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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Police raid law-breaking pubs
PHUKET TOWN: Police launched a series of raids in the early hours of yesterday morning, targeting establishments known for ignoring opening and licensing laws. The raids resulted in seven establishments being caught flouting the law. Kung Ja Restaurant and Nam Fon Karaoke were charged with staying open after the 3 am closing time. Establishments charged with operating without a license…
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Six tourists arrested for drugs at “rave’
KANCHANABURI (AFP): Six foreign tourists have been arrested on drugs charges after a raid on a “Black Moon” party at a campsite in this western province, police said today. More than 100 backpackers were netted in the crackdown on an all-night “rave” at a local holiday spot. Police swooped on the site early on Thursday, seizing ecstasy pills and marijuana.…
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Bag-snatchers have a busy week
PHUKET: Motorbike-riding bag-snatchers have been busy over the past week, police report, with two or three cases a day, all in the same area south of Phuket Town. “Most of the thefts took place on Chao Fa Nok Rd, Chao Fa Nai Rd, Kwang Rd, or Sakdidet Rd,” said an undercover policeman who asked not to be named. “They work…
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115 illegals held in raids on wat fair
CHALONG: The annual fair at Wat Chalong has proved a bonanza for officers targeting illegal immigrants. In the first two days – Tuesday and yesterday – 115 Burmese were arrested, and there are four more days to go. “There are many construction camps in the area, and the fair is famous among the Burmese,” explained Pol Col Abhirak Hongtong, superintendent…
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62 election results thrown out
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand’s Election Commission today threw out poll results in 62 constituencies where the winning candidates were accused of cheating in the January 6 national elections. Thaksin Shinawatra’s Thai Rak Thai party earned more than half the disqualifications, with five of its candidates being found guilty of corruption and 27 others being handed warnings over graft allegations. The Democrats,…
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Bar owner rounds up turtle hatchlings
BANG TAO: Local bar owner Tony Somrak discovered 95 Olive Ridley hatchling turtles on the beach in front of the Banyan Tree Resort late last night. “This is the first time that I’ve seen turtles hatch,” Tony told the Gazette, “and it was only because we had a small family picnic on the beach last night. When I went back…
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Chuan to open major seminar in Phuket
PHUKET: Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai will open the 18th National Chamber of Commerce Seminar, which will take place in Phuket on February 3 and 4, hosted jointly by the Phuket Chamber of Commerce and Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC). The seminar, which is expected to draw about 150 participants representing chambers of commerce from across Thailand, will begin at 8:30…
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Second urgent call for blood
PHUKET TOWN: The Wachira Phuket Hospital this afternoon issued a second urgent appeal for blood, this time type A negative blood. Earlier today it appealed for B negative donors. The appeals were issued because the hospital’s blood bank has no stock of either blood type, and needs both, one type for a pregnant woman who underwent an operation after her…
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Crackdown on traffic violators planned
PATONG: The Superintendent of Kathu Police Station has warned that from February 1 his officers will begin a crackdown on people who break traffic laws, particularly in Patong. Pol Col Paween Pongsirin told the Gazette that Patong’s traffic problems have worsened since police began taking a softer line on law-breakers last October. The softer line was introduced in response to…
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Bag-snatchers back in action
PHUKET: Bag-snatchers on motorbikes are back in action in Phuket after a seven-month lull, with two cases reported yesterday, one in Phuket Town and the other in Thalang. In June last year there was a spate of bag-snatching cases, with robbers on motorbikes riding up alongside their targets and snatching handbags from the baskets of their victims’ bikes. With the…
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Dutchman held for working illegally
PHUKET TOWN: A Dutch national living in Phuket was arrested on Saturday evening for working without a work permit. Police told the Gazette that Provincial Defense Officers, led by Chief Nikorn Torhiranpruek, were conducting a sweep for illegal workers when they found William Pittel, 46, helping his Thai wife to sell limes at the Down Town Night Market, opposite the…
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Common cold drug banned
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Health Office (PHO), under instructions from the Ministry of Public Health, has announced a ban on the use of Phenylpropanolamine (PPA) in medicines. Research undertaken at Yale University has indicated that PPA may assist the development of a hemorrhagic stroke. PPA is found in many medicines taken for relieving symptoms of the common cold and is…
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Airport traffic rises again
PHUKET: Passengers arriving or departing the island via Phuket International Airport continue to rise, according to the latest figures released by airport officials. The passenger throughput in November rose to 311,292 – a rise of 4.59% – compared to 299,139 in November, 1999. The statistics show that 311,292 passengers went through the airport in November, compared with 299,139 in the…
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German embezzler snared
NAI HARN: Phuket Immigration Police have arrested a German engineer suspected of embezzling 170 million baht from the City of Munich. The police arrested Richard Muhr, 47, at a Nai Harn-beach bungalow on Friday, January 5 after the German Embassy in Bangkok reported that Muhr and a colleague had embezzled money from the city. Pol Col Apirak Hongthong, superintendent of…
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Largest drug haul in Thai history
TUBLAMU, PHANG-NGA: The Royal Thai Navy recorded the largest drug bust in Thai history on Sunday, after they seized an estimated five million ya bah (methamphetamine) pills and 100 kilograms of heroin valued at more than a billion baht ($25 million). Four naval patrol boats and a Dornier helicopter from Tublamu base captured two fishing trawlers, one carrying the drugs,…
