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- Phuket News
PM expected to launch “Seven Wonders’
PHUKET TOWN: The “Seven Wonders of Phuket” project, which aims to attract tourists to Phuket Town, gained momentum today with the news that Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra might open the first Sunday of festivities on April 7. The announcement, made by Phuket Town Mayor Phummisak Hongsyok at a press conference, comes before three private companies – Kantana, JSL and All…
- Phuket News
Three accused of B1.9m fraud
PHUKET TOWN: The manager of the high-end Prangtong Village housing estate on Kwang Rd, along with two others, has been arrested for misappropriating 1.9 million baht from the estate’s developer. Police named them as Nopparat Tongton, 53, the Manager of Prangtong Village, his wife, Jaruwan Tongton, 56, and his clerk, Arunrat Sa-ngeam, 33. Nopparat is the nephew of Tanakij Tongton,…
- Phuket News
Secret tape sparks corruption probe
PHUKET: Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi has ordered the Chief of Kathu District to investigate allegations of corruption in the Patong Municipality and has pledged to establish a committee of inquiry if the allegations appear to have foundation. The allegations were made by former mayor Pian Keesin, now in opposition in the Council. On Wednesday, at an extraordinary meeting in the…
- Phuket News
US command ship visits Phuket
PHUKET: The US Navy’s 7th Fleet command ship, the USS Blue Ridge, arrived here today. While in port, 7th Fleet Commander, V/Adm James Metzger, and his staff will have a series of meetings with Thai military and civilian leaders to discuss regional issues of concern, including the fight against terrorism. They will also discuss holding combined exercises with the Royal…
- Phuket News
B13m lost in warehouse blaze
PHUKET TOWN: Firefighters from all over the island took seven hours yesterday morning to put out a blaze in a warehouse. Damage in the fire was estimated at about 13 million baht. No one was hurt. Police answered a call about 3 am, by which time six fire engines from Phuket Town were already at the warehouse in Songkhla Rd,…
- Phuket News
The lick of love
PHUKET: To commemorate Valentine’s Day on February 14, the Communication Authority of Thailand (CAT) will be selling one million rose-scented postage stamps. Suwanna Suwanpetch, CAT public relations officer for Region 8, told the Gazette, “Thailand is the first country in the world to produce a scented stamp. Measuring one-inch across, the stamp will also be Thailand’s first square stamp.” The…
- Phuket News
Fury at proposal to close Phi Phi
KRABI (Gazette, Nation, AFP): Local businesspeople and officials have branded as “a big joke” a proposal that Phi Phi Don Island should be closed for two years to allow pollution in the tourism hotspot to be cleaned up. The proposal was put forward by Tourist Police Commander Pol Col Sanit Miphan, who told The Nation newspaper recently that the tiny…
- Thailand News
Something smuggled, something new”¦
BANGKOK: Customs agents were scratching their heads today over what should be done with a contraband cargo seized from a Taiwanese smuggler. The illegal shipment, worth about 10 million baht, was intercepted at Bangkok Port yesterday and the Taiwanese man was arrested, the Customs Department said. The haul, smuggled in from Singapore, included nine Mercedes-Benz cars and 300 white wedding…
- Phuket News
THAI silk turning to sandpaper?
BANGKOK (AFP): Thai Airways (a.k.a THAI) is re-launching the quest for a leader who can get the airline to shrug off its rapidly deteriorating image and revalidate its claims of running “smooth as silk”. THAI’s reputation used to be one of the best in Asia. But analysts and passengers are starting to see the airline fall apart. And Thailand’s prime…
- Phuket News
Police seize fuel-smuggling mother ship
PHUKET: Marine Police boarded and seized two Thai tankers laden with a total of 1.1 million liters of gasoline, which was being smuggled into the country on New Year’s Day. Pol Col Peera Boonliang, Superintendent of the Phuket Marine Police, said this morning that investigations into a smuggling ring led to the raids in which eight Thai crewmen were arrested.…
- Phuket News
Resorts busy but suffering
BANGKOK (AFP): Many resorts have no rooms left, but Thailand’s key tourism industry has taken a battering over the New Year holidays because of the September 11 terror attacks, according to a study released today. Thai Farmers Research Center (TFRC) said fears of terrorism and the gloomy world economy would drive New Year revenue from foreign tourists down to 3.0…
- Phuket News
TAT figures show effects of Sept 11
BANGKOK (AFP): Projected growth in Thailand’s tourist arrivals this year has been cut by more than half as a result of the September 11 attacks on the United States, officials said yesterday. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said in a statement that, before September 11, visitor arrivals for the whole year had been predicted at 10.3 million, an increase…
- Phuket News
Ambushes kill five police, one guard
BANGKOK (AFP): Gunmen opened fire in simultaneous attacks on police checkpoints in three southern Thai provinces, killing five officers and a civilian guard, officials said this morning. The unidentified attackers hit five police outposts – one in Yala, one in Pattani, and three in Narathiwat – at about 7:30 last night, local police said. Thai Interior Minister Purachai Piemsoomboon said…
- Phuket News
Naughty tour guides in the spotlight
PHUKET: Vice-governor Vinai Buapradit chaired a meeting of high-ranking officials, tour guides and tourism industry representatives on Friday to discuss the problem of tour guides who damage Phuket’s tourism. At the meeting, K. Vinai highlighted the importance of the issue, saying, “The problem with tour guides is important because they represent 60 million Thais. “I’ve asked everybody here today to…
- Phuket News
Boom in business registrations
PHUKET: The latest statistics on business registrations show that business people on the island are not nearly as pessimistic as might be thought, given the global downturn and the expected effects of the September 11 atrocities. In fact, the numbers from the Phuket Commercial Registration Office (CRO) show, there has been an increase in new business registrations. Veerachai Tantiwathanavallop, Director…
