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Monks evict crocodile from Chonburi temple
Theerarak Suthathiwong
Neither monks nor resident dogs at Chonburi’s Wat Nong
Yaiboo Temple were too happy when a 1.5-meter crocodile adopted the temple’s
pond as its new home.
Monk Thavee Vuthasaro alerted the Piew Yiang Thai
Sriracha rescue squad June 9 that a dangerous amphibian had taken up
residence in Nong Yaiboo’s 10-by-30 meter pond the night before. He’d heard
dogs barking wildly at something around 1 a.m. and, upon investigating, saw
the animal slip into the pond.
The next morning, after alms collecting and prayers, he
checked to see if the crocodile was still in the pool. It was and so Thavee
called authorities to capture the croc before it got hungry and attacked
someone.
Officers suspect the crocodile had been kept nearby as a
pet, but escaped when heavy rains flooded the area earlier in the week. They
shot the croc with a tranquilizer gun, then fished the dizzy animal out of
the water and took it to more crocodile-friendly environs.
Banks close July 1
Thursday, July 1 is the
annual Mid-year closing of all banks. This is a bank holiday, and not a
public holiday, so other offices and businesses will still be open. Many
currency exchange booths will also be open, but all major bank branches will
be closed for the day.
City gives road-safety lessons to Pattaya students
Pattaya provided
road-safety lessons for secondary school children in the hopes of reducing
accidents caused by these future drivers.
Vimolrat Singnikorn
Hoping to make Thailand’s roads safer in the future,
Pattaya City Hall and the Protection for Victims of Car Accidents Co. Ltd.
sponsored a traffic-safety “camp” for secondary school students.
The June 14 workshop aimed to educate teens on traffic
laws, good driving techniques and the effects of traffic accidents before
they legally can obtain driver’s licenses at age 18.
The camp featured four learning stations, including first
aid from Bangkok Hospital Pattaya, a field activity from the protection
company, traffic law from the Banglamung Police Station and insurance and
legal protection for accident victims sponsored by the Control Board and
Insurance Business Promotions in Region 5.
Deputy Mayor Wutisak Rermkitkarn said he hoped the
road-safety workshop raised awareness among the teens about accidents and
will make them better drivers in the future.
Narcotics Control Office opens Region 2 HQ in Chonburi
High ranking officers attend the official opening
of the
new Narcotics Control and Prevention office in Chonburi.
Vimolrat Singnikorn
The Office of Narcotics Control and Prevention has opened
a new office in Chonburi to supervise the eight provinces in Region 2.
Relocated from temporary quarters in Bangkok, the
Narcotics Control office will oversee Chonburi, Rayong, Chachoengsao,
Chantaburi, Trat, Nakhon Nayok, Prachinburi and Srakaew.
The 47.9 million baht facility is located at Soi
Natmontasawee 3/6 and Prayasatcha Road in central Chonburi’s Samed
sub-district. Construction was completed Nov. 25.
Director Thongchai Chaiprom said the new headquarters
will be much more convenient for Region 2 narcotics officers as they won’t
have to travel to Bangkok to meet superiors.
1 dead, 1 missing after fishing boat sinks off Sattahip
Navy divers prepare to search for the missing captain
of the Lap Arunsap,
a local fishing boat that capsized during last
week’s storm.
Patcharapol Panrak
One man died and another remained missing after a
loaded fishing boat capsized and sank near Sattahip.
A 34-year-old fisherman identified only as “Noo” died
at Queen Sirikit Hospital from injuries sustained in the early morning
June 9 accident between Koh Samae San and Koh Khram. Arun Chaonawarun,
captain of the Lap Arunsap, remained missing after a Royal Thai Navy
search and is presumed to have drowned.
Navy Region 1 officials were alerted to the accident
around 1:30 a.m. after a strong storm swept through Sattahip Bay. The
Lap Arunsap was one of five fishing boats headed back to port fully
loaded when the rain and winds hit. Three other crewmen survived the
wreck, but the total loss of boat and cargo was estimated at 400,000
baht.
Payungsak Puanghiran, who like Arun and several
others in the group were fishermen from Rayong, said the missing captain
had been using the radio in his cabin to contact other boats when the
vessel overturned.
Payungsak speculated that the captain was still
trapped in the sunken boat. However, a Navy patrol boat and divers
searched the area but did not find the body, although the search had to
be suspended due to strong currents and the large amount of fish that
had escaped the boat’s hold.
TAT plans 10 million baht budget to encourage tourism
Vimolrat Singnikorn
TAT Pattaya office assistant director, Akarawit Thepasit
talks about this year’s Sea, Sand and Sun festival.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand hopes to perk up
Pattaya’s low season with the 10 million baht “Sea, Sand and Sun” festival
along the beachfront July 1-4.
At a June 9 organizing meeting in Hotel J, TAT Pattaya
office assistant director, Akarawit Thepasit said the event focuses on
promoting tourism and culture with four days of activities including
concerts and a parade. “It should be very colorful and attract tourists to
Pattaya,” he said.
Business owners attending the meeting greeted the TAT and
Chonburi Tourism Club-sponsored program positively, offering suggestions on
how to show off Thai culture by featuring arts and technology.
Pattaya entertainment venues get safe-sex reminder
Thanachot Anuwan
Pattaya’s Public Health and Environmental Department
reminded owners of the city’s entertainment venues about the importance of
their employees practicing safe sex.
Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome presides over the city sponsored
safe sex workshop.
Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome led the June 8 health-management
workshop, which reviewed information on HIV and AIDS, other sexually
transmitted diseases and methods to protect against infection and vigilantly
reducing risks.
