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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Governor irked by scofflaws, flexed muscles
PHUKET TOWN: About 60 people from the Phuket Construction Association staged a protest yesterday afternoon outside Phuket Provincial Hall in an effort to pressure Governor Charnchai Soontharamut to extend the deadline for registration of foreign workers. Soothichai Pinkate, president of the association, first lodged a complaint that when the police went to construction workers’ camps in Patong on March 17,…
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Patong police beatings under investigation
PATONG: Officers from Kathu Police Station met yesterday with representatives of the Tara Patong Hotel to discuss the March 13 beatings of five employees of the hotel by undercover police. “We asked the police for two things,” said Sutham Saejea, personnel manager of the hotel. “First, we asked for 550,000 baht compensation for the victims and their families, and, second,…
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Dive shops form association
KATA: A Dive Operators Club is to be formed to represent the industry in Phuket. This decision follows a meeting of dive shops last night at Kata Beach Resort, which was attended by about 45 people from 27 of the island’s 80-odd dive companies. The decision to form the club follows consternation among the dive operators over a drive by…
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Silkair joins Shopper Card program
PHUKET TOWN: Samuel Lim, Silkair’s manager for Phuket, announced this afternoon that his airline will grant a five percent discount to local Phuket residents who are bona fide holders of the Gazette Shopper Card. The discount will apply to flights originating in Phuket only, and tickets must be purchased at the Silkair office in Phuket Town. The Shopper Card must…
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Phuket says “no’ to jet-ski races
PHUKET: Phuket has declined a request to host a major jet-ski event, known, somewhat dauntingly, as the “Thai Airways International-Jet Sports King’s Cup Thailand Open 2000”. The Jet Sports Boating Association of Thailand had requested that Phuket – specifically Patong – host the competition, featuring participants from 18 countries. But at a meeting on Friday between Provincial Governor Charnchai Soontharamuth,…
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Businessman shoots himself
PHUKET TOWN: Jusim Tantiwit, owner of a large pig farm in Mai Khao, and a relative of Banlur Tantiwit, former president of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization, (Or Bor Jor), killed himself on Saturday evening. Jusim parked his pick-up truck in the Phuket Adventist Hospital car park, then shot himself with a .22-calibre rifle. Hospital staff found his body in…
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Ya Bah dealer arrested near Sarasin Bridge
TA CHAT CHAI: A street food vendor was arrested yesterday morning for selling ya bah right under the noses of officers at Ta Chat Chai Police Station, just south of the Sarasin Bridge. According to Pol Lt Col Sakchai Limsawas of the police station, officers first received information that people living in the house at 1/2 Thepkasattri Rd – only…
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Chaos after jail break, riot at juvenile prison
BANGKOK (AFP): More than 1,000 youths smashed through the walls of a juvenile prison today and fought a pitched battle with police in eastern Bangkok, causing chaos throughout the neighborhood. The trouble erupted when wardens announced security crackdowns after about 30 prisoners escaped by scaling the walls. About 1,300 youths went on the rampage following the announcement, smashing through the…
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Yacht owners may face tax evasion charges
PHUKET: The owners of three or more of the 11 yachts which were ‘arrested’ in Phuket last month may face tax evasion charges, said Yuttana Yimgarund, a chief inspector from the Thai Customs Department in Bangkok. He declined to divulge the names of the yachts or their owners. “We will have to wait for the owners to send us the…
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Belgian, struck twice, dies in motorcycle accident
CHALONG: A 43-year-old Belgian man, named by police as Carlo Webers, was killed in a traffic accident on Chaofa Nai Rd early yesterday morning. According to Pol Maj Thanate Poungmanee of Chalong Police Station, Mr Webers was riding a motorcycle into Phuket Town at around 1 am. He was near the Tang Luck restaurant when he was hit by a…
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Patong facing water rationing for monsoon season
PATONG: The Phuket Water Works is warning Patong residents that between now and October there will be less tap water available than usual for this time of year. According to Praphop Thongmon, manager at the water works, this is not because Phuket is suffering a drought. It is simply because the supply of water to be shared by Patong, Kata,…
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Movie protest falls mostly on deaf ears
PHUKET TOWN: About 20 environmental protesters gathered to demonstrate against Phuket’s premier screening of ‘The Beach’ yesterday, claiming Maya Bay on Phi Phi Island was destroyed during the show’s filming. The protest lacked support, but drew curious onlookers and moviegoers as they entered the cinema despite pleas by the Phuket Environment Protection Group (PEPG) to boycott the film. Although Twentieth-Century…
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Another student murdered in Phuket Town
PHUKET TOWN: Narongsak Korjanklang, 20, a student from Phuket Technical College, was gunned down on the street in the heart of Phuket Town at around midnight on Sunday (March 12). According to Orapin Tanrattanapitak, 19, who was Narongsak’s girlfriend, Narongsak was riding his motorcycle while she sat on the back. About 20 of their friends were riding alongside them on…
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New “hotel’ has little to offer tourists
PATONG BEACH: Although most Phuket residents and tourists visiting Patong are aware of the slum that has developed in the Patong Night Plaza (opposite Christin Massage on Rat-U-Thit Rd), few are familiar with the details of what transpires within. A website, https://www.hotelburma.com, has now been established to enlighten the curious. According to the website, the “Hotel Burma”, which it bills…
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Crew of hijacked tanker found
PHUKET: The crew of the hijacked Japanese tanker, the Global Mars, were found on an island off the coast of Phanga Nga Province on Friday after a 17-day ordeal at sea. The vessel, with 17 crew members – seven Koreans and 10 Burmese – left Port Klang in Malaysia on February 22, bound for the Indian port of Haldia with…