- Phuket News
Deputy PM calls for traffic-free Bangla
PATONG: Deputy Prime Minister Pitak Intrawitayanunt, who is also Minister for Tourism, conducted an inspection tour of Patong on foot last night to investigate the possibility of converting part of the beach road and all of Soi Bangla into a pedestrian zone at weekends. The proposed L-shaped zone would cover about 1.5 kilometers of road, starting from the Phuket Cabana…
- Phuket News
Foreign musicians to be hunted down
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand pledged Monday to crack down on overseas singers and musicians as part of a wider plan to cut the number of illegal migrant workers here by up to 30 percent, a senior official said. While there were some 200 mostly Filipino singers, musicians and artists working legally in hotels and bars in Thailand, many more had entered…
- Phuket News
Customs officials seize armadillos
BANGKOK (AFP): Thai customs officials seized a truck carrying nearly 500 legally protected armadillos destined for the stewpots of Chinese restaurants across Asia, an official said this afternoon. Manit Wityatem, customs chief in Thailand’s southern Chumphon province, said his officers had intercepted 483 armadillos believed to have been smuggled in from Malaysia. They were worth about a million baht (22,800…
- Phuket News
Gov sparks furore with Phi Phi proposal
PHUKET: Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi has landed in the middle of a war of words after suggesting that the central government should buy the Phi Phi islands, kick out private businesses and run the islands as a state enterprise. During a speech about the CEO system at a Thai Rak Thai Party seminar on Friday at the Patong Beach Hotel,…
- Phuket News
Drugs claiming ever younger victims
BANGKOK (AFP): When Supabun Kosum took her first methamphetamine tablet she was a curious 18-year-old schoolgirl wanting only “to test” if the little orange pill delivered the euphoria and invincibility her friends raved about. But her schoolyard experimentation with the drug in Thailand’s northern Nakhon Sawan province touched off a seven-year addiction that would consume her life and her income,…
- Thailand News
A job for Crocodile Dundee
BANGKOK: Thai authorities yesterday stepped up their hunt for about 10 fully-grown saltwater crocodiles that have been on the lam since escaping from a farm in flash floods last week. Four of the reptiles, measuring three to four meters in length, have already been captured near the Million Years Crocodile Farm, about 175 kilometers east of Bangkok. Another two reptiles…
- Phuket News
Cooking gas price rises on the way
PHUKET: The island can expect substantial rises in the price of cooking gas over the coming few weeks, after the government announced today that it had stopped subsidizing the fuel and was allowing vendors to set their own prices. So far, cooking gas prices in Phuket remain at much the same levels as before, at about 190 baht for a…
- Phuket News
Seized speedboat to be auctioned
PHUKET: A nine-meter British-built speedboat with twin 200hp Mercury engines, seized from a dive company in Ao Chalong earlier this year, will be put up for auction on November 8 at the Phuket Customs Region 5 offices on Phuket Rd. As with previous vessels put up for auction, the speedboat, “Seafarer”, was seized for alleged non-payment of Thailand’s crushing boat…
- Phuket News
Rise in babies named Osama
BANGKOK (AFP): The name Osama has become popular for newborn babies in Thailand’s predominantly Muslim south since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, officials said today. “The name Osama can be applied to both boys and girls, and to my knowledge there are many newborn babies [receiving this name],” said Irfan Sulong, a member of the Yala…
- Phuket News
Thailand may triple visa fees
BANGKOK (AFP): Despite an alarming slump in the country’s critical tourism sector, Thailand is considering a plan to triple visa fees for tourists. Non-immigrant visas, including those for business people, whether resident or visiting, would also rise sharply, a report said today. Thailand’s finance ministry is expected to seek cabinet approval this week for the move, claiming that it would…
- Phuket News
New park fees spark fury among dive firms
PHUKET: The good news is that the discriminatory fee system for entry into the Similan and Surin National Parks has been abolished. Thais and foreigners will pay the same fee. The bad news is that, from November 15, the entry fee for all divers will be 200 baht. And on top of that they must also pay a user fee…
- Phuket News
Star Aid raises B1.55m for charity
CHERNG TALAY: The StarAid gala dinner at the Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket on Saturday evening raised just under 1.55 million baht for charity, an increase of more than 400,000 baht on last year’s event. All 510 seats for the dinner were sold out as Phuket’s socialites shelled out 1,250 baht a head for tickets and more for raffle tickets and…
- Phuket News
Burglars raid Post Office
PHUKET TOWN: Thieves broke into the main Post Office in Phuket Town on Sunday night and stole 200,000 baht in cash. Pol Lt Parichat Jaturonpun of Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette the burglars came in through a ventilation window on the first floor of the building while the security guard was on the third floor. They took 200,000…
- Phuket News
Phuket worries about effects of US horror
PHUKET: The Governor of Phuket, Pongpayome Vasaputi, has ordered local officials to report to him any effects on tourism arising from Tuesday’s horrific events in the United States. “I think there may be some effect on tourism in Phuket during the coming high season,” he told the Gazette, “because some people may feel uncomfortable about traveling abroad.” He said that…
- Phuket News
Seized yachts fail to sell at auction
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Customs Region 5 office is holding on to the motor yacht “Old Crow” and the sailing yacht “Bin Cha Cha”, after failing to sell either of them at its auction today. At the Customs office on Phuket Rd, only two would-be buyers submitted bids for “Old Crow”, while no bids were made for “Bin Cha Cha”.…
