Phuket News
Discover the latest news and updates from Thailand’s most famous and beautiful island, The Thaiger’s hometown, having previously operated as the Phuket Gazette.
Our team brings you breaking news, in-depth analysis, and exclusive stories from Phuket, covering everything from local politics and business to lifestyle and tourism. Learn about the island’s stunning beaches, vibrant nightlife, and thriving expat community, as well as keeping updated on events, and attractions.
The Thaiger is your ultimate guide to staying connected with Phuket’s ever-evolving landscape. To keep up with the most reliable news source on the island, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media.
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Baby turtles hatch in Phang Nga national park
A female green turtle laid eggs on a beach in Phang Nga province in December, and last week, her babies hatched. The turtle laid 75 eggs altogether, and park officials confirmed yesterday that 66 had hatched and have been released into the ocean. Seven eggs were unfertilised, and two baby turtles had died. The 90.7% of hatchlings that survived spent…
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Patong tourists charged after driving unregistered electric scooters
Four tourists in Patong were charged with using unregistered and untaxed vehicles after they drove electric scooters near a beach resort. Several people had complained that the tourists were driving the scooters recklessly, threatening the safety of pedestrians and drivers alike. One of the tourists was stopped near a police booth on Pee Road last Wednesday evening, and the other…
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Firefighters rescue woman from burning coffee shop in Phuket
Firefighters rescued a terrified woman from a burning coffee shop in Phuket yesterday afternoon. The woman couldn’t move because she was frozen in shock. Even though about 70% of the building was damaged, no one was injured. The firefighters took almost an hour to stop the fire, and police and firefighters both are now investigating what started it. The coffee…
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Tourist questioned by police, Phuket taxi drivers said he was driving a “service vehicle”
A Russian tourist was taken to a police station in Phuket for questioning after local taxi drivers reported that the man was driving throughout the island province, claiming he was picking up passengers. The tourist was just driving his family members, but the car he rented ended up being registered as a service vehicle. Both the owner of the vehicle…
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Interpol Red Notices issued for 2 Canadians wanted for Phuket hit job
Interpol has issued Red Notices for both suspects wanted in the targeted killing of an Indian national in Phuket. Alleged gang member Jimi “Slice” Sandhu was gunned down in the car park of his villa near Rawai beach on the evening of February 4. Police are searching for 2 ex-servicemen from Canada in relation to the killing, believed to be…
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Thailand’s boat show saga – aches and pains for Phuket’s yachting industry
“The country’s leisure yachting businesses may face yet another round of ‘too many boat shows’ once the Covid disruptor has passed into relative insignificance.” It’s hard to imagine something as straightforward as a boat show causing endless controversy – but that has been the case almost since Thailand’s first show, Phuket International Marine Expo (PIMEX), held in 2003 at the…
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Love is in the air… and the beer… and the Prosecco
Origins of Valentine’s Day, with a Thai twist, by Barry Daniel Saint Valentine’s Day is traditionally a time for romance, flowers, candle-lit dinners and the whispering of sweet nothings into the shell-like ear of the object of your affections. But in Phuket there can be other distractions! History is unclear on whether any of The Beatles had journeyed to Thailand…
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Recent crimes in Phuket are damaging its reputation
Just when Phuket thought it was about to revive its crippled tourism economy, the recent murders, thefts, and taxi ripoffs on the Island province are scarring its public image. The most high profile recent event is the murder by two hitmen of deported Canadian gangster Jimi Sandhu at a villa in Rawai, on the southern coast of the island. The…
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UPDATE: Phuket gunmen named, possible related shooting in Canada last Tuesday
Police have identified the 2 gunmen who are being sought over the apparent gangland killing of Indian-born Jimi Sandhu on February 4 in Rawai, Phuket. Arrest warrants for 2 Canadian men have been issued. The alleged gunmen have been named as 36 year old Gene Karl Lahrkamp and Matthew Leandre Ovide Dupre, also 36. The arrest warrants follow an intensive…
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Volunteer teams clean trash and weeds from Phuket canal
Two volunteer organisations are joining forces to clear garbage and weeds from the Bang Yai Canal, which runs from Samkong into Phuket Town on Phuket’s east coast. The organisations are the Royal Thai Volunteers and the Rak Bang Yai Club, who announced the cleanup plan on video teleconference yesterday. The groups say they hope to clear the “bad smells” coming…
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Airport CCTV shows 2 suspects of Phuket murder case leaving Thailand
