Phuket News
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Police seize 70kg kratom in two busts
For an in-depth look at kratom culture in Phuket and Thailand, pick up a copy of the Phuket Gazette hard-copy newspaper, available in Phuket, Bangkok, Pattaya, Hua Hin and Koh Samui on Saturday. PHUKET: Three suspects were arrested in two separate operations in Phuket Town and Thalang this week for allegedly having a total of 70 kilograms of kratom leaves…
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Alleged Aussie drug dealer netted in Patong
PHUKET: An Australian alleged drug dealer was arrested in Patong on Tuesday in possession of cocaine and marijuana. Named by police as Miki Michael Lee, 48, the Aussie was caught in a rented room on Soi Nanai with 1 gram of cocaine and 29.3g of marijuana. “Our undercover officers informed us that Mr Lee was selling cocaine and marijuana to…
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Muslims gear up for major festival
PHUKET: The sighting of the new moon will signal the end of the Ramadan fasting month and usher in Eid-al Fitr celebrations, as well as the start of Shawwal fasts.Eid-al Fitr is one of the most important days for practicing Muslims, as it marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. “This year all mosques in Phuket, and…
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Business Buzz: Australian visa free information night
PHUKET: Australians have always loved Thailand, and many come here regularly and develop business and personal relationships. That, over time, leads to the desire to travel to Australia and see what the place is truly like. Unfortunately there has been a lot of confusion and myths over who is eligible for an Australian visa, and the process required to get…
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Phuket officials probe sewage pipeline project
PHUKET: About 20 disgruntled Koh Sireh residents filed a complaint with Damrongtham Center on Monday urging Governor Nisit Jansomwong to investigate a sewage pipeline project in Rassada. The villagers argued that the construction has narrowed a local road, thus substantially increasing traffic congestion and accident risks. “We knew that this is a Rassada Municipality project and we fully cooperated the…
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International media flock to PhuketWan Computer Crimes Act trial
PHUKET: Members of the international media, including Reporters Without Borders, crammed into the Phuket courthouse today as the trial of Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian, of local news blog PhuketWan, began. The suspects, as well as Big Island Media (PhuketWan), face charges of criminal defamation and violations of the Computer Crimes Act. The four prosecution witnesses that gave their testimony…
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Expat runs to help fight HIV in Phuket
PHUKET: A local English lecturer at Prince of Songkla University (PSU) raised more than 150,000 baht for the Phuket Loves You Club (PLU) during the Laguna International Marathon last month. Colin Gallagher had originally hoped to raise 50,000 baht for PLU, which organizes Phuket Pride Week and raises funds to fight HIV on the island. However, as the campaign picked…
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Myanmar man held in drug bust
PHUKET: A Myanmar national was arrested on a Hat Yai-Phuket minibus in possession of 2,178 pills of ya bah (methamphetamine) early this morning. The 30-year-old man, who police named as Kyaw Soe Miw, was nabbed after Tah Chat Chai Police set up a checkpoint at about 4:15am today to screen passengers coming to Phuket from other provinces. “We suspected that…
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Dolphin washes ashore in Phang Nga
PHUKET: A female spinner dolphin has been taken to the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) after it was found beached in Phang Nga yesterday morning. At about 8:30am, officers from the PMBC Endangered Species Unit received a call from locals that the marine mammal washed ashore at Ban Tha Noon Beach. When officers arrived, they found villagers holding the dolphin…
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Cape Panwa Hotel Raceweek kicks off tomorrow
PHUKET: The first event of the 2015 Cape Panwa Hotel Phuket Raceweek is set to take place tomorrow. The kick-off event falls in the middle of Phuket’s southwest monsoon season – a time when some of the best sailing and racing conditions can be expected – and will welcome a competitive line-up of IRC racers, cruisers, multihulls and a growing…
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Police consider foul play, reward offered for missing American diver
PHUKET: Police have yet to rule out foul play as the family of an American scuba diver who vanished from a Similans-bound, liveaboard boat in April offers a 170,000-baht reward for any information that will lead to the discovery of his whereabouts. Joshua Michael Devine, 36, a civilian IT operative working at a United States military base in Kuwait, was…
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Handsy ladyboy nabbed for digging into Indian pocket
