescue attempt
NAI THON: A young man drowned off Nai Thon Beach Saturday evening while trying to rescue one of his friends. The victim was named as Prisana Sripetch, 23, from Trang, who worked as a loss prevention officer at the JW Marriott Phuket Resort and Spa. Pol Maj Suppawat Suksiri, an inspector at Tah Chat Chai Police Station, told the Gazette…
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