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  • Burmese fisherman murdered | Thaiger

    Burmese fisherman murdered

    PHUKET TOWN: A Burmese fisherman was found murdered in a rented house near the fishing port early yesterday morning. Pol Lt Kaneuing Pitakkultorn of Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that, at around 10 am yesterday, he received a phone call informing him of the murder. In the house on Anuphasphuketkarn Rd in Tambon Rassada, Lt Kaneuing found the…

  • Concessionaires sought for boat quay | Thaiger

    Concessionaires sought for boat quay

    PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) has admitted defeat in its attempts to get tour boat operators to use its smart new Rassada Quay on Sri Sena Rd. Instead of trying to run the 65-million-baht quay itself, the OrBorJor now plans to call for bids from companies interested in running the pier on a concession basis. “We just…

  • Report slams attitudes on domestic violence | Thaiger

    Report slams attitudes on domestic violence

    BANGKOK (AFP): Despite greater democracy and improving economic conditions, Thai women are increasingly at risk from domestic violence, social welfare activists warned today. “Nobody outside the non-governmental organization community is working on the issue. It’s a terrible situation … and the police do not take opportunities to improve their knowledge of the issue,” said Siriporn Skrobanek of the Foundation for…

  • Farmers demand help with debts | Thaiger

    Farmers demand help with debts

    BANGKOK (AFP): Ten thousand Thai farmers massed in Bangkok today, demanding government help in their battle to pay debts and a new push on agricultural reform. The demonstrators arrived in trucks from 17 northern provinces and congregated at the city’s Royal Plaza, close to Government House. “They want the government to pay off their debts and to solve problems over…

  • Drug bust nails big ya bah dealer’s brother | Thaiger

    Drug bust nails big ya bah dealer’s brother

    PHUKET TOWN: Police yesterday arrested a 30-year-old man who, they believe, had ambitions to take over from his brother as one of Phuket’s biggest dealers in ya bah (methamphetamine). The man, Seksan Tuambang, was arrested in possession of 200 tablets of the drug in a sting operation involving the dealer’s right-hand man, Mongkol Kantakarn, 19. Pol Maj Manat Iamchareonchaikul, Inspector…

  • Head-to-head contest in Kathu poll | Thaiger

    Head-to-head contest in Kathu poll

    KATHU: Two parties will each contest all of the 12 seats in the June 10 election to choose the new Kathu Municipal Council. One party, the Kathu Ruamjai Party, is led by Suthep Sanguanpanont, the Mayor of the Municipality until it was dissolved at the end of April to prepare for the election. K. Suthep was also President of the…

  • Construction worker’s death was ‘suicide’ | Thaiger

    Construction worker’s death was ‘suicide’

    THALANG: Local villagers yesterday found the body of a missing construction worker in woods behind the site near Thalang where the new Phuket Coastal Aquaculture Development Center is being built. Pol Capt Somkit Kaosung of Thalang Police Station named the dead man as Sunate Dokkemklong, 32, from Khon Kaen, and said that all evidence pointed to Sunate having committed suicide.…

  • Dolphin found dying at Sansook Beach | Thaiger

    Dolphin found dying at Sansook Beach

    PHUKET: Boys playing on Sansook Beach in Tambon Rassada found a female bottlenose dolphin dying yesterday evening. “She was still alive when the boys found her floating near the shoreline. They told us that they heard her cries first,” said Supoj Jantrapornsil, a technician at Phuket Marine Biological Center. The dolphin died on the beach not long afterwards. There was…

  • Ya bah bust next to police station | Thaiger

    Ya bah bust next to police station

    CHALONG: Three men were arrested on Saturday for possession of ya bah (methamphetamine) at a house just 100 meters from Chalong Police Station. Pol Capt Chokchai Suttimek of the Chalong station told the Gazette that an unidentified man called the police and told them that a ya bah deal was going to take place at Ao Chalong Bungalow. Officers strode…

  • Fire aboard survey vessel | Thaiger

    Fire aboard survey vessel

    AO MAKHAM: A fire broke out yesterday afternoon in the refrigerator room of the vessel Chulabhorn, berthed at the Phuket Marine Biological Center Pier. The fire started while welding work was being done on pipes in the room, said Pol Capt Thanapong Mokthong of the forensic science department, but was extinguished in half an hour using the vessel’s own fire-fighting…

