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Busted “Ice Boy’ spills the beans
PATONG: Kathu Police Superintendent Col Grissak Songmoonnak and four Drug Suppression officers from Kathu police station arrested four ya bah (methamphetamine) and ya ice (crystal methamphetamine) dealers on Tuesday night.Krisada “Boy” Seangrot, 19, from Nakhon Sri Thammarat, was arrested at 8.30 pm at the fountain in front of Jungceylon shopping center in a sting operation in which police arranged to…
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Major Chalong blackout tomorrow
CHALONG: The Phuket Provincial Electricity Authority (PPEA) has announced a scheduled blackout for tomorrow (July 4) in order to continue its work on high-voltage power lines.The blackout, from 9 am to 5 pm, will affect Chao Fa East Rd, from De Wara Thani Village, Soi Taiad, Land & Houses Park (Seewalee 3 and 4), Choke Thip Villa, Soi Jarin-U-Thit and…
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Chalerm retreats from angry mobs in Phuket and Krabi
KRABI (The Nation): Ongoing protests by the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) took Interior Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung by surprise in Phuket and Krabi, forcing him to cancel official duties on Tuesday and again yesterday.Chalerm was supposed to meet Phuket’s governor on Tuesday, along with high-ranking police and local government officials. Heeding warnings of the mob at Phuket airport, said to…
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Residents cash in on recycled bottles
CHERNG TALAY: A joint project by the Cherng Talay Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor) and bottle-recycling company Bangkok Glass Co launched in January seems to have hit a snag, a Gazette investigation has found. Since collection efforts have begun, the estimated 190-240 tons of glass waste that the OrBorTor was anticipating to collect from 7-Eleven shops and other businesses has shrunk…
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Assassination plot dismissed
BANGKOK (The Nation): Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Sathiraphan Keyanon yesterday played down a claim about a possible plot to assassinate ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, saying it should not be treated seriously.Sathirapan was reacting to comments by retired supreme commander General Chaisit Shinawatra who claimed last weekend that Thaksin’s opponents may have put out a contract on him.He said the matter did…
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Provinces ordered to be on alert for leptospirosis
BANGKOK (The Nation): The Public Health Ministry has ordered all provinces to be on the alert for the emergence of leptospirosis after it found 587 current victims of the disease. Of those infected, 15 have died.Dr Prat Boonyawongvirot, the ministry’s permanent secretary, said yesterday that most cases were found during the rainy season. People who wade through floodwater with cuts…
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HRH Ubol Ratana to visit Phuket
PHUKET: HRH Princess Ubol Ratana Rajakanya will be in Phuket July 26 to 29 as part of her ‘To Be Number One’ project to steer Thai children and youths away from drugs.Phuket Governor Niran Kalayanamit made the announcement at Phuket Provincial Hall yesterday at the monthly meeting of Phuket Provincial committee members and office chiefs.She will attend the opening ceremony…
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Striped dolphin dies at Mai Khao
MAI KHAO: The carcass of a female striped dolphin was discovered washed ashore at Baan Dan on Saturday morning – two days after 11 false killer whales beached at Koh Racha. Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) staff retrieved the dead animal and moved it to the PMBC at Cape Panwa after being notified by a villager at about 7 am.…
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Airlines to cut long-haul flights to Thailand
BANGKOK (Nation): Major airlines including Thai Airways International will cut long-haul flights to Thailand next year in line with a forecast 12% drop in the number of inbound tourists, the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA) has announced.ATTA president Apichart Sankary said that although the Tourism Authority of Thailand has set a target of 17 million visitors next year, only 15…
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Cherng Talay OrBorTor rallies against illegal billboards
CHERNG TALAY: Ma-an Sumraan, Vice-President of the Cherng Talay Tambon Administration (OrBorTor), has launched a campaign to rid his neighborhood of all illegal billboards.Cherng Talay OrBorTor officials have started pasting warning notices on offending billboards as part of K. Ma-an’s “soft” approach to the problem.However, some people have interpreted the warning notices as somewhat hostile and simply ripped them off…
