Search Results for: drug
- Phuket News
Purachai closes three nightspots
PHUKET: Interior Minister Purachai Piemsomboon went walkabout in Patong and Phuket Town until early this morning, and ended up ordering the temporary closure of three nightspots. He also rattled the operators of the famed Shark discotheque. The minister also had three foreigners arrested for fighting in the street as he walked by. K. Purachai and his team – which included…
- Phuket News
Minister warns civil servants about prostitution
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand’s interior minister, who has been hailed for a clampdown on the country’s flourishing illegal sex trade, today warned civil servants of severe action if caught using under-age prostitutes. Purachai Piumsomboon has ordered the dismissal of any government employee found to use child prostitutes or women forced into prostitution, following a series of recent scandals. One 12 year-old…
- Phuket News
CAT appeals for web watchdogs
THAILAND: The Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT) has appealed to the public to report any websites that contain rude words, that promote pornography or illicit drugs, or that defame royalty or any religion. The CAT will forward reports to the Royal Thai Police for investigation. To make a report between 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, call 02-6142514-5 or fax 02-…
- Phuket News
60,000 nabbed in clean-up
BANGKOK (AFP): Almost 60,000 people were arrested in the first three months of the ongoing crackdown on Bangkok’s after-hours nightspots, brothels and gambling dens, police said today. Thai police spokesman Pongsapat Pongcharoen said the crackdown had resulted in 24,867 cases involving 58,894 people. Some 8,621 people were caught betting in Thailand’s huge underground lottery while 540 people were busted for…
- Phuket News
Nightclub owners reminded to close tonight
PHUKET TOWN: The chief of police in Muang District, Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, yesterday chaired a meeting attended by 75 owners of entertainment venues, at which he reminded them that no one may sell alcohol today, HM The King’s Birthday, and that the only evening venues that may open are restaurants. Col Paween, the Superintendent of the Phuket Town Police…
- Phuket News
Ya bah seized in raids doubles
PHUKET: The number of ya bah (methamphetamine) pills seized by police between November 1 and 25 is more than double the amount netted during the same period in October, according to the latest statistics released by police. During November, police seized 7,435 ya bah pills, compared with the 3,327 tablets of the drug netted in the previous month. The jump…
- Phuket News
Two men caught in ya bah busts
PHUKET TOWN: Two men were arrested on Sunday on charges involving possession of 49 ya bah (methamphetamine) pills, a 12-gauge shotgun with four shells and 8,280 baht in cash. The arrests were made during a joint operation involving a total of 11 officers from the Phuket Branch of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board and Phuket’s Marine Police. Acting…
- Phuket News
Illegal alien arrests continue to fall
PHUKET: The number of illegal immigrants arrested on the island has fallen dramatically for the second successive month, according to the latest crime statistics issued by the police. From October 1 to 24, only 10 illegal aliens were arrested, compared with 47 during the same period in September, and 230 in August. The dramatic fall has been credited to the…
- Phuket News
Entertainment zones to be fixed this month
PHUKET: Details of entertainment zones across the country should be finalized by the end of this month, Deputy Prime Minister Pongpol Adireksan said yesterday. He added that some zones may be allowed to open as late as 4 am. In an interview broadcast on Phuket’s 95FM radio station last night, K. Pongpol also stressed that it is government policy to…
- Phuket News
Newlyweds in hostage drama
PATONG: Police from Kathu Police Station were called to the Jaranya Guesthouse on Rat-U-Thit Rd on Tuesday to find a honeymooning Briton standing in his wrecked hotel room, holding a broken beer bottle to his bride’s throat. Pol Capt Ampolwat Sangruang told the Gazette that his officers rushed the man, Mark Francis O’Reilly, 36, and managed to free his 18-year-old…
- Phuket News
Phuket ranks 2nd in Thai HIV stats
PHUKET: Phuket now has the second-highest rate of HIV infection in Thailand, Dr Jessada Chaikhunnarath, Deputy Chief of the Phuket Provincial Health Office, has told the Gazette. Only Chiang Rai has a higher rate. The infection rate in Phuket over the past 12 years was approximately six times the national average. In 1989, the last time national HIV statistics were…
- Phuket News
Fall in arrests of illegal workers
PHUKET: The latest crime statistics issued by the police, for the period from September 1 to 24, show the number of arrests of illegal immigrants dropping dramatically to 47 compared with 230 in the same period in August. The decrease is largely a result of the current Employment Services Office drive to register all foreign workers on the island. Pol…
- Phuket News
Bar crackdown dismays party-loving Bangkok
BANGKOK (AFP): A government crackdown on pub closing hours in Bangkok, which has dismayed tourists and infuriated nightspot owners, drew warnings today that the campaign could also do major damage to the economy. In recent weeks, squads of police have descended on popular bar districts to enforce antiquated laws which stipulate that last drinks must be ordered at midnight and…
- Phuket News
Prison appeals for donations
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Provincial Prison plans to set up a closed-circuit TV system between the prison and the Phuket Provincial Court Office – if the public will help to come up with the 120,000-baht estimated cost of the project. Phairoj Phankaew, Governor of the prison, told the Gazette that jails in other provinces such as Surat Thani, Chiang Mai already…
- Phuket News
Upbeat ending to narcotics conference
CAPE PANWA: The 5th Thailand-Burma Drug Law Enforcement Cooperation Meeting has ended on an upbeat note, participants said today. In a press conference held at noon at the Cape Panwa Hotel, officials from Thailand and Burma announced that it was decided at the one-and-a-half-day meeting to set up three “Border Drug Trafficking Control Centers” on the Thai-Burmese border. These will…
