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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Thai team wins sportfishing contest
PATONG: Hong Tong, a team of Thai anglers, won the top award in this year’s Phuket International Sportfishing Classic competition. Second place went to Oily Reelers, a team with members from Australia, New Zealand, Britain and the USA. The award for top captain and crew went to the boat “Andaman Hooker”. The winner of the Lady Angler Trophy was Toola…
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International hunt for murder suspect
KAMALA: Police are trying to track down a German national, 39-year-old Walter Ober Lener, who is wanted in connection with the murder of his 21-year-old Thai girlfriend, Waraporn Tawaetwong, on Monday. The hunt began after K. Waraporn’s body was found yesterday afternoon in the house she shared with Lener. Her neck had been broken and she had been sexually mutilated.…
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French deputy mayor killed in bike smash
PATONG: A deputy mayor of the French ski resort of Chamonix died in a motorcycle accident in front of Phuket Simon Cabaret early yesterday morning. Pol Maj Pisit Cheanpeth of Kathu Police Station told the Gazette that at around 2.30 am, the man, whom he named as Jean-François Girod, aged about 38-40, crashed his rented motorbike into a culvert at…
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Policeman murdered on bypass road
PHUKET TOWN: Pol L/Cpl Piyanut Singkaew, 31, of Phuket Town Police Station, was found murdered late last night opposite a deserted building on the bypass road, about 200 meters past the Gems Gallery. Responding to a call at 11 pm, police found the victim lying face down beside the road. He had been shot seven times with a 9mm pistol,…
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Phuket to crack down on illegal workers
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket’s Governor, Pongpayome Vasaputi, has warned that illegal Burmese, Laotian and Cambodian workers – and those who employ them – will be singled out in a crackdown starting December 1. The proposed crackdown follows a cabinet meeting on August 29 at which a limit was set of 5,308 work permits for Laotian, Burmese and Cambodian workers in Phuket.…
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Four held for trying to rob currency exchange firm
PHUKET TOWN: Four men who had lost money gambling decided on Saturday to take an even bigger gamble – they held up a currency exchange company. But their luck was still bad. They came away empty-handed and were nabbed soon afterwards by police. The four, identified by police as Jaroen Sakjapitak, 42, from Sakhon Nakhon, Jantai Singkam, 34, from Loei,…
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Police suspect murder in death of jet-ski operator
PATONG: The body of a Thai jet-ski operator was found near the Nakalay viewpoint, near the Thavorn Beach Village Hotel, on Friday afternoon. Although the cause of death has yet to be established, the police are treating it as murder. Local fisherman, who had noticed a foul smell, discovered the body on the rocks 20 meters below the Nakalay viewpoint…
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Monk hacked to death with axe
PAK THO (AFP): The continuing scandals in the Thai clergy took a gruesome turn on Wednesday with the discovery of the body of a 37-year-old monk who had been hacked to death with an axe in a temple near the western Thailand border. Police said today that the body of Phra Ko Muang, who was originally from Burma, was found…
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Local student wins speech contest
KATHU: Twenty-one-year-old Philippe Berthe, a first-year hotel and tourism management student at Prince of Songkla University, Phuket Campus (PSU), won the first round of the National Speech Contest held at PSU on Wednesday. Mr Berthe, whose father is French and whose mother is Thai, was born in Phuket. The runner-up was Siwaporn Arjariya, a second-year student at Walailak University, Nakhorn…
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“Leaking policeman’ case: two more arrested
PHUKET TOWN: Two more people involved in the robbing of an off-duty immigration police officer – who had stopped to take a leak on a football field – were arrested today. The first arrest in the case was made on Tuesday when Prathueng Intarachuenchom, one of two armed robbers, was found at the Phuket International Hospital where he was being…
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Four charged with million-baht “black money’ scam
PATONG: Police on Wednesday charged four West African men with swindling a Patong restaurateur and his brother out of one million baht, using a classic “black money” scam. Pol Col Kokiat Wongvorachart, superintendent of Kathu Police Station, named the four arrested men as: Gala Sompson, 24, and David Woshington Je, 23, both from Liberia, and John Cacosta, 30, and Goodrid…
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Phuket people “should handle environmental problems’
PHUKET: The Phuket Environment Committee (PEC) is to push for the island to have its own Environmental Protection Office, members said today, because Phuket is the county’s most important resort. Up to now, they said, environmental problems that have cropped up in Phuket have been addressed very slowly because there has been no organization in the province that was directly…
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Leaking policeman gets into hot water
PHUKET TOWN: Stopping to pass water can be a dangerous business, as an Immigration Police officer found out on Monday. Pol Snr Sgt Maj Wichien Petphang-nga told the Gazette that he was driving, in plain clothes, toward the center of Phuket Town when he heard the call of nature. He decided to stop at the Sanamchai football field, opposite the…
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Kathu police boss moving to new post
PHUKET: Pol Col Kokiat Wongvorachart, superintendent of Kathu Police Station – which is also responsible for Patong – is to move on Friday to a new post as a deputy provincial commander of Nakhon Sri Thammarat Provincial Police. He will be replaced by Pol Lt Col Paween Pongsirin, currently the litigation deputy superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station. Pol Col…
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Hotel tax row: Governor steps in
PHUKET: The island’s new Governor, Pongpayome Vasaputi, has stepped into the furious row between Phuket’s hotels and the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) over the OrBorJor’s new tax on hotel room revenue. After a five-hour closed meeting last Wednesday with representatives of both sides, the Governor ruled that the hotels must pay the tax, but that the OrBorJor must revise…
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Fire in Phuket Town
