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.
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Crackdown on drunk driving
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Provincial Police and the Phuket Provincial Health Office are to launch a breath-test campaign to catch drunk drivers, starting in the early hours of Friday, March 30. Happily for drunk drivers, Dr Boonrieng Chuchaisangrat, Chief of the Health Office, has revealed that the checks will take place in front of Surakul stadium between 2 and 4…
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Major blackout coming
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Electricity Authority (PPEA) will be installing new power lines from Phang Nga into Phuket, which will result in blackouts on March 29 lasting from 7 am to 5 pm. These will affect two main areas: Area one: Along the west side of Chao Fa Nok Rd from the PPEA substation, including Soi Nakok and Soi Sainamyen…
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Swimming race ends in tragedy
KATHU: A young Thai man drowned on Sunday afternoon in the Bang Wat reservoir after getting into trouble during a swimming race with a friend. Pol Capt Boonlert Polkwang of Tungtong Police Station named the dead man as Uthai Srimuddee, 19, an air conditioning engineer with Pravej Chang Air. Capt Boonlert said that Uthai and his close friend and colleague,…
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“Chicken feeding’ lands Thai tourists in trouble
PHNOM PENH (AFP): A group of 28 Thai tourists visiting Cambodia’s famed temples of Angkor had to be rescued by police after being surrounded by a mob enraged at their treatment of temple beggars, a report in a Cambodian newspaper said today. The tourists – reportedly laughing and throwing candies to throngs of scrambling urchins – were escorted by police…
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IBAP looks at BoI advantages
PHUKET TOWN: The International Business Association of Phuket (IBAP) saw a record turnout of around 100 members and guests for its bi-monthly general meeting on Friday. Guest of honor was Charn Wongsatayanont, chairman of the Phuket Chamber of Commerce. The main topic of the meeting was the Board of Investment (BoI), its aims and the ways it can help businesses.…
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Danish tourist drowns
PHUKET: A Danish tourist, named by police as Per Gregersem, 67, drowned off Raya Island on Thursday afternoon, while another tourist was saved from a similar fate off Patong. Mr Gregersem and his family, who were staying in Karon, went to Raya Island to enjoy an afternoon of swimming and sunbathing. After swimming for about half an hour, Mr Gregersem…
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Rain brings flooding in Patong
PATONG: About 10 hours of torrential rain overnight left many streets and businesses in Patong flooded. Patong Municipality councilor Surasak Maneesri said the worst flooding was in Rat-U-Thit 200 Phi Rd at the junction near Sai Namyen School, where the water reached 80 centimeters, while lower parts of the beach road were flooded to a depth of 20 centimeters. “There…
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Police bust karaoke selling ya bah
PHUKET TOWN: Teerawit “Jiew” Saefu, the 32-year-old owner of Nong Kim Karaoke on Soi Sri Sena, was arrested during a police raid on Tuesday on drugs charges. Two minors were also arrested. Pol Maj Sanya Thongsawat of Phuket Town Police Station said that sources had informed him that ya bah (methamphetamine) was for sale at the karaoke bar, near the…
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Policeman wins luxury yacht auction
PHUKET TOWN: A police officer who declined to give his name, but who works in the Economic Crime Investigations Division in Bangkok, today won the auction for a luxury motor yacht at the Phuket Customs Region 5 office. And thanks to the fact that there were no other bidders, he got the boat for a song – just 5.5 million…
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Dog pound to be built in Rawai
RAWAI: Samart Jaranyanont, Chief of Phuket Provincial Livestock Office (PPLO), has announced that a dog pound is to be built on a two-rai plot behind Wat Sawangarom to provide a home for Phuket’s stray dogs. K. Samart told the Gazette that the Phuket Public Works Office is currently drawing up construction plans for the pound, which will keep healthy dogs…
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Policeman held for smuggling Burmese
PHUKET TOWN: Acting on a tip-off, police today arrested 15 Burmese illegal immigrants. They also arrested three Thais who were bringing the Burmese into Phuket, one of them a police officer from Ranong. The Burmese were riding in two pick-up trucks and a car when they were stopped at 5 am, halfway between Thalang and the Heroines’ Monument, by officers…
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Foot-and-mouth outbreak
KATHU: An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease discovered in Baan Mai Riab is now under control, according to Samart Jaranyanont, Chief of Phuket Provincial Livestock Office (PPLO). The PPLO was alerted to the presence of the disease on February 12 by a veterinarian who discovered the disease among a herd of water buffaloes. PPLO officers discovered that 67 animals had been…
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Police learn about international crimes
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Provincial Police hosted a seminar today aimed at educating police in Region 8 about economic and international crimes. Topics discussed at the seminar, held at the Royal Phuket City Hotel, included detection of counterfeit US currency and forged credit cards, and crimes involving international criminals. The seminar brought together police officers from Phuket, Surat Thani, Nakhon Sri…
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Seized luxury yacht to be auctioned
PHUKET TOWN: A luxury motor yacht, which was seized when its Singaporean owner failed to pay import duty, is to be auctioned on March 20 at Phuket Customs Region 5 on Phuket Rd. The yacht’s owner kept it more than six months in Phuket without paying the crushing import duty of about 200%. The yacht, a Sealine T46 built in…
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Provincial road tax revenues soar
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Land Transportation Office (PLTO) collected more than 93 million baht in road taxes last year. This continues the trend of higher year-on-year revenues. In 1998, the PLTO collected nearly 80 million baht, while in 1999 it collected more than 85 million. These figures exclude taxes levied on motorcycles. The PLTO says it expects to collect even…