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Truck smashes into 12 vehicles
PATONG: A 10-wheel truck carrying a full load of rocks and soil went out of control coming down the hill into Patong from Kathu yesterday, smashing into 12 vehicles, including a hotel staff bus, and then ramming a roadside garage. Amazingly, no one was seriously injured, though 15 people in the hotel bus had to be treated for cuts and…
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Kao Mai sued for election offenses
PHUKET TOWN: Ten of the 15 members of the Pattana Tongtin Party, which lost its domination of the Provincial Administrative Organization (OrBorJor) in elections on February 5, have filed charges against all 15 members of the winning Kao Mai Party. Somchai Meebangyang, the lawyer for Pattana Tongtin, said that the Kao Mai members had violated election laws in four ways:…
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Three masked robbers arrested
PHUKET TOWN: Three of the four masked robbers who held the owner of a grocery store and his family at gunpoint nine days ago were arrested yesterday afternoon. The robbers, dressed in rubber “ghost” masks, robbed the family in their store, near Suanluang Park, of 67,000 baht in cash and gold jewelry. The arrests were made in a police raid…
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Korean dies in traffic accident
BAAN MANIK: A South Korean thought to be working as a translator in Phuket was killed yesterday morning in a road accident on Sri Soontorn Rd, near the Heroines monument. Pol Capt Suwarit Prommool of the Thalang Police Station named the dead man as Yi Geen Wheng, 33. He said Mr Yi was driving west toward the monument when his…
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Search for Miss Jumbo begins
BANGKOK (AFP) – The search is on for appropriate candidates for Miss Jumbo 2000, Thailand’s best-known beauty pageant for large women, and a major source of funding for elephant conservation. Women must weigh more than 80 kilograms to be eligible for the Jumbo Queen pageant, which will be held on May 1. “The competition aims to find the most beautiful…
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TOT offers cut in phone installation fee
PHUKET: Residents of Thailand – Phuket included – have a chance this month to get a new phone line for 2,000 baht less than usual. To celebrate its 46th anniversary, the Telephone Organization of Thailand (TOT) will give a discount until the end of March on the installation fee for a fixed-line telephone. The installation fee has been reduced from…
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Fire destroys shops in Kata
KATA: Three small stores across from Kata Beach Resort were destroyed by fire yesterday morning. Pol Capt Chana Sootthimat of the Chalong Police Station told the Gazette that the fire started at about 9 am in a clothing store made of bamboo and galvanized iron. The fire quickly spread to an adjoining optical store and then further down to a…
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Boy, six, drowns in channel
NAI HARN: Thanat Massatool, a six-year-old boy from Koh Kaew, drowned in a water channel near Nai Harn Beach on Sunday. Pol Maj Sanae Panmee of Chalong Police Station said the accident took place at the south end of Nai Harn beach, where the channel connects Nong Harn pond and Nai Harn Beach. The boy and his family had been…
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Tourist killed by boat propeller
KURABURI: A 40-year-old German tourist was killed by a boat propeller while snorkeling off Koh Tachai, Phang Nga Province, on Thursday. Pol Lt Col Narongyot Aunhabandit, deputy superintendent of Kuraburi District Police Station, told the Gazette that the tourist, whom he named as Beatrix Hannelore Miczuga, was on holiday in Phuket when she and friends decided to take a day…
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Paiboon wins Senate seat
PHUKET: Paiboon Upatising won election on Saturday as Phuket’s representative in Thailand’s Senate. K. Paiboon received 51,059 votes, just 3,290 votes ahead of Chaiwat Narukatpichai, managing director of the Phuket Arcadia Hotel and Resort. Trailing in third place was Dr Sirinit Ratanadilok Na Phuket, with only 8,435 votes. Of Phuket’s 168,356 eligible voters, 132,801 (or 78.86%) voted in the election,…
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FantaSea to build theme park in Langkawi
PHUKET: Pin Kewpaisal, president and CEO of Phuket Fantasea, has revealed that Dr Mahathir Mohamed, Prime Minister of Malaysia, has asked him to build a new theme park in Langkawi, and he has agreed. In an interview with Tansettakit newspaper, K. Pin said that he had already had two conferences with Dr Mahathir to discuss the Prime Minister’s plan. K.…
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Dulwich students hospitalized
KOH KAEW: Two students from Dulwich International College ended up in Phya Thai Hospital this morning with serious diarrhea after attending a dinner party at the school last night. The dinner was part of the festivities surrounding the FOBISSEA sports tournament, which this year took place at Dulwich, and which involved students from all over Asia. Dr Jesada Chaikunrat, preventive…
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Con men pick the wrong target
PHUKET TOWN: Two alleged con artists from Africa were arrested late Tuesday night for trying to pull one of the world’s best-known con-tricks – the black-paper-into-cash scam. Unfortunately, their target was a cop who, instead of taking them up on their offer, took them downtown. Pol Lt Akanich Darnpitaksart, deputy inspector at Phuket Town Police Station, said 30-year-old Tchouffang Moukeumen,…
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Masked men rob grocery store
PHUKET: Three robbers, all wearing ghost masks, robbed a grocery store off Chao Fa Nai Rd near Suanluang Park last night, taking 67,000 baht in cash and gold jewelry belonging to the owner and his family. Pol Maj Winai Kongkaew of the Phuket Town Police Station said that Witoon Pinta, 35, the owner of the grocery store in a camp…
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City bus service “to start next month’
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Town’s first real bus service – originally scheduled to start in May last year and then postponed to January this year – is expected finally to be up and running some time in April. Introduction of the service has been delayed because PB Holdings, the bus operator, was not able to find 26 buses of the right…
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