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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Smuggling of drugs by boat “declining’
AO MAKHAM: The new commissioner of the Royal Thai Navy visited Phuket today and told the Third Naval Area Command to continue to be vigilant in looking out for smuggled drugs. Vice Admiral Taweesak Somapa’s New Year message to the base at Ao Makham was that there appeared to be less of a problem now in the Andaman Sea. “More…
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Gunmen make off with 70,000 baht
PHUKET TOWN: Motorcycle raiders knocked a man off his motorbike, held a gun to his head and escaped with cash and checks totalling 70,000 baht yesterday, in a bold daylight robbery. Police said the two men pounced as Pramote Sanmongkol, 24, rode the 500 meters along Rassada Rd from Phuket Adventure Group Co, where he works, to a nearby bank,…
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Visit targets better social order
PHUKET: Deputy Interior Minister Pracha Maleenond is to visit Phuket on Wednesday as the national campaign to improve “social order” continues. At a meeting that afternoon, K Pracha will relay the latest developments in policy to members of local administrations before visiting a one tambon-one product site on Koh Sireh. On Thursday K. Pracha will meet Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi…
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Skull and bones found on island
RAWAI: Forensic scientists are trying to identify a skull found washed up last week on the bank of a stream on an island off Rawai. The skull and some small bones from a hand and a leg were found at about 10 am on Friday by a resident of Koh Bon. Pol Maj Jessada Sangsuree of Chalong Police Station said…
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Students aim to cut road accidents
PHUKET TOWN: Students from Rajabhat Institute Phuket have launched a project aimed at reducing road accidents on the island, which for its size has one on the highest road death and injury tolls in Thailand. The students, studying for master’s degrees in development strategy, will campaign to publicize telephone numbers people should call if they see bad driving they believe…
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Longest cake bake for Children’s Day
CHALONG: About 1,000 children are expected to turn out tomorrow to watch an attempt to produce a record-size cake for Children’s Day at Chalong Police Station. Pol. Lt. Col. Worrapong Wongjom told the Gazette that the officers there had organized activities on Children’s Day for the past six years. Last year they produced a cake 22 meters long. This year…
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Korean drowns in honeymoon tragedy
PHANG NGA: An idyllic honeymoon ended in horror and tragedy for a South Korean couple on Tuesday when the 33-year-old husband drowned in a boating tour accident. His young bride is due to fly home tonight, carrying her husband’s ashes. The cremation of Lee Dong Keun was due to take place just hours before his bride’s flight. Details of the…
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PMs’ visit puts pressure on illegals
PHUKET TOWN: The weekend visit to Phuket by Singapore’s Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, who arrives this evening, has triggered a crackdown by police on illegal immigrants. The Commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, Pol Lt Gen Chanwut Watcharapook, said last night that aliens would be repatriated to get rid of troublemakers and to make Thailand a safer place. He said…
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New prison chief invites visitors
PHUKET TOWN: The new Chief of Phuket Prison has invited groups of people, including students, to tour the prison to see facilities and watch convicts’ activities. The Chief, Panya Panatnachee, who arrived in Phuket two months ago, explained that the new activities he has introduced are batik making and the manufacture of bamboo blinds. Both products are in big demand,…
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Businesses, Movies and Tides
The 2003 edition of the Gazette Guide, Phuket’s ‘yellow pages’, will go on sale (at 140 baht) from January 17, with bulk deliveries to the hotels scheduled for the following day. For a list of retailers selling the Guide, or for discounts on bulk orders (10 or more copies) for guesthouses, clubs, associations and other non-profit organizations, please contact Guide@PhuketGazette.net…
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Undercover police nab Ecstasy pusher
PHUKET TOWN: A man accused of selling the illegal drug Ecstasy at Phuket nightspots has been arrested after selling the drug to an undercover police officer. Phuket Town’s Chief of Drugs Suppression Pol Lt Col Witoon Kongsudjai, was among officers who arrested Prasit Ploy-iam, 34, on Tuesday afternoon. “He had been selling drugs for a long time,” Col Witoon said.…
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Mayor clears out the touts
PATONG: The new mayor of Patong Municipality has taken resolute action over the past few weeks to clear Patong’s streets of aggressive sidewalk vendors – long a leading complaint of tourists walking around the town. Speaking today with the Gazette, Mayor Chalermsak Maneesri, who took up his new post less than two months ago, said officers of Patong Municipality had…
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Well surrenders murder secret
THALANG: Mystery surrounds the death of a tattooed man whose body was found in a well on Friday. He was probably murdered in an argument and dumped there, police say. Rubber-cutters discovered the body in a disused well about 200 meters from workers’ cottages in Baan Maa Nik after noting a bad smell. A rescue team lassoed the body, which…
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Skipper hacked to death by Burmese crew
PHUKET TOWN: Police believe the Thai skipper of a fishing vessel found dead on Sunday was murdered by members of his Burmese crew and dumped in the water after an argument that ended in violence. Jirachai Krairat, 35, who had gone missing the previous night, was found floating face down with his head almost severed from his body, in water…
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New IT course for Phuket
KATHU: Prince of Songkla University (PSU) is to introduce a bilingual bachelor degree course in Information Technology (IT) in the Faculty of Applied Sciences from June this year, says Asst Prof Puwadon Bootrat, Director of PSU’s Phuket Community College.Prof Puwadon said, “There’s a lack of IT staff in Phuket now and this has been contributing to the high costs of…
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Student news readers head for finals
