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American held on dope charge
PATONG: American Charles Elliott Rook, 55, was arrested on May 19 on charges of possession of cannabis with intent to sell. Pol Lt Col Sanguan Muangtham of Patong Police Station told the Gazette that Rook was arrested after a raid on his home in Nanai Rd turned up a kilogram of cannabis. Undercover police had originally tried to buy cannabis…
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Laguna land legitimate, says spokesman
CHERNG TALAY: The management of Laguna Phuket is confident that no part of the complex has been built on designated public land but will accept a ruling from the courts, a senior executive said today. The comments from Niyom Tassaneetipagorn, Assistant Vice President of Laguna Resorts & Hotels Public Co, were the first from the group since the legitimacy of…
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Gov prepares for meeting with PM
PHUKET TOWN: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the Cabinet will meet with Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi on in Phuket on May 26 to discuss major issues affecting the island’s future, the Governor announced yesterday. Top of the agenda will be the effect of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) scare on Phuket’s tourism industry, which is estimated to be losing…
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B150 million plaza for Chalong Circle
CHALONG: A 150-million baht retail complex incorporating 700 shops is to open on 40 rai close to Chalong Circle, on the Kata road, around the end of the year. It will be called the Phuket Legend Plaza Center. Atthawut Tangpradapkul, President of Eat and Art Management, told a media conference at the Royal Phuket City Hotel today that the company…
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Top tourism forum set for Phuket
PHUKET: The 18-nation Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) is to hold a tourism business forum at the Laguna Beach Resort from May 22 to 24. The Ministry of Tourism and Sport, the Industry Council of Thailand and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will host the gathering. Two representatives from government and business in each country will discuss a number of issues…
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Governor closes “lewd act’ Bangla bar
PATONG: Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi has closed a bar in Patong’s Soi Bangla indefinitely over an allegedly indecent public performance. Police raided The Hi bar at 21/5-6 Soi Sea Dragon at 11:30 pm on May 3 and arrested Suparp Boonmark, who was naked and performing “a shameful act in public by indecently exposing her person”. Balloons and darts were believed…
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Rh-negative blood donors sought
PHUKET:The Phuket Blood Donor Club, based at Wachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket Town, is looking for donors of the rare Rh-negative blood type. Rh-negative is difficult to find, occuring in 0.3% of Thais and 15% of Caucasians. Although the club is looking at the moment especially for people with Rh-negative blood, donors of any type are welcome at all times.…
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Good hair days for schoolgirls
PHUKET: At last, after almost a century of short cuts, the girls can let their hair down. Female students at Satree Phuket have been told that from the new school semester this week, they can grow their hair to eight inches in length. At Satree Phuket, Assistant Director Ajarn Duangkamol H said that fashions and rules today were different from…
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Tourist sub on its way
PHUKET: A US$2.5 million (107 million baht) submarine, designed to carry tour parties underwater, will arrive at Phuket Deep Sea Port on June 6 and go into service in November. Steve Nutting, President of Phuket Submarine Ltd, said today that the DS-48 submarine had left Florida aboard a ship on May 8. Thai staff will spend about six months in…
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Sars recovery plan underway
PHUKET: Phuket is losing about 2 billion baht a month because of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) panic but Phuket Tourist Association (PTA) President Pattanapong Aikwanich hopes for a quick recovery. He expects the turn-around to begin in July, with increased tourist traffic from Japan, Australia and Singapore. New direct air links from Japan and Australia, coupled with increased…
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Gov raids drug-dealing suspects
PHUKET TOWN: Police raided the houses of suspected drug dealers last night and seized pills and property valued at about 5 million baht. The raid, about 7:30 pm, was led by Pol Lt Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station, and Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi. The Governor said today that he believes the alleged dealers, a married couple,…
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Gulf War of words ends in court
PHUKET TOWN: Around the world protestors are turning out in their thousands almost every day to protest the prospect of a US-generated war on Iraq. There was the protester at a recent international golf tournament who held up a sign saying “Make par, not war”, and a woman in a street demonstration who held a banner saying, “The only bush…
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Vendors caught with B500k in fakes
KARON: Police raided shops and stalls in Patong and Karon yesterday and seized 6,300 fake brand-name items with a street value of more than 500,000 baht. Seven vendors admitted selling imitation goods. The officers in the raid, from Chalong Police Station, were accompanied by Suparerk Tohwatcharakul and other officials from Bangkok, who were acting on behalf of Christian Dior and…
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Complaint laid against timeshare firm
PHUKET TOWN: A Swedish couple, Signar and Margaretha Hall, today delivered a letter to Songpol Kornkaew, Chief of Administration of the Phuket Provincial Grievances Office, complaining about timeshare company VCI, which has offices in the Fisherman Way Business Center on Chao Fa East Rd. Mrs Hall told the Gazette, “Early last year we signed a contract for three years, starting…
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Police arrest “Dr Feelgood’
PHUKET TOWN: Police arrested a doctor and three others in raids early yesterday that uncovered dealings in marijuana, the “love drug” ecstacy and cough syrup containing the opium derivative codeine. Dr Somchai Wongbanterng, 35, who has a clinic on Wichit Songkram Rd and lives at Joe Mansion, near the Phuket Hill Hotel in Mae Luan Rd, was due to face…
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Police call for officer to turn himself in
