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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House burns on Mae Luan Rd
PHUKET TOWN: Police are investigating the cause of a fire in a house on Mae Luan Rd last night. The case investigator, Pol Capt Surat Moangsri of the Phuket Town Police Station, told the Gazette he was alerted at about 6:30 pm that the house, number 17/27 on Mae Luan Rd, behind the Tessaban Plook Panya School, was on fire.…
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Four to run in Patong by-election
PATONG: Four candidates are to run in a by-election on September 24 to fill a vacant seat in the Patong Municipality. The contenders are Weerasak Kaminthong of the Rak Patong Party – which currently holds the majority in the council – and three independents: Jamrak Eamsaad, Samran Ponkaew and Peerapan Suwannachart. As with the upcoming by-election in Phuket’s Provincial Administration…
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Six to run for OrBorJor seat
PHUKET: Six candidates have announced plans to stand in a by-election on September 23 to fill a vacant seat in Phuket’s Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor). The six hopefuls are Chockchai Kitsaloran of the OrBorJor Kao Mai Party – which currently holds the majority in the council – and five independents: Teerasak Wichutanont, Wisut Tangwittayaporn, Samran Jindapon, Chonramat Thanundornwat and Wittaya…
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Thief stabs store manager in neck
PHUKET TOWN: A manager of a Kata jewelry store is lying in the Bangkok Phuket Hospital tonight after being stabbed in the neck during a struggle with a thief at his Sam Kong home yesterday. Police said that Prasit Rattanakultontip, 40, a manager of P James Jewelry in Kata, was stabbed by an unidentified man while he was cleaning his…
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Illegal immigrants top crime stats
PHUKET: Illegal immigration cases overtook gambling to top the list of crimes committed during the month of August, according to statistics released today by the Phuket Provincial Police. The figures show that 170 illegal immigrants were arrested in Phuket between August 1 and 25. In the same period, narcotics possession and trafficking cases came in second with a total of…
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Stats show business is booming
PHUKET: Business in Phuket is booming this year, if the latest figures from the Provincial Revenue Office and the Commercial Registration Office are any guide. Statistics covering the tax collected in the first 10 months of the 1999/2000 tax year show that the number of businesses paying tax has risen by 10.91% and that they are making money – the…
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Phuket to get new governor
PHUKET: The Governor of Phuket for the past year, Charnchai Soontharamut, will move to a new post as Governor of Surat Thani Province on October 1, as part of a nationwide reshuffling of 34 governors and senior staff of the Ministry of Interior. He will be replaced by Pongpayome Vasaputi, currently the Governor of Narathiwat province, the southernmost province of…
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Bangladeshi murdered by gangsters
PHUKET TOWN: A Bangladeshi man was murdered on Monday near the Ta & Yai restaurant on Soi Taringchan, allegedly by a member of a Burmese gang. Pol Maj Pissanu Poonwongs of the Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that officers received a phone call yesterday around 3 pm, informing them that somebody had been murdered next to the restaurant.…
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19 die in traffic accidents
PHUKET: Nineteen people died in traffic accidents between June 20 and July 20, according to statistics from the Wachira, Thalang and Patong government hospitals. Ampaipan Pawawattananusorn of the Phuket Provincial Health Office reports that 18 of the victims died while on motorcycles, while one was in a car. In the same period, 57 people were injured in car accidents, while…
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Phang Nga counts storm damage
PHANG NGA: Provincial officials have been counting the cost of damage caused by Tropical Storm Kaemi after it hit Southern Thailand last week. Deputy Provincial Governor Wut Sitthisurat yesterday submitted a report on damage caused by the storm to officials at the Ministry of Interior, in which he estimated damage in six districts at 1.1 million baht. He added in…
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Airport throughput up in July
PHUKET: Heartening news again for the low season comes with the latest monthly figures issued by Phuket International Airport. These show an 8.69% rise in passengers using the airport in July, compared with July 1999. The statistics show that 267,436 passengers went through the airport in July of this year compared with 246,062 in the same month last year. The…
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Police station wins top prize again
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Town Police Station has beaten 60 other police stations in seven southern provinces to win first prize in the “Police Station for People” competition for the second year in a row. Pol Col Chalit Thinthanee, the police station’s superintendent, explained that the competition covered police stations across Region 8, which comprises Surat Thani, Chumphon, Ranong, Phuket, Nakhon…
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Crime statistics for July released
PHUKET: District patrolmen and crime suppression officers arrested more than 300 people for various crimes during the month of July. Gambling once again topped the monthly crime statistics released today by Phuket Provincial Police. 202 people were arrested for gambling in the course of 109 raids. Narcotics arrests were next on the list, with 129 defendants arrested in 106 cases.…
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Storms contribute to fatal traffic accident
PHUKET TOWN: Two people were killed in a weather-related traffic accident on the bypass road Saturday night. Pol Maj Pitsanoo Poolwong of Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that the deaths occurred when a Toyota pick-up truck was involved in a collision with a bus coming in the opposite direction around midnight. Maj Pitsanoo said that the accident occurred…
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Tropical Storm Graeme rattles Phuket
PHUKET: Amorn Chantanavivate, Director of the Southwestern Regional Meteorological Center, told the Gazette today that the heavy downpours in southern Thailand over the last four days were being caused by a southwesterly monsoon named Tropical Storm Graeme. TS Graeme was created when a low-pressure system from the South China Sea developed into a depression, causing heavy rains and strong winds…