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Chalerm to inspect Phuket land
PHUKET: Interior Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung is expected to arrive in Phuket tomorrow ahead of an inspection tour on Wednesday of land plots that he stands accused of helping his friends to acquire, Phuket Governor Niran Kalayanamit announced this morning.During the recent censure debate, K. Chalerm was accused by Democrat Party Secretary-General Suthep Thuegsuban of using his position to leverage the…
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Storm-stricken “Moonstar’ found
AUSTRALIA (ABC, Perth Now): A search plane this morning found the missing 13.5-meter sailing yacht Moonstar, which was badly damaged in a storm on Friday night and began taking on water. The yacht is believed to be about 140 kilometers off Fremantle, south of Perth. The yacht is also believed to be the same Moonstar that was rescued off Patong by…
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Korean drowns while trying to save his wife
KATA: A Korean man drowned off Kata Beach about 11 am yesterday after being dragged out to sea while trying to save his wife, who had swum into difficulty.Hun Sang Suk, 46, had swum out to rescue his wife, who had been dragged away from the shore by strong currents, said Lt Ratthaket Mingmuang of Chalong Police Station.“The red flags were…
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Phuket land sparks fury in parliament
BANGKOK (The Nation): The duel between Interior Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung and Democrat Party secretary-general Suthep Thaungsuban on Thursday night was the heavyweight main event concluding the censure debate.The irascible Chalerm, one of the most controversial ministers in Cabinet, was grilled by Suthep, a seasoned politician, who has proclaimed himself the “shadow interior minister”. Suthep claimed that Chalerm took advantage of…
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Disoriented false killer whales beach on Koh Racha
KOH RACHA YAI: Researchers at the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) are today examining the remains of a False Killer Whale that was one of some 20 that beached on Koh Racha Yai, some 25 kilometers south of Phuket, late yesterday afternoon.Local hotel staff and tourists rescued another 10 beached animals that could not make their way back to deeper…
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Disoriented dolphins beach on Koh Racha
KOH RACHA YAI: Researchers at the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) are today examining the remains of a False Killer Whale that was one of some 20 that beached on Koh Racha Yai, some 25 kilometers south of Phuket, late yesterday afternoon.Local hotel staff and tourists rescued another 10 beached animals that could not make their way back to deeper…
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Doctor arrested at Bang Tao clinic
CHERNG TALAY: A doctor at a clinic in Bang Tao has been charged with practicing medicine without a license after allegedly administering an injection that resulted in a local boy nearly losing the use of one of his legs.Cherng Talay Police arrested Tassaneeporn Kachane, 53, at Pannavej Clinic on Srisoonthorn Rd yesterday afternoon after Phuket Provincial Health Office Director Dr…
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Labor Office mulls 2-year work permits
PHUKET: The Ministry of Labor is considering issuing work permits valid for two years, Janya Yingyong, chief of the Work Permit Section at the Phuket Provincial Labor Office (PPLO), has confirmed.Under the current system, work permits are valid only as long as the holder’s ‘permit to stay’, which is issued by Immigration.“The visa and work permit will be based on the…
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Cops collar robed robber
PHUKET CITY: A man wanted for the theft of Buddha images and amulets valued at about 100,000 baht was arrested on Tuesday night after Phuket City residents helped police set up a sting operation.Capt Atthapol Wannasaengthong of Phuket City Police told the Gazette, “After the man’s description and the story of the robbery in Rassada was reported in a local newspaper…
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Rawai to move ahead with “Sea Natural History Museum’
RAWAI: In a bid to simultaneously preserve local flora and boost tourism, Rawai Municipality is renewing efforts to build a “Thai Island and Sea Natural History Museum” on 271 rai of government land north of the viewpoint at Laem Phromthep.Phuket Vice-Governor Smith Palawatwichai presided over a meeting on the new initiative on Tuesday morning at the Rawai Municipality Offices.Also attending…