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Town Police have filed murder charges against a Kathu Police Station officer for the murder of his wife. The officer is expected to turn himself in soon. The killing occurred on March 6, apparently following a dispute over underground lottery winnings. The victim, 49-year-old Bang-on Chookam of Surat Thani, had been living with her husband, Pol S/Sgt…
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Security boost planned for Saphan Hin
PHUKET TOWN: Police are planning to increase their presence in Saphan Hin and a police box will be erected there following another gang murder at the now-notorious recreation area. After dark, the park transforms from a peaceful area for sports and picknickers into a dangerous playground for thrillseekers and ruffians. The latest killing took place on Wednesday (see “Murder on…
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Bikers to take over Bangla
PHUKET: For the first time in the nine-year history of the annual Phuket Bike Week (PBW), bikers joining will take over the island’s unofficial party zone, Soi Bangla in Patong, for two evenings of the five-day event. Organizers announced yesterday that this year’s PBW will run from April 12 to 16, coinciding with the Songkhran festival. The event kicks off…
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Developer denies rumors of drug-dealing
PHUKET TOWN: Slamming rumors that his name might be included on the much-feared government “blacklist” of suspected drug dealers, Boonkeng “Ko-Keng” Srisaensuchart, owner of Srisuchart Transport Co and Srisuchart Grandview Projects, today emphatically denied any involvement in the illegal drugs trade, past or present. He blamed unnamed business rivals for the rumors, which, he said, “are a trick to destroy…
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Bottom-toucher hacked to death
PHUKET TOWN: A man who touched a karaoke girl on the bottom was hacked to death in a machete-swinging melée between two groups that followed the seemingly trivial incident early today. The girl’s boyfriend, who was outraged at the bottom-touching, is being sought over the killing and the wounding of two other men in a battle behind Tuenjai Apartment at…
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Arrest your friends, minister tells governors
BANGKOK: Interior Minister Wan Muhamad Nor Matha wants provincial governors to arrest any of their friends or relatives believed to be involved in the illicit drugs trade, the Bangkok Post reported today. Meeting governors yesterday, he said Bangkok wants them to focus on large-scale dealers rather than small ones. He also told them to seize all drug dealers’ assets, the…
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Stop bickering, Phuket told
PHUKET TOWN: Better cooperation between local authorities was needed before Phuket could achieve its 100-billion baht upgrade, a senior member of the Government said today. Deputy Interior Minister Pramual Ruchanaseree came from Bangkok to attend a two-day seminar at the Royal Phuket City Hotel on the future development of Phuket. “Lack of cooperation in Phuket is still a major problem,”…
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Warning on electricity bills
PHUKET TOWN: The Manager of the Phuket Provincial Electricity Authority (PPEA), Sornchai Uparamai, has warned users not to pay their bills to staff sent out to cut off their power for non-payment. The staff cutting off electricity were temporary employees, he said. People wishing to make sure their electricity is not cut off should pay at the PPEA’s temporary office…
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Breaking up is hard to do
HAAD YAI: A former Drug Suppression Division officer who turned to retail petroleum sales in Haad Yai established a personal fortune of more than 100 million baht. This, he assumed, entitled him to just about everything in the little empire he had created, including the right to repeatedly rape the wife of one of his most trusted employees. The husband,…
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Stabbed man found in klong
PHUKET TOWN: Police are seeking to identify the body of a man found floating in a klong at the weekend, the apparent victim of a stabbing. A villager reported the body floating in Klong Bang Yai, on Rassada Rd, on Sunday. The body was dressed in a brown-and-white long-sleeved shirt over a blue long-sleeved shirt, and green tracksuit pants. The…
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Crackdown on kids in ‘net cafes
PHUKET TOWN: Children under 18 are banned from Internet cafes after 10 pm under a new national law – and parents have been told to keep a closer watch on their offspring. At the Governor’s regular media conference today, Sompong Tiranont, Chief of the Phuket Social Development and Welfare Office, said he had received complaints about children being allowed out…
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Stats show doubling of murder rate
PHUKET: Eight people were murdered in Phuket between February 1 and 24, more than double the monthly average, the latest police statistics reveal. Only two of those murders have been solved, reflecting the wider picture throughout Thailand, where the Government campaign against drug abuse has triggered a wave of professional killings. In the same period, 160 people were arrested for…
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Wachira dominates hospital games
PHUKET TOWN: Athletes from Wachira Phuket Hospital dominated the Phuket Public Health Sports Games which finished yesterday at the Saphan Hin Sport Center, beating squads from the Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO), the Thalang Hospital and the Patong Hospital. The tournament featured seven sport – table tennis, sepak takraw, pétanque, chair ball, volleyball, badminton and soccer. Wachira Phuket Hospital gained…
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Prison numbers rise
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Provincial Prison remains massively overcrowded, according to monthly statistics released by prison officials this week. And the Government’s war on drugs is likely to increase prison numbers, at least in the short term. The figures reveal that there are 1,035 men and 174 women incarcerated at the jail. This compares with 955 male and 204 female prisoners…
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Hitman strikes outside busy Big C
PHUKET TOWN: A man was shot dead outside the busy Big C Supercenter on the bypass road this afternoon by a motorcycle-riding killer who scored with three bullets to his victim’s head before speeding off. Visanuwat Ngamjun, 38, from Phuket, slumped behind the wheel of his Toyota Corona Altis. The engine continued to run as a passerby attempted to open…
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