  • Racha Yai auctions postponed | Thaiger

    Racha Yai auctions postponed

    PHUKET: The sale by auction of two of the largest plots of land on Racha Yai Island, south of Phuket, which was initially scheduled for June 1, has been postponed to an unspecified date. Aran Sae-Lim of Harrison Auction Co Ltd, one of the two auction organizers (the other is Mel Giller & Associates), said he expects an announcement about…

  • UK dialing codes change | Thaiger

    UK dialing codes change

    BANGKOK: Telephone dialing codes in Britain have just been changed radically in what has been labeled “The Big Number Change”, the British Chamber of Commerce in Thailand reports. The changes entail the introduction of new telephone codes and local numbers for six locations: Cardiff, Coventry, London, Northern Ireland, Portsmouth and Southampton. There are also changes made to certain mobile phone,…

  • Thai beaches disappearing quickly | Thaiger

    Thai beaches disappearing quickly

    BANGKOK (AFP): Some of Thailand’s most popular beaches are disappearing as man-made structures speed up coastal erosion, reports said today. A 115-kilometer (71-mile) stretch of beaches famed amongst Thais and foreigners since the reign of King Rama VI early last century has been severely eroded, the Bangkok Post reported. The resort regions of Hua Hin, Cha-am and Petchaburi, south of…

  • Phuket will “definitely’ impose hotel room tax | Thaiger

    Phuket will “definitely’ impose hotel room tax

    PHUKET: Hotels in Phuket are preparing for tough negotiations with the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor), which has announced that it will begin collecting tax from hotels in October. The tax will be based on revenue from rooms only. The OrBorJor president, Dr Prasit Koysiripong, told the Gazette today that although the law allows the rate to be as high…

  • Briton wins PEGS tournament | Thaiger

    Briton wins PEGS tournament

    PHUKET: Andrew Marshall of the UK scored 42 points off of a handicap of 17 on Thursday, beating some 60 other players and winning the monthly Stableford tournament of the Phuket Expat Golf Society (PEGS). Second in the tournament, on the Blue Canyon Country Club’s Canyon Course, was American lawyer Brad Moore, a five-handicapper, who scored 39 points. South African…

  • PINS opts for white knight solution | Thaiger

    PINS opts for white knight solution

    PHUKET: The Board of Directors of the Phuket International School (PINS) has decided to invite US-based Quality Schools International (QSI) to assume operation of the cash-strapped school. Although the decision was up to the directors, parents were asked for their opinions on five options. These were: – To affiliate with QSI; – To remain independent but raise fees to a…

  • After corrupt poll, Thailand tries again | Thaiger

    After corrupt poll, Thailand tries again

    BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand will make a second attempt Saturday to fill its upper house of parliament after a first round of voting under a new anti-corruption constitution was tainted by rampant vote buying. Twenty-six million voters will be called out in 35 provinces where winning candidates in the March 4 Senate polls were disqualified for cheating. But doubt has already…

  • 12 die in traffic accidents | Thaiger

    12 die in traffic accidents

    PHUKET: Twelve people were killed in traffic accidents between February 20 and March 20, according to statistics from the Wachira, Thalang and Patong government hospitals. Ampaipan Pawawattananusorn, of the Phuket Provincial Health Office, reports that 11 of the victims died in motorcycle accidents, while one involved a bicycle. In the same period, 74 people were injured in auto accidents, while…

  • Korean tour guide arrested | Thaiger

    Korean tour guide arrested

    CHALONG: Phuket tourist police yesterday arrested Gon Soo Lee, 33, for acting as a tour guide without a license. Lee, a Korean national who is a guide with Club Tour, was later released on bail. Pol Capt Chokchai Suttimek of Chalong Police Station told the Gazette that the tourist police arrested Lee while he was with clients at an elephant…

  • Italian nurse arrested for theft | Thaiger

    Italian nurse arrested for theft

    CHALONG: Angela Pucillo, 29, an Italian nurse, was arrested by Chalong Police on Saturday for stealing money from Mr Chijeo Inoo, a 29-year-old Japanese tourist. Pol Capt Thanate Poungmanee of Chalong Police Station said that Pucillo and Mr Inoo arrived in Bangkok on April 11 on the same flight. They decided to travel together. They took a bus to Phuket…