- Phuket News
Thailand and Burma discuss narcotics
CAPE PANWA: High-level talks between top officials from Thailand and Burma on narcotics problems started today at the Cape Panwa Hotel. The two-day meeting, between officials from Thailand’s Office of the Central Narcotics Board and its Burmese counterpart, the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control, is the fifth such meeting. The venue alternates between the two countries. Gen Thammarak Isarangura,…
- Phuket News
Chain of raids nets 1,800 ya bah pills
PHUKET TOWN: The arrest on Friday afternoon of a woman found in possession of four tablets of ya bah led to Phuket Town police arresting three more people within hours and netting more than 1,800 tablets of the drug. The chain of seizures started with the arrest of Omaporn Sornnon, 26, from Khon Kaen, at 2 pm on Friday, after…
- Phuket News
Reward offered for stolen yacht
PHUKET: A reward of US$4,000 (180,000 baht) has been offered for information leading to the recovery of the yacht “Dreamtime”, reported missing from its mooring in Ao Chalong on Thursday. The five-million-baht yacht belongs to a British man who returned from working offshore to find it gone. Dreamtime is the third yacht in 10 years to disappear in similar circumstances,…
- Phuket News
Paween leads 85 police in holy pledge
CHALONG: In his last official duty as superintendent of Kathu Police Station, Pol Col Paween Pongsirin this morning led 85 police officers under his command in an oath to be honest and to fight crime. Col Paween and almost all of his officers stood before the image of Luang Por Chaem at Chalong temple and vowed, “I will not get…
- Phuket News
Marine resources body gets teeth
PHUKET TOWN: A committee that brings together 10 arms of the government to help preserve the marine resources of the Andaman Coast may finally get teeth, thanks to a decent budget. The Region 3 Coordinating Committee to Preserve the Nation’s Marine Resources (CCPNMR) was set up in 1997, but under-funding has meant that it has been able to achieve little.…
- Phuket News
Patong bar owners claim victory
PATONG: The embattled bar owners of Patong appear to have won a reprieve from the enforcement of the 2 am closure law after putting intense pressure on the government, both locally and in Bangkok. The bar owners gathered this evening in the Pasha discotheque on Soi Sunset. There, the Mayor of Patong, Pian Keesin, announced that a tacit agreement had…
- Phuket News
300 sign opening hours petition to Governor
PHUKET: Some 300 business owners in Patong today petitioned Provincial Governor Pongpayome Vasaputi to allow an extension of opening hours from 2 am to 5 am. The petition argued that the enforcement of the 2 am law would not achieve the government’s aim of reducing crime and drug abuse. The petition was handed to the Governor by Chairat Sukkaban, owner…
- Phuket News
Patong “may be exempt from 2 am rule’
PATONG: The Ministry of Interior is looking at the enforcement of the 2 am closing law and may decide to make an exception for Patong, allowing bars and other entertainment venues in the town to stay open later. The announcement of the possible reprieve was made today by the Governor of Phuket, Pongpayome Vasaputi. He stressed that the clampdown on…
- Phuket News
Police bust karaoke selling ya bah
PHUKET TOWN: Teerawit “Jiew” Saefu, the 32-year-old owner of Nong Kim Karaoke on Soi Sri Sena, was arrested during a police raid on Tuesday on drugs charges. Two minors were also arrested. Pol Maj Sanya Thongsawat of Phuket Town Police Station said that sources had informed him that ya bah (methamphetamine) was for sale at the karaoke bar, near the…
- Phuket News
Slow start to Governor’s email hotline
PHUKET: Governor Pongpayome Vasaputi’s entry into cyberspace at the beginning of the month has so far received a lackluster response. “We receive only one or two emails a day,” the Governor’s secretary, Boonchai Somjai, told the Gazette. Every morning, K. Boonchai checks the email and then prints copies of relevant messages for the Governor’s in-tray. About 70% of the email…
- Phuket News
Gambling cases top crime stats again
PHUKET: Gambling cases once again topped the crime lists in Phuket for the period between January 1 and 15, according to statistics released yesterday by the Phuket Provincial Police. A total of 163 people were arrested for gambling in the course of 96 police raids. Following close behind were illegal immigrants; 94 were caught in the same period. Drugs also…
- Phuket News
Gunman kills motorbike taxi driver
TUNG TONG: Somyot Saekoey, 36, a motorbike taxi driver based in Patong, was shot dead late on Tuesday after visiting a friend. Pol Capt Kittipong Klaykaew of Tungtong Police Station said that K. Somyot went to visit his friend, Jamroen Soonthon, near the entrance to the Bang Wat Dam near Kathu, at around 10.30 pm. They chatted about their work…
- Phuket News
Four tourists die in bus accident
BANGKOK (AFP): Four Malaysian tourists were killed and another 30 seriously injured in Thailand early today when their bus careened off the Asian Highway and overturned. The group was on its way to the southern city of Hat Yai, as part of a tour of Thailand that took them as far north as Chiang Rai. The accident occurred in Nakhon…
- Phuket News
Mob blocks road to get rid of eight police
THALANG: A mob of 500 blocked the road to the airport in front of Thalang Police Station for 2½ hours on Saturday afternoon, demanding the transfer of a police captain and seven other officers whom they accused of planting drugs on people and stealing money. The protestors, from Baan Kain in Tambon Thepkrasattri, marched after Pol Capt Sanich Kongnu raided…
- Phuket News
Villagers lift Cape Panwa blockade
AO MAKHAM: Following a mass meeting between villagers and high-level government officials last night, and agreement by the officials to two additional demands made by the villagers, the blockade of Cape Panwa ended peacefully this morning. A barricade across the road leading to the cape was erected on Wednesday as part of a mass protest at the shooting to death…
