“Missing’ Irish teacher locked up for drunk driving

PHUKET: The Phuket Tourist Police search for an Irish teacher who disappeared Saturday night came to a screeching halt after the Patong Police revealed that the 35-year-old man had been locked up for drunk driving.

Eion Cahill, a teacher at Satree Phuket School, was released on bail at 10:30 this morning.

“Mr Cahill’s friends last saw him at Tai Pan in Patong. When they were unable to find him the next day, they began searching for him,” Urumporn Koondejsumrit, chief of the Tourist Police told the Phuket Gazette. “Still unable to find him, they contacted us. We helped by posting his pictures on our Facebook page, which is how it became known that he was arrested for drunk driving by the Patong Police.”

Maj Urumporn had no further information about the case. Patong Police officers on duty today were also unaware of the exact circumstances surrounding Mr Cahill’s arrest, despite his having been let out on bail this morning.

“Phuket is getting tough on drunk driving. Please, for your safety and the safety of others, don’t drive drunk,” Maj Urumporn said.

Amnuay Pompetanan from the human resources department of Satree Phuket School said that he was aware that there had been an issue, but had yet to make any decisions about what action the school would take.

“I heard from his friends who also teach in the school that he was arrested because he failed to present the appropriate documents when he was stopped at a checkpoint. I have also heard it was because he was driving under the influence,” Mr Amnuay said. “I will speak with him tomorrow and look into the details of the case.”

Last week, Phuket’s top cop gave the green light for police to pull over and arrest anyone suspected of drunk driving on the island. Additionally, he gave drunk driving arrest quotas to a number of Phuket police stations (story here).

Days later, that is yesterday, a drunk minivan driver killed an on-duty police officer after jumping the curb and smashing into him at high speed (video report here).

— Kongleaphy Keam