  • Major land auction to be held in Phuket | Thaiger

    Major land auction to be held in Phuket

    PHUKET: Two of the largest land plots on Racha Yai Island will be up for public auction here in June. Racha Yai is located about twenty kilometers south of Phuket. The total area of the island is 1,700 rai (approx 680 acres). There are currently three resorts on the island: Ban Raya, Raya Executive, and Raya Resort. There is also…

  • Ya Bah arrests continue in Patong | Thaiger

    Ya Bah arrests continue in Patong

    PATONG: Two men were arrested in Patong on Thursday afternoon with 52 pills of ya bah (methamphetamine). Pol Lt Col Pichet Supmee of Kathu Police Station told the Gazette that his officers received a report from an informant that there was a group of people selling the illicit drug in Soi Paradise Complex, off Rat-U-Thit Rd. An undercover officer was…

  • Key Buddhist date now a UN international day | Thaiger

    Key Buddhist date now a UN international day

    BANGKOK: United Nations member countries have reached agreement that Buddhism’s Visakha Bucha Day will henceforth be recognized by those countries as an official UN “international day”. It marks the first time that the world body has established such a day based on religion. The announcement was made yesterday by the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the World Fellowship of…

  • Panic after “corpse’ comes back to life | Thaiger

    Panic after “corpse’ comes back to life

    BANGKOK (AFP): A Thai man sparked panic when his body twitched as it was loaded into cold storage a day after he was pronounced dead, forensic experts said today. Aroon Chansawan, 75, collapsed at a nursing home near Bangkok late Tuesday and was declared dead after police officials failed to detect a pulse. His body was taken for an autopsy…

  • Police deny Tamil Tigers report | Thaiger

    Police deny Tamil Tigers report

    PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Marine Police today denied a report in a major daily newspaper that they had recently checked and then released a speedboat that might have been used by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to transport supplies from Phuket to an LTTE base on an island nearby. The LTTE have been waging a long and bitter civil…

  • Fried chicken terribly costly for Mercedes lady | Thaiger

    Fried chicken terribly costly for Mercedes lady

    PHUKET TOWN: A woman who parked her car briefly on Friday found herself half a million baht poorer when she got back behind the wheel. Pol Capt Anukul Nookate of Phuket Town Police Station said Lynchee Somsak, 42, stopped her car on Luang Por Wat Chalong Rd to buy fried chicken. She told the police that, because the chicken vendor…

  • Westerner’s body found in Suan Luang Park | Thaiger

    Westerner’s body found in Suan Luang Park

    PHUKET TOWN: The body of a Western man was found floating in the lagoon at Suan Luang Park on Chao Fa Nai Rd on Saturday morning. Pol Col Chalit Tintanee, Superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station, said the man, as yet identified, is estimated to have been about 25 to 30 years old. He was about 180 centimeters tall and…

  • Diesel smugglers arrested | Thaiger

    Diesel smugglers arrested

    PHUKET: Four Thais were arrested on Saturday evening on charges of smuggling untaxed fuel into Thailand, and 60,000 liters of low-grade diesel, worth about 180,000 baht, was seized from their vessel, the Look Kob. The vessel was also impounded. Pol Col Surapol Tuanthong, Deputy Commissioner of the Royal Thai Marine Police, said that the modified fishing vessel was stopped near…

  • On-the-ball bellboy bags burglar | Thaiger

    On-the-ball bellboy bags burglar

    KATA-KARON: The alertness of a bellboy at the Marina Cottage Hotel, who heard a guest-room door close when he knew that the family staying in the room were all at dinner, resulted in the red-handed arrest of a burglar. Pol Lt Teerawat Leamsuwan of Chalong Police Station told the Gazette, “The guests staying in the room that was burgled [a…

  • Permanent residence window about to close | Thaiger

    Permanent residence window about to close

    BANGKOK: The Immigration Bureau has issued a reminder that, barring the remote possibility of an extension, June 30 is the deadline for foreign investors to apply for “special investment” permanent residence status in Thailand. Normally, those applying for permanent residence must hold a non-immigrant visa and reside in Thailand on a one-year-visa extension basis for three years consecutively. The period…