News
Thailand news, politics, business, crime, lifestyle, and tourism—stay updated with breaking news and in-depth analysis from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond. The Thaiger delivers the latest national news that matters.
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Yacht import duty close to being scrapped
KARON: The Customs and Excise Departments have recommended that the government scrap import duty on foreign-made yachts, the Director General of the Customs Department, Chavalit Sethameteekul, said today. K. Chavalit made the announcement before joining the meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Sub-Committee on Customs Procedures this morning at the Phuket Arcadia Beach Resort. “Phuket will be a haven…
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Thai center to drive Apec life sciences growth
PHUKET: Thailand and private US interests have agreed to establish a Center of Excellence for the Life Sciences in Thailand that will lead growing interest in the topic throughout the region, a ground-breaking Apec conference has been told. The announcement came from Deputy Prime Minister Suwit Khunkitti in the lead-up to the opening of the first Life Sciences Innovation Forum,…
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Island’s tourism tide turns
PHUKET: Latest airport arrival figures and resort occupancy rates indicate that Phuket’s tourism trade is recovering rapidly from the Sars scare, with some hotels already planning to hang up “House Full” signs soon. Official statistics for the first 10 days in August show that 8.7% more international visitors flew to Bangkok compared with the same period last year, an increase…
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Island gears up for OrBorTor elections
PHUKET: Moves to publicize the August 30 elections for Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor) members are underway, with the Phuket Election Commission Bureau (PECB) and the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) lending a hand. At a meeting at the PECB offices yesterday, OrBorJor President Dr Prasit Koeysiripong pledged four sound trucks to promote the elections for 10 days, while the PECB…
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MP calls for commission into farmers’ rights
PATONG: Local Democrat MP Chalermlak Kebsup today called for a commission to be set up to determine local farmers’ rights to own land that they claim to have occupied before it was declared Forest Preserve or Zone C land – declarations that led to it being issued with SorPorKor 4-01 land occupation papers. K. Chalermlak said that people in Phuket…
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Ganja and magic mushrooms seized
PATONG: Four men were arrested on Monday in two separate drug raids along the Patong-Karon road that netted quantities of marijuana and “magic” psilocybin mushrooms allegedly packaged for re-sale. In the first raid, Pol Capt Sophon Borirak led Kathu Police officers to the Rasta Bar just south of Patong and arrested three Thais and a German at about 8:30 pm.…
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Fake goods raids set vendors running
PATONG: Police seized about 500 items of fake goods with a street value of 500,000 baht in raids on two Patong stalls last night as the crackdown on imitation products continued. The people selling the goods ran off. Led by Deputy Director of Phuket Commercial Affairs, Tharadol Thongruang, officers moved in on one stall near the Holiday Inn at 9…
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Korean drowns at Karon
KARON BEACH: A middle-aged Korean woman drowned in heavy surf in front of the Phuket Arcadia Beach Resort just after midnight yesterday. Pol Maj Sanae Panmee, of the Chalong Police Station, told the Gazette that the victim, identified as 41-year-old En Seck Sea, entered the dangerous surf with a friend after drinking together at a local bar. The pair were…
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Marine Dept regional HQ to move to Phuket
PHUKET TOWN: Wanchai Sarathulthat, Director-General of the Marine Department, yesterday announced that the Marine Department’s Region 5 headquarters, which includes Phuket, will move from Trang to Phuket, with regional office chief Capt Arnut Sombathiwee at the helm. K. Wanchai made the announcement at a meeting of nearly 100 government officials and members of Phuket’s marine leisure industry at the Royal…
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Water aplenty, says Governor
PHUKET: Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi has confirmed that Phuket should have no water shortages until at least the end of this year and perhaps beyond. Gov Pongpayome told the Gazette that heavy rain had alleviated the problem, which at one stage saw Patong and Karon with water rationing and the prospect of restrictions also looming for Phuket Town. The completion…
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TAT tips increase in African visitors
PHUKET: Officials believe a tourism road-show to South Africa last month will lift the number of visitors to Phuket and the region by more than 20,000 based on the levels of interest. Anupharp Thirarath, Director of the local Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) office, visited South Africa from July 13-20 with representatives from 40 tour companies based in Phuket, Phang…
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Not wanted, dead or alive
NO MAN’S LAND: A Thai man working at a casino in the Cambodian border town of Poipet died there after Cambodian officials refused to let his wife, Khun Wanna, take him back to Thailand to seek emergency medical treatment. The victim, 23-year-old Samruay Sukpanao, started working at the Princess Casino as a decorator 15 days before his untimely demise on…
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Raffles to open a resort in Phuket
PHUKET TOWN: Singapore-based Raffles International Limited and its subsidiary Raffles International Hotels & Resorts (Thailand) Co, Ltd, have announced the signing of an agreement with Andaman Peninsula Company Ltd to develop a five-star luxury resort in Phuket. The Raffles Resort Phuket, to be built on the headland south of Kata Noi Beach, will include 79 luxury hotel rooms, 30 residential…
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2,000 fake CDs seized in Bangla
PATONG: Police this afternoon raided two stores on Soi Bangla and seized more than 2,000 copy CDs and many other imitation brand-name goods with an estimated total street value of at least 2 million baht. Led by Pol Col Chalit Thintanee, Superintendent of Kathu Police Station, officers at 2:30 pm raided the stores and arrested storeowners Kampan Sakornnitikul, 25, and…
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Officers inspect Bunchoo land
PHUKET: Crime Suppression Division Deputy Superintendent Pol Lt Col Korawath Panprapa this morning inspected seven properties either owned by or involving former Chief of the Kathu District Land Office, Bunchoo Limraksasin. Accompanied by land officials and officers, Lt Col Korawath inspected two shophouses on Soi Baan Hua Kuan, in Kamala, one of which houses a Thai massage business. The shophouses…