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Democrats still dominate Phuket
PHUKET: Phuket Democrat Suwit Sa-Ngiamkul won the Phuket Voting District 1 seat with an overwhelming majority in the in the national election on Saturday. Phuket’s Voting District 1 covers Phuket Town, apart from Tambon Rassada and Tambon Koh Kaew. K. Suwit, whose soaring popularity springs from his role in the Phuket Town Municipality, beat five other candidates at the polls…
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Loan shark took nude photos of staff
PHUKET TOWN: Police found a naked woman with hands and feet bound in chains in the house of a loan shark on Soi Taling Chan yesterday after receiving a tip-off about an illegal gun. Pol Lt Akanit Danpitaksart, of Phuket Town Police station, obtained a search warrant after hearing that an illegal pistol had been seen in the house in…
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Woman dragged one kilometer by truck
PHUKET TOWN: A delivery van dragged a woman and her motorbike along Thepkrasattri Rd for about a kilometer early on Wednesday morning after a collision. Wipa Kongpisutthikul, 25 of Phuket Town, told police that while she was waiting to turn right near the intersection of Thepkrasattri Rd and Komaraphat Rd, the van driven by Sanit Maichum, 27, hit her and…
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National minimum wage increase
BANGKOK: The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (MLSW) has announced a nationwide increase in the minimum wage of three baht per day. The increase, announced by Pol Gen Pracha Promnork of the MLSW, is effective retroactively to January 1, 2001. The increase raises Phuket’s minimum wage, which is among the highest in the country, from 162 baht to 165…
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Health warnings should not concern tourists
PHUKET: Following health warnings issued by the Phuket Provincial Health Department (PHD) on January 2, Dr Jessada Chaikhunnarath, Specialist in Preventive Medicine, confirmed that tourists are not at serious risk of diarrhea or malarial infections. “There were no recorded cases of serious diarrhea or dysentery among tourists in the year 2000. The PHD health survey includes reports from every hospital…
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Big turnout at Saphan Hin for Democrats
PHUKET TOWN: Thousands of Democrat Party supporters gathered in Saphan Hin last night to listen to the Prime Minister before the national elections on Saturday, January 6. Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai and other Democrat Party ministers, Abhisit Vejjajiva, Surin Pitsuwan, Trairong Suwankiri, and Suthep Thaugsuban, took the stage in support of Phuket’s Democrat candidates for MP: Suwit Sa-Ngiamkul, for District…
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Huge increase in injuries over the holidays
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Health Office (PHO) has reported that 397 people were injured in auto and motorcycle accidents, and three were killed in motorcycle accidents over the four-day holiday period. The number of injuries rose 52% from the same period last year, when 261 were injured, but the death toll is down from the nine reported last year. Of…
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German woman in suicide jump
PHUKET TOWN: A 45-year-old German woman apparently committed suicide by jumping from the third floor of the Bangkok Phuket Hospital on Monday at about 7:30 pm. The woman, a tourist, died from severe head injuries, according to Pol Lt Kanuang Pitakulthon of Phuket Town Police Station. The hospital cannot verify the woman’s name because no passport or other identification papers…
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Government issues health warning
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Health Department (PHD) has issued a public health warning for diarrhea and malaria for the months of January and February. The warning comes after the release of statistics for the year 2000. These statistics show that the number of reported cases of diarrhea and malaria during these months in past years has reached near-epidemic proportions. The…
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A tale of two Kesorns
PATONG: Nationwide publicity about the kidnapped ‘beggar girl’ case has put the spotlight on Kathu Police Station’s finest. On December 14, Buri Ram native Huad Sooksaeng, 34, contacted Kathu police claiming that the begging girl, seven-year-old Kesorn, was her daughter, and that Kesorn had been kidnapped from her home in the northeast of Thailand three years ago. The police responded…
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Murder suspect may be charged in Germany
KAMALA: A police officer from the German Embassy in Bangkok visited Kathu Police Station on Tuesday to gather evidence regarding the November 13 murder of 21-year-old Waraporn Tawaetwong in Kamala. Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of Kathu Police Station, says that the officer is gathering documents so that police in Germany can charge Walter Roland Oberleitner, 39, a German national…
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Local official shot dead in Krabi
KRABI: An assistant poo yai baan in Tambon Kao Panom, Krabi, was gunned down early yesterday morning after he got into a fight with the owner of a rubber plantation. Police told the Gazette that Jamikon Sung-rod, 25, shot Chob “Yam” Nuan-on, 36, during a fight in the Kao Tong restaurant, which is on the road from Kao Panom to…
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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…
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Murder victim might be Pakistani
PHUKET TOWN: The body of a man believed to have been a Pakistani fisherman was found in an industrial garbage bin near the fishing port on Saturday. Pol Maj Songwut Khunjan of Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that the man, as yet unidentified, died from almost 40 wounds to the face, neck, chest, stomach and back. He added…
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Crashed cement truck blocks road
KATHU: A cement truck overturned on a sharp curve on Patong hill at noon today, forcing traffic police to close the road for two hours. The driver, Jarouy Promhoun, lost control of the truck after stalling the engine on the way up the hill, Pol Cap Kittipong Claikaew told the Gazette. The truck, owned by Chalong Concrete Co, overturned just…
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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