PHUKET: Police promptly arrested a ‘friendly’ ladyboy after she picked the pocket of an Indian tourist in front of Soi Paradise in Patong last night. “Montree Srichantra, 24, had gone up to Amit Mahendra Shah, 34, and given him a big hug pretending to greet him. However, she had swiped his wallet,” Lt Col Sutthichai Thianpho of the Patong Police…
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Statutory rape fugitive arrested in Thalang
PHUKET: A statuary rape fugitive was arrested after Thalang Police were called to investigate an assault at his family home on Saturday evening. Trirong Dejpongha, 24, was arrested after hitting his stepfather, Veera Bunnarak, 56, multiple times in the head with a brick, Lt Preecha Rakjan of the Thalang Police confirmed. “Mr Trirong was asleep in the house when he…
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Rotary Club of Patong Beach elects new president
PHUKET: Swiss national Walter Wyler was elected president of the Rotary Club of Patong Beach (RCoPB), Phuket’s only English speaking Rotary club, earlier this month. The former Swiss Air Force colonel, and 15-year Rotarian, has set a number of goals for the club for the 2015-2016 year, including attracting more women members and continuing to support the club’s projects, such…
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Breaking News: Unidentified body thought to be last missing crew member
PHUKET: Officers believe that they have found the body of the final missing crew member from the 30-meter barge that sank between Koh Racha and Koh Phi Phi on July 7. The unidentified body was discovered in Trang, the same province that the body of the barge’s captain was discovered Saturday evening (story here). “It looks like the person died…
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Captain of sunken barge discovered dead
PHUKET: The captain of the 30-meter barge that sank between Koh Racha and Koh Phi Phi on July 7 was found dead by local fishermen in Trang Saturday evening. The heavily tattooed body of Visanu Thongbai, 50, was taken to Prince of Songkla Hopsital in Trang and then transported to Phuket for a funeral ceremony. “Doctors were able to confirm…
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Meth smuggler packs vagina
PHUKET: A woman was arrested in Phang Nga, north of Phuket, following the discovery of 760 pills of ya bah (methamphetamine) hidden inside her vagina. “The pills were packed into three plastic bags before being nestled into two condoms and inserted into the suspect’s vagina,” Takua Pa Police Deputy Superintendent Worawit Yamaree revealed today. The 33-year-old Laos national named by…
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Phuket police arrest member of Navy for drug running
PHUKET: Police arrested a member of the Royal Thai Navy and his companion after the two allegedly attempted to smuggle 120 kilograms of kratom leaves into Patong early this morning. Petty Officer First Class Jamnian Samorhom, 33, and Noppadol Wisetrat, 21, were moving the drugs into Phuket’s party town by using a ‘well-known’ convenience store truck, confirmed Lt Col Sutthichai…
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Maimed sea turtle treated in Phuket
PHUKET: A maimed female sea turtle was taken to the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) after it was washed ashore on an island off Ranong yesterday morning. The turtle, still too young to have laid her first eggs, was suffering from infections and exhaustion, Patcharaporn Kaewmong, a veterinarian at the PMBC explained. “We believe that the turtle lost its limbs…
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Successful fundraiser for Kiwi in coma
PHUKET: The friends and family of 28-year-old New Zealander Paul ‘PJ’ Lupi, who was seriously injured in an accident on Patong Hill, have now received adequate donations from generous helpers willing to fund Mr Lupi’s fight back to health. Mr Lupi was driving over the notorious hill at about 12:30am on July 6 when he fell off his motorbike and…
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Rescued boatman rushed to hospital
PHUKET: The fourth survivor of a barge that sank between Koh Racha Yai and Koh Phi Phi on Tuesday is being transferred from Koh Ngai, where he was found this morning in weak condition, to Koh Lanta Hospital. Myanmar national Thar Hlaing, 46, was plucked from the sea and brought to Koh Ngai, southeast of Phuket, by a transport ship…
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Ace condo developers face more charges
PHUKET: The developers behind the unfinished Ace 1 condominium project in Phuket are facing multiple charges after dozens of buyers filed complaints seeking compensation for down payments on the project, which was scheduled to be complete in April this year. The company behind the project, Nine Property (Patong), was given two weeks from June 15 to address compensation to pre-build…
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Special Delivery: Drug network uses social media, post office
PHUKET: Enormous quantities of drugs are being shipped to Phuket through the Thai Postal system as island dealers buy in bulk through online social media platforms. “It has become more difficult catching drug dealers after they started using social media applications such as LINE and Facebook to buy and sell their products,” Director of the Narcotics Control Board (NCB) Sithisak…