PHUKET TOWN: A fire on Saturday night caused damage estimated at 500,000 baht to a house on Sakdidet Rd. Four fire engines arrived within 20 minutes of being alerted by a neighbor. About 80% of the house was destroyed by the blaze. No one was hurt. The cause of the fire has not yet been identified, though an electrical short…
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New driving test area to be built
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Provincial Transportation Office (PTO) is to set up a new area for conducting driving tests. The project, which has received the go-ahead from the Department of Land Transport, is expected to be completed within the coming 12 months. Driving tests currently take place on an area next to the PTO office which, the PTO says, is…
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Air passenger figures rise by 13 pc
PHUKET: Passenger throughput at Phuket International Airport in September was up by 13% compared with the same month last year, according to figures just released by airport officials. The number of people arriving or departing on domestic flights rose by about 7% to 140,470, while 98,008 people used the airport for international flights, representing a 24% increase. Cargo shipments, however,…
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Two more parties name parliamentary candidates
PHUKET: Two more political parties have named candidates to run in the national elections which, Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai announced today, will take place on January 6. The New Aspiration Party, which is led by Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh and Pol Capt Chalerm Yoobamrung, has named Prasert Tantibutsapan to run for District 1. The Chart Thai Party, led by former Prime…
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Injured activist well enough to make statement
THALANG: Environmental activist Siripoj Cheechang, severely injured in what appeared to be an assassination attempt on October 4, was yesterday well enough to make a full statement to officers investigating the incident. But investigators are having trouble getting witnesses to come forward, and have had to resort to issuing subpoenas to force them to make statements. K. Siripoj, who is…
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Abbot charged with murdering woman
PETCHABUN (AFP): The abbot of a wat in this Isan province has been charged with murdering a woman who was found strangled and dumped in a septic tank, local police said today. Adhikarn Arn Wattanadhamo, the abbot of Wat Nonsawangarom, in Amphur Lomsak, Petchabun, has been charged with robbery and premeditated murder and will be prosecuted, the police said. Last…
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English resident killed in bike crash
PATONG: An English resident of Phuket died in a motorcycle accident at the intersection of Thaweewong Rd and Phrabaramee Rd early on Saturday morning. Pol Maj Pisit Cheanpeth of Kathu Police Station told the Gazette that at around 2.30 am, the man, whom he named as 27-year-old Robert William Mark McCartney, ran into a light pole on the road from…
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Golf match raises 400,000 baht for charity
PHUKET: The golf tournament organized by the British Business Association of Phuket (BBAP) on October 14 raised a grand total of 400,665 baht for charity, the BBAP has announced. Despite occasional heavy showers, the contest, at the Blue Canyon Country Club, drew 121 players. Of the total raised, 300,000 baht will go to the Phuket Old People’s Home for construction…
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Motorbike death rate drops sharply
PHUKET: Eight people died in traffic accidents between August 20 and September 20, according to statistics from the Wachira, Thalang and Patong government hospitals. All the victims were on motorcycles, reported Ampaipan Pawawattananusorn of the Phuket Provincial Health Office. The death-rate on motorcycles in August/September was considerably lower than the average of 14.7 a month for the first nine months…
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Money-laundering regulations start tomorrow
PHUKET: From tomorrow, anyone wanting to withdraw more than 2 million baht in cash from a bank account – or deposit more than that amount in cash – will have to fill in certain forms in order to comply with the Money Laundering Control Act of 1999. “This applies to cash transactions of more than 2 million baht. The purpose…
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Two drown in three days
PATONG: A 22-year-old Malaysian tourist who was a national-level swimmer for his country drowned Tuesday afternoon at Patong Beach. Chan Oy Lye, 21, identified the victim as her boyfriend, Chew Hoo Hao. The couple had arrived in Phuket with two other friends just a few hours before the accident took place. The four friends had checked into the Panorama Hotel…
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Monk caught cavorting in guise of Army officer
BANGKOK (AFP): A Buddhist abbot caught masquerading as a well-heeled military officer was being investigated by police today after his secret life of luxury cars, bars and girls was exposed. Abbot Thammathorn Wanchai was defrocked and arrested when his illicit activities were broadcast nationwide by a television crew who had followed him for days. Their report showed him leaving his…
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Chart Pattana picks Phuket candidates
PHUKET TOWN: The Chart Pattana Party has finally chosen its candidates for Phuket’s two parliamentary seats in the coming general election. Samkhan Saengfai, managing director of PB Holdings, is to stand for Voting District 1, which covers Phuket Town apart from Tambon Rassada and Tambon Koh Kaew. K. Samkhan, Gazette readers may recall, was the man who tried to launch…
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Police announce softer traffic policy
PHUKET TOWN: Although they will continue stopping those who break traffic laws, Phuket’s police say they will be more systematic about it, and will issue fewer tickets for traffic offenses than before. The new policy follows riots in the streets of Nakhon Sri Thammarat recently when motorcycle owners went on the rampage in protest against what they saw as excessively…
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Parks coupon scheme sees few takers
BANGKOK: Only 150 tour and dive operators in the whole of Thailand have submitted applications to join a concessionary coupon scheme recently announced by the Marine National Parks Department (MNPD) of the Royal Forestry Department (RFD). The coupon scheme allows operators to take foreigners into parks at the old rate of 20 baht or 40 baht, rather than the new…
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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