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Live grenade found at Karon Beach
KARON: A grenade with the trigger held locked only by a rusty wire was found behind Wat Karon near Karon Beach on Saturday. Chalong police informed officers from the provincial Special Duties Squad just after midnight that an M-67 grenade had been discovered behind Wat Karon, which is on the Karon Beach road. Pol Sgt Maj Thongsook Thongchang, leader of…
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Phuket Gazette under investigation
PHUKET TOWN: Investigators from the Tourist Police and the Phuket Provincial Employment Service Office (ESO) spent this afternoon at the offices of the Phuket Gazette, probing into an allegation that the newspaper employs numerous foreigners without work permits. The allegation was made in a letter to the Tourist Police signed by “Jobless Graduate”. The writer complained that he or she…
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Hotels move to block provincial tax
PHUKET: The Phuket Tourism Association (PTA) and the island’s Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) appeared today to be on a collision course over a proposed new tax on hotel rooms. According to the Provincial Administration Organization Act of 1997, any OrBorJor may collect a tax equivalent to as much as 5% of room revenue from all forms of accommodation in its…
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Robbery gangs stab two
PHUKET TOWN: Two Thai men were stabbed and nearly died in separate robbery attempts by teenage gangsters early yesterday morning. The incidents both occurred between 2 and 3 am, one in Saphan Hin, and the other in Koh Sirei port. Police said that in the first incident Chaiyot Mookdasakulpiman, 18, was walking along the Bangyai canal near his home in…
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Dramatic increase in HIV infection
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket has recorded a horrifying increase in the number of AIDS cases this year. Dr Boonrieng Chuchaisangrat, Chief of the Phuket Provincial Health Office – which has been tracking AIDS infection in Phuket since 1989 – said that between December last year and June this year the number of recorded HIV and AIDS patients in Phuket has risen…
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Swede dies after stabbing
PATONG: Stig Gustaf Mörk, 57, a Swede living in Patong, died on Friday morning of massive blood loss, after being stabbed the evening before. Pol Col Kokiat Wongvorachart, superintendent of Kathu police Station, said that Mr Mörk was stabbed by his girlfriend, Ranthom Namyoo, 37, from Supan Buri. Col Kokiat said that according to a confession Ranthom made to the…
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11 bars face charges after raids
PHUKET TOWN: Eleven pubs and restaurants were today charged with a variety of offenses after raids by 120 Phuket Town police officers early yesterday morning. Four establishments – Kon Tid Din Pub, Kung Ja Restaurant, Studio Pub, and Rong-Tium Pub – were charged with allowing entry to people under the age of 18. Suan Ahan Pae-Tai Restaurant was charged with…
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Police raid bars and clubs
PHUKET TOWN: Police launched a series of raids early this morning, aimed at catching bars and clubs breaking various laws. Pol Lt Col Teeraphol Thipjaroen, deputy superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station, told the Gazette that 120 officers were sent out on the raids, targeting bars and clubs that allow entry to people under 18 years old, that stay open…
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Government pressured to resign after corruption verdict
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand’s stunned government came under pressure today to call an early election in the wake of the corruption verdict against powerful former interior minister Sanan Kanchornprasart. Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai of Sanan’s ruling Democrat Party should quit as prime minister and call new elections to take responsibility for Sanan’s actions, said Adisorn Piangket, an opposition MP. “The Democrats…
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Phuket Tourism Association elects new president
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Tourism Association (PTA) has finally elected a new president at a meeting held Tuesday evening at the Phuket Merlin Hotel. Sombat Atiset, managing director of Kata Thani Hotel & Beach Resort, was elected by the majority of eligible voters. K. Sombat said that the first issue the PTA will address is the hotel tax, which will…
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Sanan quits party post after conviction for graft
BANGKOK, Aug 10 (AFP) – Thailand’s former interior minister Sanan Kachornprasart Thursday resigned as secretary general of the ruling Democrat party, hours after the Constitutional Court found him guilty of corruption. “I listened to the court’s verdict with respect, and I do not regret the verdict. I accept the court’s decision,” he said in a statement read out by government…
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Three die in motorcycle accidents
PHUKET TOWN: Three people were killed in three separate motorcycle accidents early this morning. Pol Capt Pairin Jamjumrat of the Phuket Town police station told the Gazette that the accidents all occurred during heavy rains at around 4 am. The first crash occurred in front of the Tourism Authority of Thailand office on Phuket Rd. Sompornrat Pinprasert, 16, and Mala…
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Victim’s friend confesses to Saphan Hin murder
PHUKET: The police have arrested a man in connection with the murder of a long-tail boat driver in Sapan Hin last week. Santi Prachumchai, 29, a construction worker, was arrested for the murder of Chin Lueyot on Sunday at his friend’s home at 8/7 Amphur Rd, Phuket Town. The police made the arrest after speaking with friends of K. Chin…
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Sapan Hin murder victim identified
PHUKET: The identity of a man who was found dead in Saphan Hin on Saturday evening, July 29, has now been established. The murder victim has been identified as Chin Lueyot, 33, a Phuket-based long tail boat driver. Last week, Tanakarn Wareethip, a construction worker from Tambon Rasada and a friend of Khun Chin, saw a picture in a local…
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Air passengers surpass year-ago figure
PHUKET: Heartening news for the low season comes with the latest monthly figures issued by Phuket International Airport. These show an 8.73% rise in passengers using the airport, compared with June 1999. The statistics show that 208,426 passengers went through the airport in June of this year, compared with 191,698 in the same month last year. Due primarily to an…
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