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Squatters demand officials dig up mining concession
PHUKET: Officers are now searching for the exact location of an old mining concession in Chalong, after squatters refused to move from a disputed 70-rai property in the area. Sra Ton Po villagers have remained firmly rooted to the piece of land and even filed a complaint to the Damrongtham Center (ombudsman’s office) claiming that the Chanote title holders of…
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Breaking News: Fourth survivor of sunken barge rescued
PHUKET: A fourth survivor from a barge that sank between Koh Racha Yai and Koh Phi Phi on Tuesday was found this morning by locals on Koh Ngai, southeast of Phuket. A naval rescue team is en route to the island in Trang province. The survivor, Myanmar national named only as Thar Hliang, 46,* is said by locals at the…
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Marine Office on lookout for boats defying warning
PHUKET: The local Marine Office chief has confirmed that captains taking boats under 12-meters long out from Phuket will be charged for disobeying the small-boat warning issued this week. The order is now for boats of 12 meters or less, down from the 24-meter-long boat order issued earlier this week (story here). However, Phuket Marine Office Chief Phuripat Theerakulpisut said…
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Body washes up on Patong beach
PHUKET: Police found the body of a man who had been reported missing by relatives on Sunday washed up on Patong Beach yesterday. Police told the Phuket Gazette yesterday that Suriya Rattanajan, 20, had been fishing on the rocks near Tri Trang Beach on Sunday when he was knocked into the water and dragged out to sea. “Mr Suriya’s relatives…
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A Decade Ago: Dog food in short supply
PHUKET: Pups found themselves on page one of the July 2, 2005, issue of the Phuket Gazette: food supplies were dwindling at the Mid Road Dog Shelter in Thalang, leaving some 300 dogs to subsist on rations of cat food donated after the tsunami. The humiliation of having to eat cat food aside, it was not a good situation. The…
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Three of six missing crew found alive
PHUKET: Three crew members of a barge that sank between Koh Racha Yai and Koh Phi Phi on Tuesday were found by locals and rescued from the sea off Koh Lanta yesterday and early this morning. The 30-meter barge Sintu Phuket 1 was transporting construction materials and a backhoe from Ao Makham to Koh Racha Yai when it sank in…
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Schools of Phuket fishermen scramble to get legal
PHUKET: The flood gates opened yesterday as hundreds of employers and migrant workers in the fishing industry queued up at Phuket’s newly-opened one-stop service center designed to get fishing boats and their crews legal. “I couldn’t believe there were that many people who needed to be taken care of,” said Capt Preecha Tuntiruk of the Third Naval Area Command, who…
Phuket is a province in the south of Thailand. Phuket's beaches face the Andaman Sea allowing the west coast beaches fantastic sunsets right throughout the year. If you're looking for news in Phuket, go to thethaiger.com/phuket Or follow our instant news in our Facebook pages.
The good news is that Phuket is famous for its foodie scene with an enormously diverse range of local and international foods - Phuket and southern favorites, street food along with international choices catering for the 12 million visitors to the island each year. Thaiger follows Phuket news and information 24 hours a day with regular updates.
Phuket is only 'just' an island with a 300 metre bridge linking it to Thailand's mainland. We're always reporting in the news that the channel beneath is frequently dredged to maintain Phuket's status as an island. On the other side of Sarasin Bridge is the Province of Phang Nga.
Getting to Phuket is easy as the island has land, air and sea connections. Phuket is also used as a take-off point for local island trips as Thailand's largest island is surrounded by over 30 pristine islands. Koh Phi Phi and the famous Maya Bay are always in the news and would be the best known of the island's just off Phuket's shores.
Phuket is an island and a province. It's the largest island in Thailand – 48 km north to south, 21 km east to west.
It's about 20% smaller, in area, than Singapore but much less densely populated. Whilst the island nation of Singapore boasts a population of nearly 6 million, Phuket has a permanent population of around 400-450,000 (but varies a lot with the influx of tourists and a workforce that is always changing). Most of Phuket remains jungle and tropical rainforest despite an acceleration of development over the past 20 years.
Unlike some of Thailand's other popular islands (that are in the Gulf of Thailand), the news is that Phuket is located in the Andaman Sea.
Phuket is 878 km north of the equator.
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