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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Black day on Phuket&’s roads
PHUKET: Four people were killed in three separate road accidents in the south of the island yesterday. The first accident, in Kata at 1:30 pm, involved a motorbike and a 10-wheel truck on the narrow beach road in front of Club Med Resort, said Pol Capt Anek Mongkol of the Chalong Police Station. Police arrived on the scene to find…
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Tip-off allows gamblers to escape raid
PHUKET TOWN: Two people were arrested for betting on soccer after a raid on a house in Soi Lim Sue Jue last night, but officers had hoped to net many more. At around 8:30 pm, Vice Governor Manit Wattanasen led 30 officers from the Phuket Provincial Defense Office and Phuket Town Police on the raid on a one-story house behind…
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Japan to pay for clinic for Burmese
PHUKET TOWN: Aeko Nakamura, first secretary to the Japanese Ambassador to Thailand, met with Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi yesterday to discuss Japanese government funding for a health clinic for Burmese immigrants. Details of the meeting were not released, but it is understood the governor used the meeting to lobby for further financial support to cover the running costs of the…
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OrBorJor chief faces ‘Mob Monday’
PHUKET TOWN: Dr Prasit Koeysiripong, President of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor), had his hands full yesterday dealing with two mass protests. The main protest came as 300 villagers from Moo Baan Saku Moo 1, in Thalang, descended upon the OrBorJor offices at 11 am to demand that their local council be ordered to build a provincially funded road…
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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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Police net teenage bike thieves
PHUKET TOWN: In a series of raids on Tuesday night and Wednesday, police arrested five teenagers involved in motorcycle thefts. The first two arrests were the result of police undercover investigation of young people with criminal records after a recent spate of motorcycle thefts in Phuket Town. Officers first staked out the homes of two boys, one 13 and 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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Dead foreigner identified
PATONG: Police yesterday announced that they had identified the man found dead in a derelict Patong building on Sunday as 60-year-old Bjorn Ola Ingemar Ahlin, from Sweden. Pol Lt Col Supamit Sukjaroen, Inspector of Tourist Police, told the Gazette that officers yesterday identified Mr Ahlin’s body after questioning staff at hotels in Patong and Karon about any guests who had…
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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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Police appeal for information on dead man
PATONG: Police have appealed for information to help them identify a Caucasian man found dead yesterday evening in an abandoned building on Thaweewong Rd. Pol Maj Sanguan Muangtam of the Kathu Police station said that police believe the man was between 40 and 45 years of age. He was about 175 cm tall, with blond hair and a mustache, and…
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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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Thalang Rd to close at midnight
PHUKET TOWN: The section of Thalang Rd between Thepkrasattri Rd and Montri Rd will be closed at midnight tonight to allow organizers to build a stage for the first Seven Wonders of Phuket festival on Sunday. Pol Lt Col Teeraphol Thipjaroen, Deputy Superintendent of Phuket Police Station, told the Gazette that a section of Deebuk Rd near the intersection with…
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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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Appeal for information on two foreigners
PHUKET: The Chief of Phuket Immigration Police has appealed to the public for information on two foreign men who both disappeared a few weeks ago after separate strange incidents at the Kata Beach Resort. Pol Col Apirak Hongtong, Superintendent of the Phuket Immigration office, said police want to talk to a man, thought to be named Morris and believed to…
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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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Solution proposed for mangrove encroachment
PHUKET: Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi has proposed assigning small plots of public land to poor people in order to stop further encroachment into Phuket’s dwindling mangrove forests. Gov Pongpayome said in a recent announcement that he had received several complaints about families setting up homes in the mangroves of Phuket. To solve the problem, he recommends building small “villages” with…
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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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