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New dad ends up in handcuffs
PHUKET: Robert Clarke received more than he bargained for when he visited his Thai wife at the Bangkok Phuket Hospital after she gave birth to their child. As he watched over her early on Friday morning, police officers marched in and arrested him. Pol Capt Anukul Nuket of Phuket Town Police Station said that the Norwegian Embassy in Bangkok had…
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Police hit sour note in pub arrests
CHERNG TALAY: Several tourists from five-star hotels at Laguna Phuket narrowly escaped arrest Friday evening when they joined in a jam session at a neighboring pub. Not so lucky were well-known charity musicians Tyesan Hartall (American), Nick Paul (English), and Steve Anderson (Australian). They were arrested shortly after the tourists had left, at about 11:40 pm. They were charged with…
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One dead, 21 hurt in bus crash
KAMALA: A guide from Bangkok-based tour company Mandarin Express was killed when the bus he was in crashed not far from the Thavorn Beach Village. Twenty-one other guides from the same company were injured in the accident, three of them seriously. The bus was taking the guides from Phuket FantaSea to Patong when the driver lost control after the brakes…
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Karaoke crackdown coming
PHUKET: Police in Phuket are to crack down on karaoke bars, Pol Maj Gen Kongpol Suwannaraks, commander of the Phuket Provincial Police, said on Thursday. In a speech to assembled police patrol officers from across the island, Gen Kongpol said that the anti-karaoke drive would focus particularly on juke-box karaoke bars, most of which are to be found in Phuket…
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New bikes for police
PHUKET TOWN: Police in Phuket this week took delivery of 73 motorbikes for use in patrol duty, as part of a nationwide project by the Royal Thai Police to upgrade police patrol transport. At a ceremony on Thursday at Phuket Town Police Station, the commander of the Phuket Provincial Police, Pol Maj Gen Kongpol Suwannaraks, handed over 14 motorbikes to…
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Thai-foreign firms face crackdown
PHUKET: As the crackdown on work permits in Phuket takes effect, both Thai and foreign shareholders in companies that have failed to restructure their shareholdings to conform with the Alien Business Law (ABL) of 1999 face close scrutiny and the possibility of severe penalties. As one of the members of the committee set up by Provincial Governor Pongpayome Vasaputi to…
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Bloody robbery at currency exchange
PHUKET TOWN: An employee at the Bank Thai PLC currency exchange booth on Tilok Utit 1 Rd was brutally attacked in a robbery this afternoon. At about 3:15 pm, a foreign customer, wanting to change some money, peered into the window of the booth in front of the Ocean Shopping Mall. She saw the employee, 44-year-old Urai Taweekul, lying on…
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Thailand a hub for illegal wildlife products
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand has become a regional center for the illicit trade in products made from endangered animals, the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) said this afternoon. During a three-month study, the WWF found more than 33,000 animal products in Bangkok made from internationally protected species, in all worth about 160 million baht (3.7 million dollars). Items made from…
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Austrian drowns at Patong beach
PATONG: Austrian Herbert Kodat, 60, drowned off Loma Park at Patong Beach on Monday afternoon. According to witnesses, Mr Kodat went for a dip to cool off after sunbathing. He swam out about 30 meters from the shore. A jet-ski operator sitting on the beach saw Mr Kodat waving for help and went to rescue him, but by the time…
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Economic recovery facing severe challenges
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand’s nascent economic emergence from the depths of the crisis is in jeopardy. Recently released indicators provide stark evidence that falling exports are crippling the recovery. The slump has been spurred by a decline in demand in the United States as the economy there slows, but it also reflects a failure to stimulate fresh investment, analysts say. “Foreign…
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One dead, four injured in plane fire
BANGKOK (AFP): At least one person was killed and four others were injured when a Thai Airways Boeing 737-400 burst into flames this afternoon on the tarmac at Bangkok’s domestic airport, police and airport officials said. Police Major General Amnuay Ditkavee, Bangkok’s deputy police commissioner, told reporters at the airport that the dead body of a Thai Airways crew member…
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Governor vs Burmese in ping-pong
PHUKET TOWN: The Governor of Phuket admitted yesterday that he feels like a ping-pong player when dealing with illegal Burmese workers, who are expelled one day only to return the next. Speaking at the mass expulsion of 305 illegal Burmese workers caught in Immigration Police raids between February 27 and March 1, Gov Pongpayome Vasaputi said, “It makes me feel…
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Work permits: Governor gets tough
PHUKET: With effect from yesterday, a new multi-department committee will vet all work permit applications in Phuket, Provincial Governor Pongpayome Vasaputi announced today. The committee will also check extensions and renewals, and all information will be added to a central database accessible to all the departments whose chiefs are members of the committee. These departments are the Commercial Registration Office…
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Swiss man stabbed to death
PATONG: Dokkaew Niyonrum, 38, from Buri Ram, has been charged with the murder of a 40-year-old Swiss national named by police as Christoph Albert Hartmann. Dokkaew is alleged to have stabbed Mr Hartmann in the chest during a fight in their home on Sai Nam Yen Rd in the early hours of Sunday morning. Pol Maj Komdech Poathong of Patong…
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Bookmaker gunned down
PHUKET TOWN: A restaurant owner, who was also a bookmaker specializing in gambling on soccer matches, was murdered on Tuesday morning outside his restaurant on Phuket Rd. The victim, Supachart “James” Panumassakul, 36, from Phuket, owned the Khrua New James restaurant, opposite the Imperial hotel on Phuket Rd. A witness told police that she was waiting for a friend on…
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