Police say they’ve obtained surveillance camera footage showing the two suspects in the Jimi Sandhu murder case in Phuket preparing to leave the country at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport. Sandhu, who was born in India, was a notorious gangster in Canada and was deported for “serious criminality.” He entered Thailand last month by private jet and was found dead with more…
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Police in Phuket find guns suspected to have been used to murder Jimi Sandhu
Police have found two guns at a beach in Phuket which they believed were used in the recent murder of 32 year old Jimi “Slice” Sandhu, a notorious gangster from Canada. Sandhu, who was born in India, was deported from Canada for “serious criminality” in 2016. He entered Thailand by private jet on January 27 carrying a fake Canadian passport…
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German celebrity says she was mugged at a Thailand beach, Phang Nga police investigate
While on a trip to Thailand, Cathy Hummels, the wife of German footballer Mats Hummels from Borussia Dortmund, was allegedly mugged. She told German media that she was hit by a stranger and robbed at a beach in Thailand. Some of the reports repeat her claims that she was mugged on the southern island of Phuket, but local police say…
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Phuket hotel is first to roll out ‘Life Bag Initiative’ with Living Waters
The Pullman Phuket Arcadia Naithon in Phuket has became the first hotel to complete and roll out the joint initiative by Living Waters Phuket and the Phuket Hotels Association Life Bag Project. On Wednesday, February 9, the hotel handed out 200 Life Bags directly to the local Saku area, their local community in the area around The Pullman Phuket Arcadia Naithon.…
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Criminals pretend to be police, scam Swiss man in Phuket
Scammers went after a Swiss national living in Phuket when they pretended to be police, and told him he had to pay a fine for receiving funds through illegal activities. The “police” contacted the man, Alain, saying a FedEx package couldn’t be delivered. Since Alain was expecting a FedEx package, he listened. The story then changed to say Bangkok police…
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National police chief arrives on Phuket as officers investigate Jimi Sandhu murder
National police chief Suwat Jangyodsuk has arrived on the southern island of Phuket as investigating officers step up the hunt for those behind the murder of an Indian national on Friday night. The man, named by various sources as Jimi Singh Sandhu, was shot dead outside his Rawai villa in the south of the island. According to a Bangkok Post…
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Fire breaks out by Phuket viewpoint, 16 Thai and foreign visitors rescued
Around 16 locals and Thais were evacuated from a forest in Phuket after a fire broke out and spread quickly by the Laem Krating viewpoint by the Krating Cape. The flames blocked the exit and authorities had to send a boat to pick the tourists and others up at the bottom of the hill in Phuket’s Rawai district. Phuket authorities…
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Cash, safes, passports seized from Phuket villa in “gangster” murder investigation
Following the murder of an alleged gangster in Phuket, police have seized a number of items from the Indian man’s rented villa. According to a Bangkok Post report, investigating officers have removed 2 safes, 2 passports, and 700,000 baht in cash from the villa in Rawai, in the south of the island. The 32-year-old victim, named locally as Mandeep Singh,…
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Phang Nga village hit by 2004 tsunami opens museum
One Phang Nga village community that was hit hard by the 2004 tsunami, Baan Nam Khem, has officially opened a museum about the tsunami, known as the Asian Tsunami (which was commemorated again recently). Thailand’s Minister of Culture, who attended the opening, says the museum will educate people about the history of how the tsunami devastated the Baan Nam Khem…
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Man flies out of speeding car in Phuket, 3 injured
Three people in a speeding car in Phuket were injured early this morning, and one man even flew out of the car when it crashed into a guardrail. The man’s head hit a potted plant on the pavement, and the car kept spinning until it hit a power pole. The man who flew out of the car, a passenger, was…
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UPDATE: Gunmen shoot dead a deported Canadian ‘gangster’ in Rawai, Phuket
A former British Columbia “gangster”, who was deported from Canada 6 years ago for “serious criminality”, has been shot to death in Rawai, Phuket. 32 year old Jimi “Slice” Sandhu, was gunned down while getting out of his car around 10pm last night. Sandhu, who the Vancouver Sun report was affiliated with the ‘United Nations’ gang, was the alleged owner…
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Deported Canadian gangster shot and killed in Phuket
UPDATED STORY HERE Two gunmen jumped out from bushes and shot and killed a Canadian man at The Beachfront Hotel Phuket in Rawai, a seaside resort town in the far south of Phuket, last night. Chalong police arrived on the scene at 6.30am this morning and found the victim lying face-down in a pool of blood next to a red…
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A night with the Junkies! Phuket’s Junkyard Theatre.
