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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Aliens top April crime stats
PHUKET: Illegal immigration cases topped the list of arrests during the period from April 1 to April 25, according to statistics released yesterday by Phuket police. A total of 237 people were taken into custody over illegal immigration cases compared to 421 in the same period of the previous month. Gambling arrests numbered 229, from 73 police raids. Of the…
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Boat seized for dodging import tax
AO CHALONG: Phuket Marine Police and the Economic Crime Investigation Division seized a boat on Saturday following allegations that it had been imported illegally into the country to avoid paying import taxes. The seized boat, a 25-meter wooden yacht named “Anusara”, was estimated by the Marine Police to have a market value of around 16 million baht. According to its…
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Immigration tackles fake passports
PHUKET TOWN: A hundred officers from Phuket and neighboring provinces gathered over the weekend at the Pearl Hotel, on Montri Rd, for a training seminar on how to identify fake passports and visas. Pol Maj Gen Krerkphong Pukprayura, Commander General Staff Division of the Immigration Bureau, chaired the seminar, which is part of a nationwide program to crack down on…
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Prison population down slightly
PHUKET TOWN: The number of people being held in Phuket’s overcrowded Provincial Prison has fallen over the past month, from 1,247 at the end of March to 1,194 today. Of 1,194 prisoners, 491 men and 105 women are in for drug offenses. Of the remainder, 220 are held for theft; 138 for murder or attempted murder; 50 for sexual assault…
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Teen killed in road rage fight
PHUKET TOWN: After an extreme case of road rage, a 21-year-old man confessed to stabbing a 17-year-old boy to death on Monday. At about 5 pm Monday, police rushed to the home of Jakrit Preechakorn, 17, on Soi Hab Ake off Phuket Rd, after Jakrit’s relatives called to say the boy had been stabbed. Pol Capt Chokchai Suttimek of the…
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Big soccer not coming here yet – FIFA
KATA: Worawi Makudi, an executive committee member of soccer’s international ruling body, FIFA, yesterday said that Phuket was still a long way from hosting international-standard soccer matches. K. Worawi, who is also the General Assistant of the Thai Football Association (TFA), said, “The soccer fields here are not up to international standards, and many changes will have to be made…
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Appeal for info on dead Briton
PHUKET: An appeal was issued today for information on the hotel or hostel in which a British man was staying just before he died on April 17. Andy “Jack” Hughes, 34, holder of British passport number 033459439, was involved in a motorcycle accident on April 16 and died the following day of his injuries. Mr Hughes’ body has since been…
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Fisherman murdered on boat
PHUKET TOWN: A man believed to have been a Burmese fisherman was found murdered yesterday morning on the fishing boat “Thavorn 4” at the Sri Sena fishing port. Pol Lt Parichat Jaturonphan of Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that crew on the boat found the victim lying on his back in their sleeping quarters. He was wearing a…
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Move to close cruise company
PHUKET: Officials today moved to have Lifestyle in Asia – the company at the center of the “sex cruises” scandal – struck off as a registered tourism business. The move comes after allegations that one of the company’s boats was illegally registered, and after a raid on the company’s offices that allegedly uncovered pornographic videos and sex “toys”. Prachuab Tangka-arree,…
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Police peep into Peep Inn
PHUKET TOWN: Police seized pornographic VCDs and arrested three employees after a raid on the Peep Inn hotel on Rattanakosin 200 Pi Rd yesterday afternoon. Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi and Vice Governor Manit Wattanasen led police officers on the raid on what they termed a “love hotel”. Officers seized 52 pornographic VCDs, a television and a VCD player. Three hotel…
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Phuket, Cape Town, to be sister cities?
PHUKET TOWN: South African Ambassador to Thailand Buyi Pheto and her husband, Maj Gen Mo Eng Pheto, today met Vice Governor Niran Kalayanamit to discuss setting up a formal relationship between Phuket and Cape Town. “Ambassador Pheto strongly believes that a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) can be forged between Phuket and Cape Town,” K. Niran told the Gazette after the…
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Cruises probe: porn videos found, boat seized
PHUKET: Tourist police have uncovered more evidence they believe links Lifestyle in Asia Co and its managing director, William Anthony Ranauro, to an alleged sex cruise operation promoted on a website, www.loveboatcruises.net. The website has been inaccessible since Saturday, 20 April. Pol Maj Supamit Sukjaroen, Inspector of the Phuket Tourist Police, told the Gazette that investigators conducted a second search…
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Seven Wonders festival opens
PHUKET TOWN: Deputy Prime Minister Pitak Intrawitayanun presided over the opening of the Seven Wonders of Phuket festival on Sunday, during which Thalang Rd, in the oldest part of the town, was turned into a walking street. About 1,000 people turned up to take part in or watch activities along the road, which included a bicycle rally in the morning,…
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Patong Municipality pawnshop set to open
PATONG: The Patong Municipality is set to open its new pawnshop on Ratpatanusorn Rd on May 1 – Labor Day – as part of a nationwide initiative by the Ministry of Interior to give people access to low-cost financing through their municipalities. Sakorn Cheua-yuan, Deputy Mayor of Patong, said, “This is a good chance for people living in Patong to…
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Fire razes karaoke bar
PHUKET TOWN: A no-name karaoke bar on Soi Si Sena was gutted by fire last night. No one was hurt. Firefighters at Phuket Town Fire Station received an anonymous call at 7:52 pm from a man who said a house was on fire. Believing that lives were in danger, the station dispatched 20 firefighters and three fire engines to deal…
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Sex cruise&’ raid is a bust
PHUKET TOWN: A high-profile raid today on the offices of tour cruise operator Lifestyle in Asia Co Ltd turned up no evidence to support a connection between the company and a web site promoting exclusive sex tours in Phuket. The intention of the raid was to turn up evidence that Lifestyle in Asia was running cruises advertised at the web…
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Plea for bigger police budget
PHUKET: Benjapol Thongton, a member of Phuket’s Public Committee of Inquiry into Police Affairs, today called for Phuket’s police to be given a larger budget. K. Benjapol made his plea at a three-hour meeting of the committee chaired by Pol Gen Soonthorn Saikwan, Deputy Commissioner of the Royal Thai Police, at Phuket Town Police Station. “The committee and police are…
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Couple urged to call Brit embassy
BANGKOK: The British Embassy is keen to make contact with Stacey Paige and Phil Bennet, who are reportedly in the Phuket region. They are asked to call Fiona at the Embassy’s Consular Section, Tel: 02-3058333.
