PHUKET: Department of National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) director-general Manopat Huamuangkaew has warned that Phuket is now at the top of his priority list in demolishing illegal resorts encroaching on national park land. Mr Manopat specifially identified Sirinath National Park, on Phuket’s west coast, as his key interest in protecting public land in Phuket.
PHUKET: The Royal Thai Police are lobbying Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to build regional detention centers to house Rohingya refugees across Southern Thailand. The move aims to relieve the pressure on already-overflowing detention centers at immigration offices in Phuket, Phang Nga and Ranong.
Veera Kerdsirimongkol, 57, originally from Nakhon Si Thammarat, has been District Chief of Kathu for four months.
PHUKET: A landslide early-detection system costing 4-million-baht has been installed in the Patong Hills.
PHUKET: I was recently contacted by a man named David, a graduate-level research assistant from a reputable University in Bangkok, who had come to Phuket for the first time – but not for the typical reasons.
PHUKET: A recent report about the problem of “homeless foreigners” from the West becoming a burden on the Thai state (see
PHUKET: Deputy Prime Minister Pracha Promnok today called for every police station across Phuket to have a dedicated section to receive complaints from foreigners. The call came at a meeting at The Metropole Hotel in Phuket Town attended by Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut, Provincial Police Commander Choti Chavalviwat and other top-ranking police officers from the Andaman provinces of Phang Nga and Krabi as well as Surat Thani.
PHUKET: Ten Rohingya detainees escaped at dawn yesterday from a detention facility at the Immigration Office in Ranong, the popular visa run destination for many expats and tourists in Phuket. The incident is the latest in a series of Rohingya escapes from various facilities in the past few months. The 10 escapees were part of a group of 118 Rohingya detainees at the facility.
PHUKET: A Nigerian man arrested for possession of cocaine in Phuket yesterday was also found to be carrying a passport with a visa stolen from the Thai embassy in Malaysia. Karon Police on patrol were notified by an undercover officer of the location of the Nigerian, who was believed to be in possession of drugs.
PHUKET: Phuket Town is honoring its strong Chinese cultural roots with the annual Por Tor Festival, which was launched yesterday in the town’s Queen Sirikit Public Park (map