PHUKET TOWN: Students who picked up awards in a news reading contest today will have the chance to compete in a national competition on Children’s Day next weekend. Awards were given to young Phuket news readers at primary and secondary levels. The winner for news reading in Thai at the primary level was Pabhasara Boonsukul, from Tessabaaan Plookpanya school, followed…
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PM to visit Phuket twice
PHUKET: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is scheduled to make two weekend-long visits to Phuket this month, first for a bilateral summit then for a Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party congress. The PM will make his first visit next weekend, from January 10-12, to meet Singapore’s Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and his entourage of 30 to talk about mutual economic…
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Hotels report bumper New Year
PHUKET TOWN: Resorts and hotels have been full over New Year and the three-star sector has solid bookings for January, but Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi anticipates a possible drop in top-end occupancy rates. “I hear that hotel bookings during the New Year holiday were good,” he told a press conference yesterday. “Three-star hotels, especially, will be full until the end…
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Holiday road toll sparks traffic crackdown
PHUKET: The three deaths and 468 injuries on Phuket roads from last Friday through to yesterday has prompted the Governor to order a crackdown on driving offenses. Speaking at a press conference today, Phuket Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi said, “We tried to reduce the number of accidents with police checkpoints, testing drivers for alcohol and an anti-drunk driving campaign but…
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Warning on secondhand mobile phones
PHUKET: Police have warned people buying secondhand mobile phones, especially pawn shop owners, to be on the lookout for stolen items. The warning came after the recent discovery of 500-600 mobiles, some stolen, in a raid on a phone shop. Pawnbrokers could face jail if they bought stolen items, said Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of Phuket Town Police. “Nowadays,…
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Prison still packed
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Provincial Prison remains massively overcrowded, according to the monthly statistics released by prison officials yesterday. The figures reveal that there are 955 men and 204 women incarcerated at the jail, where the official capacity is 666 male and 83 female prisoners. Of the 1,159 inmates, 458 are being held for narcotics offenses, 256 for theft, 157 for…
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Send the backpackers packing: Deputy PM
PHUKET TOWN: Backpackers should be discouraged from visiting Phuket because they bring problems such as drugs, Deputy Prime Minister Korn Dabbaransi has told local officials. In a wide-ranging meeting with local leaders at Provincial Hall on Wednesday, he also mentioned that employers in Phuket should take responsiblity for controlling levels of Burmese laborers and that the runway at Phuket Airport…
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Man held for shooting, armed robbery
PHUKET: Police have arrested a man they believe was responsible for an armed robbery and an attempted murder, and have uncovered what may be a stolen mobile phone haul. Banjob “Nong” Pramphet, 32, freed from jail three months ago after serving a sentence for robbery and possession of stolen goods, was nabbed in a stolen pick-up truck in Ranong on…
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Robbers net B3m in jewelry raid
PHUKET TOWN: Robbers made off with jewelry and other items valued at about 3 million baht in an overnight raid on a Thalang Rd gold shop, police said today. Assara Nattavuttisit, 30, the owner of Teg Heng shop, discovered the raid when he opened for business this morning. The thieves had cut the cable of a closed-circuit camera that may…
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Tourism meeting stresses environment
PHUKET: Sports and Tourism Minister Sontaya Kunplome yesterday met Phuket CEO Governor Pongpayome Vasaputi and officials from Phang-nga and Krabi to discuss tourism development in the region. At the meeting, held in the Royal Phuket City Hotel, K. Sontaya said, “We are working to promote a positive image of Thailand abroad and to ensure its safety as a tourist destination.…
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Safari tours protest tuk-tuk “bullying’
PHUKET TOWN: About 100 staff from four safari tour companies turned out today to demonstrate against tuk-tuk and taxi drivers, their rivals in a dispute over who may ferry customers between hotels and the safari companies. The protesters sat in about 30 vehicles outside the offices of Phuket Member of Parliament Suwit Sa-Ngiamkul on Phang Nga Rd, saying they had…
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One tambon, one product, one Christmas
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi has urged people to support the local economy this festive season by buying One Tambon One Product gift baskets. From Monday, baskets containing combinations of the 32 products made by Phuket villages taking part in the project will be available from Provincial Hall and major shoppping centers, including Big C, Tesco-Lotus and Ocean…
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Driving tests just got harder
PHUKET TOWN: Learner drivers looking forward to passing the traditional minimalist driving test to get their driver’s license now have to think again. The new driving test area at the Phuket Land Transportation Office (PLTO) was officially opened this afternoon and is in use. Phiyapan Jumpasut, Chief of the Department of Land Transportation, said that the Department was improving driving…
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Mayor under fire for park bridge project
PHUKET TOWN: About 20 members of the Rak Suan Luang Club (RSLC) today descended on Phuket Town Mayor Phummisak Hongsyok’s monthly press conference to protest the construction of a bridge in King Rama IX Park, better known as Suan Luang Park. Protest leaders handed Mayor Phummisak an official complaint to stop construction of a bridge over concerns that it will…
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Another murder in port area
PHUKET TOWN: The “Burmese Cemetery” has claimed yet another victim with a vicious weekend stabbing of a Burmese fisherman. Pol Lt Parichat Jaturonpan, of Phuket Town Police Station, said a motorbike taxi driver called police just after midnight on Sunday after seeing a man’s body by the side of Si Suthat Rd, near Rassada Port. Although police did not release…
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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