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Gazette Mobile launches “Smart News’
PHUKET: After seven months under construction, Gazette Mobile has today launched ‘Smart News’, a mobile information service focused on Phuket. The product is substantially different from any other mobile news model currently available in Thailand. Subscribers to Smart News have the ability to choose both the frequency and nature of the information they wish to receive. There are three information packages, or…
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577 pills, 5 guns seized in ya bah bust
PHUKET CITY: Police yesterday afternoon announced the arrest of a six-person ya bah (methamphetamine) gang who allegedly sold the drug to youths at Saphan Hin.In an attempt to avoid capture, one of the gang members allegedly tried to shoot at police, but his homemade gun failed to fire.Phuket Provincial Police Commander Maj Gen Apirak Hongtong identified the suspects as gang leader 23-year-old…
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A disarming mystery
BANGKOK: As the international media has been puzzling recently over the mystery of why five dismembered human feet have washed up on the beaches of British Columbia over the past year – the most recent find being on June 16 – Thailand now has its own body-part puzzle to ponder: a severed arm found on the tracks at Hualamphong Railway…
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Rogue monk defrocks self
NONG KHAI: As every good clergyman knows, improper sexual conduct is a quick way to get defrocked – cast out of the Buddhist clergy.Perhaps sensing that his own defrockment was inevitable, one naughty abbot in Tha Bor District decided to beat his detractors to the punch.At a meeting of villagers and local religious authorities to discuss allegations of sexual impropriety…
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Phuket rakes in B94bn in 2007
PHUKET: Suwalai Pinpradap, director of the Southern Region 4 office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), has announced that more than 5 million tourists visited Phuket in 2007, spending a total of 94.239 billion baht.She forecast that this year there would be 6 million visitors to the island.According to the TAT’s latest statistics, about 8 million tourists visited Phuket,…
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Police on lookout for “mock monk’ thief
RASSADA: Phuket City Police are on the lookout for a man who wears a monk’s robe but is wanted for the theft of about 100 amulets with a total claimed value of more than 100,000 baht.Phuket City Police Inspector Lt Col Wijak Tarom told the Gazette that police on Sunday evening responded to a call from a man claiming to have…
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Grissak vows to clean up Bangla
PATONG: In a bid to clean up the trash dumped on Soi Bangla every day, Kathu Police Superintendent Col Grissak Songmoonnak has launched a garbage-disposal campaign to ease some of Patong’s waste woes.Col Grissak told the Gazette that he called on local vendors and municipal authorities to discuss the problem and develop a plan of action with the goal of…
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European tourists seized from yacht off Somalia
MOGADISHU (The Nation/DPA): Four European citizens have been seized from a yacht off Somalia’s pirate-infested coast, Somali officials said yesterday.The district commissioner of the Las Korey area said that the four – the captain of the yacht plus a family of three – were abducted overnight on Sunday as they sailed through the Gulf of Aden.The kidnappers reportedly abandoned the…
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Appeal for infant in need of heart operation
PHUKET: The British International School (BIS) Phuket is calling for donations to help pay for specialized medical treatment for three-month-old Ruby, daughter of the school’s art co-ordinator, Claire Lester. Ruby has been diagnosed with DiGeorge’s syndrome, a genetic disorder that has left her with a partially collapsed lung, pneumonia and requiring a heart operation. She is currently hospitalized in Bangkok and…
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Rain forces landslide warning
PHUKET: Following heavy rainfall over the past 24 hours, the Meteorological Department of Thailand has warned of flooding and possible landslides in Phuket.Flood-risk areas include Thepkrasattri Rd near Super Cheap, just north of Phuket City, and warnings of possible landslides have been issued for Patong and Kata.While 10mm of rain has fallen in Phuket City, some 30mm was recorded within a three-hour period at the…
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