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Crackdown on Internet shops
PHUKET TOWN: Police last night began raiding Internet and computer game shops in a drive to exclude under-18s from the shops after 10 pm. The raids followed a warning by Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station, that Internet and computer game shops serving under-18s after 10 pm conflicts with the national government’s Better Social Order policy.…
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FIFA President heading for Phuket
PHUKET: Sepp Blatter, president of soccer’s international ruling body, FIFA, will be the guest of honor at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) conference at the Kata Beach Resort later this month, the Gazette learned today. Eam Thavornvongwongse, Director of the Kata Group of Hotels, said that the conference of the AFC – FIFA’s administrative organization for Asia – will be…
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Elderly Japanese dies on coral tour
PHUKET: Japanese tourist Akira Yamagida, 67, died while on a coral sightseeing tour at Koh Hei on Sunday. Pol Maj Jasada Sangsuri, of Chalong Police Station, told the Gazette yesterday that Mr Yamagida was swimming with his friend Yasuhiro Yamauchi, 56, and two other tourists just five meters off a Koh Hei beach at about midday. After they had been…
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Three dead, 311 injured during Songkran
PHUKET: Three people were killed in traffic accidents in Phuket during the four-day Songkran holiday, according to statistics from the island’s hospitals. The Phuket Provincial Health Office reported that all of the victims died in motorcycle accidents, and all were confirmed to have been under the influence of alcohol. In the same period, 311 people were injured on the roads.…
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Two more Burmese murdered
PHUKET: Two Burmese men were killed in Phuket over the Songkran holiday, in separate violent attacks. Early Sunday morning, Phuket Town police received a call from residents of Soi Siang Tai, complaining about the noise of men fighting. Police arrived an hour later and found lying in the soi the body of a man who was later identified by workers…
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Water shortage imminent, says Mayor
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Town Mayor Phummisak Hongsyok has warned that Phuket faces a shortage of water within five years, and that not enough is being done to solve the problem. At a press conference yesterday the Mayor complained that Phuket’s infrastructure is not being developed to keep up with the increasing demand from local residents and tourists. “Phuket is a…
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Girls, 13 and 14, busted for ya bah
THALANG: Marine Police officers arrested a 13-year-old girl Tuesday afternoon after she picked up a package containing ya bah (methamphetamine) and heroin from the Thalang post office. Police had received a tip-off alleging that the girl, who was accompanied by a 14-year-old girl friend, was acting as a drug courier for her father, Usman. Police watched her movements for several…
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150 queue to wish Gov Happy New Year
PHUKET TOWN: About 150 Thais and foreigners, including government officers, local politicians and business leaders, gathered at the Governor’s Mansion on Narisorn Rd this morning to take part in the traditional exchange of New Year blessings with Phuket Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi and his wife, Mantana. Phuket’s three Vice Governors were the first in a long queue of well-wishers to…
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Police puzzled by multiple monikers
PHUKET TOWN: Police have been trying to figure out whether a man they arrested on Monday is mad, or just crazy like a fox. Pol Lt Prasaan Tovorn of Phuket Town Police Station explained to the Gazette that he and other motorbike police officers were on patrol in Soi Imjit 1 in the early hours of Monday morning when the…
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Boat safety boost for Songkhran
PHUKET: The Phuket office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said yesterday it will be stepping up boat safety measures during this year’s Songkhran festival. Napasorn Kakai, Assistant Director of the local office of the TAT, said that arrangements have been made for officers from the Phuket Harbor Office, the Marine Police and the Tourist Police to be stationed…
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Meatball vendor killed in robbery
THALANG: The body of a meatball vendor was found by villagers at the side of Thepkrasattri Rd last night. Police believe he was killed in the course of a robbery. The man has been identified as 38-year-old Charoon Sura, a resident of Thalang. Pol Maj Pornthep Phutluecha of Thalang Police Station told the Gazette that villagers called police at about…
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Bike Week off to a roaring start
PHUKET: About 200 bikers rumbled around Phuket today as part of the 8th annual Phuket Bike Week. Hundreds of big bike enthusiasts from all over the country and from overseas have been arriving over the past few days for the six-day festival in Phuket. Yesterday evening, Rat-U-Thit 200 Phi Rd in Patong was jammed with big bikes for a welcome…
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