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Gov boosts security after Jakarta blast
PHUKET: In response to yesterday’s bomb blast in Jakarta, where at least 14 have been killed and 149 injured, Phuket Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi has ordered police to boost security at all hotels across the island. Governor Pongpayome today told the Gazette that he ordered a general alert last night, and today ordered police to pay particular attention to security…
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Teen gunned down in Chalong
CHALONG: A teenager was blasted at point-blank range by young hoodlums in Soi Thanuthep yesterday afternoon while on his way to visit a friend. Nattawuth Somanon, 17, from Kata, was riding his motorbike along the soi, with two friends on another motorbike at about 1:30 pm, when two young men rode past in the opposite direction, Pol Maj Jessada Sangsuree,…
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Income boost tipped from film location shoots
PHUKET: A Phuket seminar on making films in Thailand is a step towards doubling the nation’s income from film shoots, according to Dr Sasithara Pichaichannarong, Director-General, Office of Tourism Development. “We see this as a good opportunity to support the film industry,” she told the Gazette. “Next year, we expect to earn double the income we earned last year.” Thailand…
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Thalang man survives gang attack
THALANG: A Thalang man barely survived a vicious beating following an attack by a local youth gang, after local residents found him lying unconscious and covered in blood on the roadside near the entrance to Layan Beach at about 2 am yesterday. The victim, 27-year-old Saroj Sae-khor, managed to flee the gang by motorcycle, but later crashed when he lost…
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Rain! But water row stops flow
PHUKET TOWN: Heavy rains have boosted levels in Bang Wad reservoir but a debate over the cost of an electric pump is delaying a large project designed to ease the island’s chronic water shortage. As a result, the rights and wrongs were being thrashed out at a meeting in Bangkok today. The dispute involves two island water bodies, the Phuket…
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Governor is moving up
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi is being promoted to the important post of Director-General of the Department of Local Administration (DOLA) after two years running the province, a vice-governor has confirmed. After Gov Pongpayome came to Phuket in October 2000, he became one of five pioneer Governor CEOs in an experiment initiated by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. In…
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Apec on parade in the rain
PHUKET: Processions of up to 60 cars will be seen on Phuket’s roads during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation gathering, the Deputy Commander of Phuket Provincial Police, Pol Col Decha Butnampetch, has told the Gazette. He said police will be looking after the security and safety of up to 1,000 visitors during the Apec meetings from August 14-23. The dignitaries from…
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Chalermlak to help evicted farmers
PHUKET: Democrat MP Chalermlak Kebsup says that she will closely examine the land scandal and help anyone who has been wrongly evicted from SorPorKor land. About 50 people who had been evicted were banding together to try to win their land back, she said on Saturday following her meeting with land rights activist Uthai Suksirisamphan. SorPorKor land was earmarked for…
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Young at risk on bikes: Governor
PHUKET TOWN: High school students were responsible for more of the 16,000-a-year traffic violations on Phuket’s roads than any other group, according to Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi. He was speaking at the Safety Traffic Control Center at Phuket Town Police Station after talking to senior traffic police on Friday. He urged schools to take a more serious look at the…
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Traffic survey sparks crackdown
PHUKET TOWN: A two-month survey of moving violation charges has sparked an island-wide crackdown on people breaking traffic laws, a provincial government official announced at a meeting this morning. From June 1 to July 31, eight Phuket police stations tallied traffic law violations in their districts, with Kathu Police Station reporting the most offenders. During the period, 5,728 people were…
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Land for Phuket schools misused
PHUKET TOWN: Land encroachment made the top of Phuket Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi’s agenda again on Tuesday, this time involving plots designated for use by government schools in Thalang. The Governor met Prasit Suebchana, Head of the Phuket Treasury Office (PTO), and representatives from the Phuket Primary Education Office (PPEO) to determine an equitable solution to the problem. The eight…
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TAT to develop Phang Nga eco-tourism
PHANG NGA: The local office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) will expand eco-tourism in Phang Nga with a trekking and river-boating tour from Khao Ya National Park to Ratchaprapa Dam in Khao Sok National Park. Napasorn Kakai, Deputy Director of the local TAT office, made the announcement on Tuesday after returning from a meeting in Kuraburi district, Phang…
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Phuket’s roads claim 15 more lives
PHUKET: Fifteen people were killed on Phuket’s roads between June 20 and July 20, according to the latest statistics from the Wachira, Thalang and Patong government hospitals. Fourteen of the victims died while riding motorcycles and one was killed in a car crash, Ampaipan Pawawattananusorn of the Phuket Provincial Health Office reported. In the same period, 867 were hurt in…
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Democrat leader slams land probe
PHUKET: In Phuket to attend a meeting of Democrat Party leaders at the Phuket Merlin Hotel on Saturday, Party Leader Banyat Banthadtan told the Gazette his visit was intended to show support and encouragement for Phuket residents targeted by the government in its ongoing investigation into land rights on the island. K. Banyat said he wanted to tell those under…
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Farmers demand justice
PHUKET TOWN: More than 200 villagers gathered this morning to complain to Phuket Governer CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi about land problems. The Provincial Administration Organization building was jammed with villagers, including farmers, planters and representatives of many communities who complained that, following the SorPorKor investigation, their land had been declared as encroaching on forest preserve areas – the so-called Zone C…
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