Phuket News

Phuket Airport taxi driver faces inquest for drunk nap behind the wheel

PHUKET: The Phuket Airport taxi driver who was found asleep behind the wheel and smelling of alcohol early yesterday morning will be called in for questioning by the Phuket Land Transportation Office (PLTO).The news follows Thalang Police being called to Baan Lipon, between Thalang Town and the Heroines Monument, at 5:30am to find a registered taxi...

Video Report: Airport Customs snare Phuket drug mule with B7mn of crystal meth

PHUKET: A Thai woman was arrested at Phuket International Airport yesterday after she tried to smuggle 2.5kg of ya ice (crystal methamphetamine) from China into Phuket.Customs officers valued the drugs at about 7 million baht.“Buachompoo Pattanapiyawach, 39, was caught with drugs in her luggage after it was scanned by an x-ray...

Still no extradition request for Phuket fugitive arrested a month ago

PHUKET: One month after his arrest in the Philippines, the extradition of British fugitive Michael John Taylor, also known as “Mick the Pom”, wanted in Phuket on murder charges, appears to be at a standstill.Phuket’s top cop Maj Gen Ong-art Phiewruangnont says he has no knowledge of the case, and the officer in charge of it, Lt Col Danprai Kaewwehol of the...

Phuket official loses B4mn Benz in chicken run wipeout

PHUKET: A six-wheeled truck hauling a battery of chickens bound for Krabi crushed a brand-new, 4-million-baht Mercedes-Benz belonging to a local official in Mai Khao, in the north of Phuket, on Saturday.The accident took place at 11am on...

 

Road death inaction sparks blockade of Phuket police station

PHUKET: The angry son of a man killed in a road accident at Chalong Circle eight months ago this morning staged a blockade of Chalong Police Station, accusing officers of supporting murder.The man parked his minivan along with two other vehicles at the entrance of the station, preventing anyone from getting in and out.Posters were plastered over billboards in front of the police station, which pro...

Minor Group’s 5-billion baht Phuket investment

PHUKET: Investment confidence on the resort island of Phuket has continued to ramp up in 2014 despite the Bangkok political crisis. The launch of fifteen ultra luxury villas on the prime west coast by the Thai-listed group Minor International PLC is at the forefront of the upscale movement. Tagged as The Residences by Anantara Layan, the villas range from four to eight bedrooms with commanding oce...

- Yesterday, 11:52AM

Stabbing in Phuket attributed to red-shirt, PDRC divide

PHUKET: An argument over the political divisions being played out in Bangkok ended with a red-shirt supporter from Isarn, Northeastern Thailand, stabbing two Southern Thai fruit vendors in Patong on Saturday night.One eyewitness told the Phuket Gazette that the argument erupted while seven vendors – who all sell fruit on Patong Beach for the same employer – were drinking Thai whisky together n...

Phuket to be ‘unaffected’ during 28-day power disruptions

The Provincial Energy Office has assured that Phuket and other tourism provinces along the Andaman coast will remain unaffected as a major natural gas supply line that feeds the national grid goes offline for 28 days in June and July.The news follows the announcement that the supply of natural gas from field A-18 in the Joint Development Area (JDA) between Thailand and Malaysia in the Gulf of Thai...

Officials stunned as B15bn Andaman Bridge rumors resurface

PHUKET: A stunned Governor of Satun Province has denounced reports that plans were afoot to build a four-lane motorway over the Andaman Sea to join Satun Town in Southern Thailand with Perlis in northwestern Malaysia.Governor Nuachai Jiraapirak dispelled the rumors this week after news reports began circulating online early last month, unofficially calling the supposed joint Thailand-Malaysia init...

Tempest in a longtail

PHUKET: I could feel the Sea Sheperd weekend warrior rising up in me, ready for battle, after reading about the “Yamu Night Fishing Game.” As a sunny-weather marine conservationist, I have no issues with sport fishing competitions. However, I suffered a knee-jerk reaction to seeing “sharks and rays” listed as a category for the Yamu fishing tournament.Glimpses of proud fishermen standing n...