By Barry Daniel As a quiet, bookish type I’ve only taken LSD a few dozen times, but my recent Saturday night at the Underwood Art Factory Junkyard Theatre Show was far better than any other trip I’ve experienced! Half way along Phuket’s By-Pass Road in the middle of the island, lies the Underwood Art Factory’s psychedelic parallel universe which has…
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Foreigner steals 3,600 baht from Phuket cab driver
A Phuket cab driver caught a foreigner stealing 3,600 baht from his cab on camera last Sunday, January 30. The driver works for the inDriver app. He had stopped to get out of the car for a bathroom break when the foreign man snatched the cash into his pocket from the centre console between the two front seats. The driver…
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Phuket officials comment on recent ‘taxi’ fiasco – everything except taxi meters
It’s the public, especially tourists’, “misunderstanding” of the way taxis fares are charged on the island of Phuket that is the problem. That’s the explanation from Phuket Land Transport Chief Jaturong Kaewkasi during an interview on an island radio station this week. The Phuket Land Transport has responded to last week’s viral video clip when a Thai man posted the altercation…
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Greek tourists robbed in Phuket get 51,000 baht gift from anonymous donor
The Greek family who claims 200,000 baht was stolen from their car in Phuket have received a gift of 51,000 baht from an anonymous donor to help them continue their travels. The Facebook page named KNIGHTS BORDER made a post saying an “anonymous kind and beloved brother” donated the money to the family after hearing that hundreds of thousands of baht…
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Most Phuket tourists infected with Covid travelled from Russia and Kazakhstan
Most tourists who tested positive for Covid-19 when they arrived in Phuket travelled from Russia and Kazakhstan, but particularly Russia, the Phuket provincial governor told the Bangkok Post. The governor says there will be an investigation of why a significant number of infections involved travellers from those countries. Governor Narong Woonciew says that out of about 300 daily diagnoses in Phuket,…
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Phuket reports higher infection rate in second Covid tests for Test & Go travellers
With two RT-PCR tests now required for Test & Go travellers, one of Thailand’s most popular tourist destinations, Phuket, is reporting a higher infection rate for the second test. Following the emergence of the Omicron variant in Thailand, with many travellers testing positive for the mutated strain, the Thai government decided to require two RT-PCR tests instead of the initial…
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Greek travellers in Phuket claim 200,000 baht in cash was stolen from their car
A Greek family on a trip to Phuket claims around 200,000 baht in cash was stolen. Thai media reports that the family of five is asking for the money to be returned and are even promising to give the thief 500 euros if they return the cash. The family filed a report with the police and asked the hotel to…
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Phuket taxi driver fined 2,000 baht, to do etiquette training after overcharging incident
Authorities have slapped the Phuket taxi driver, who is accused of overcharging a passenger, with a 2,000 baht fine and have ordered him to go through etiquette training. The driver charged a Thai traveller 600 baht for a roughly 20-minute drive from the Kamala Beach area to a hotel Patong Beach. The traveller had tried to book a ride through…
Phuket is a province in the south of Thailand. Phuket's beaches face the Andaman Sea allowing the west coast beaches fantastic sunsets right throughout the year. If you're looking for news in Phuket, go to thethaiger.com/phuket Or follow our instant news in our Facebook pages.
The good news is that Phuket is famous for its foodie scene with an enormously diverse range of local and international foods - Phuket and southern favorites, street food along with international choices catering for the 12 million visitors to the island each year. Thaiger follows Phuket news and information 24 hours a day with regular updates.
Phuket is only 'just' an island with a 300 metre bridge linking it to Thailand's mainland. We're always reporting in the news that the channel beneath is frequently dredged to maintain Phuket's status as an island. On the other side of Sarasin Bridge is the Province of Phang Nga.
Getting to Phuket is easy as the island has land, air and sea connections. Phuket is also used as a take-off point for local island trips as Thailand's largest island is surrounded by over 30 pristine islands. Koh Phi Phi and the famous Maya Bay are always in the news and would be the best known of the island's just off Phuket's shores.
Phuket is an island and a province. It's the largest island in Thailand – 48 km north to south, 21 km east to west.
It's about 20% smaller, in area, than Singapore but much less densely populated. Whilst the island nation of Singapore boasts a population of nearly 6 million, Phuket has a permanent population of around 400-450,000 (but varies a lot with the influx of tourists and a workforce that is always changing). Most of Phuket remains jungle and tropical rainforest despite an acceleration of development over the past 20 years.
Unlike some of Thailand's other popular islands (that are in the Gulf of Thailand), the news is that Phuket is located in the Andaman Sea.
Phuket is 878 km north of the equator.
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