Deputy City Manager Apichat Phuetphan said such workshops
are necessary to maintain people’s consciousness about disease and
self-protection, as infections can easily spread beyond entertainers to
their family and friends.
He noted that similar exercises in the past have been
successful in reducing the number of people infected with HIV and AIDS, but
that vigilance is needed to maintain that trend.
Thais buzzing over
Chinese bee-sting therapy
Apichart Wu begins bee sting therapy on a willing,
albeit
somewhat apprehensive patient.
Patcharapol Panrak
While most people try hard to avoid bees, Thai believers
in the magic of “alternative medicine” are actually lining up in Nong Plai
Lai to get stung.
The Thepprasit Group Learning Center and Bee Conservatory
is buzzing over the arrival of Chinese herbalist Wu Jong Ying, who performs
acupuncture with bee stingers and stares into people’s eyes to diagnose
mystery illnesses.
Wu led an apitherapy association in China and has
published related texts with Thai bee-therapy expert Prasert
Nopakhunkhachorn, the director of the Agriculture Development and Promotion
Center in Chumphon Province. He uses bees to treat patients with a variety
of embedded bee stingers at the headquarters of the Thepprasit Group bee
farm.
Center Managing Director Apichart Wu said since the
announcement of Wu’s stint in the Pattaya area, Thais have traveled from
around the country to get stung. Center staff check the willing victims, of
course, to make sure they’re actually not allergic to bees. But if all work
out, they happily sit down to gaze into Wu’s eyes, tell her where it hurts
and then get stuck in various places on their bodies.
Remarkably, the good Chinese doctor can always find a
reason for their ailments.
Apichart noted the bee farm does more than just sting
people. It serves as a showcase for beekeeping and bee-related products. The
company was one of the founders of the Thai Organic Beekeeper Association in
2008, a consortium formed to provide knowledge to farmers as an organic
approach to beekeeping.
Sattahip sea turtles hit
the road for Chiang Mai
Biologists work with a large female
at the Sattahip Sea
Turtle Conservation Center.
Patcharapol Panrak
Sattahip’s Sea Turtle Conservation Center is taking its
endangered animals on the road to Chiang Mai where they’ll take center stage
in a new exhibition aimed at northern Thailand school children.
The Royal Thai Navy and Marinescape (Thailand) Ltd. will
run the turtle-breeding exhibit at the Chiang Mai Aquarium through Aug. 4.
It will be a rare chance for northern Thais far from the Eastern Seaboard to
learn about the important animals and give students a chance to earn
valuable scholarships.
The exhibit will feature turtles in various stages of
life, from newly hatched to adult. It also will showcase historical
photographs about the role of the conservation center, which has been
working to rebuild populations of Thailand’s four breeds of endangered
turtles for 60 years.
Rear Adm. Chakchai Phucharoenyot, commander of the Air
and Coastal Defense Command, said the Navy will also be offering 40,000 baht
in scholarships to winners of a drawing competition and other activities.
Winners will also travel to Sattahip on HM the Queen’s birthday on Aug. 12
to release juvenile turtles raised by the center back into the wild. For
more information please call 038-431 477 or 02-466-1180.
Samae San fisherman
nets explosive catch
Patcharapol Panrak
A Samae San fisherman thinking he’d hit the mother lode
discovered his heavy net wasn’t exploding with fish, but instead with an old
torpedo.
Navy officials cart away an old torpedo a local fisherman
dragged up in his net.
Thanakrit Pupatanavut, 50, alerted Royal Thai Navy
officials and Sattahip District Chief Chaichan Iamcharoen to his dud of a
catch July 14. He hauled it to shore, hoping to protect other fishermen from
getting similarly torpedoed, but Chaichan wisely had it moved away from the
village until it could be dealt with by the navy.
Officials estimated the 10 in.-diameter submarine-hunter
shell was more than a decade old and had ensconced in the sea bed for at
least half that time. Officials took the 1.2 m. shell away for disassembly.
Thanakrit said he’d been trawling about 80 nautical miles
off Samae San when he snagged the torpedo. From the weight of his net, he
thought he’d scored a major catch. Fortunately, he only suffered shock when
he pulled the unexploded bomb on board.
Blood-type pioneer honored with 300-strong Chonburi blood drive
Phasakorn Channgam
About 300 Chonburi residents commemorated the birthday of
the father of the blood-type system by donating blood to the Thai Red Cross
in Chonburi.
Chonburi Gov. Senee Jittakasem visits a blood donor
during the recent Red Cross drive to honor Austrian Dr. Karl Landsteiner,
who developed the modern system of classification of blood groups A, B, AB
and O.
The Blood Donors Day event, organized with the Chonburi
Red Cross and National Blood Service, came June 14, the 142nd birthday of
Austrian biologist Karl Landsteiner who in 1901 developed the modern system
of classification of blood groups A, B, AB and O.
Chonburi Gov. Senee Jittakasem kicked off the blood
drive, which carried the theme “New Blood for the World” this year. The
World Health Organization, International Red Cross Federation and other
groups encouraged similar activities around the world the same day.
Chonburi Red Cross Chairwoman Chorpaka Jittakasem noted
the event was also intended to encourage blood donations among younger
residents. Students took part this year along with public employees and
private citizens.
Senee noted blood donations remain important as, despite
Landsteiner’s many achievements - which also included identification of the
Rh Factor and the polio virus - science has yet to find a substitute for
natural blood.
Landsteiner’s discovery on how to classify blood based on
agglutinins in blood serum led to the first successful transfusion in 1907
and, later, the discovery that people with blood type AB are “universal
blood recipients” while those with the O blood type are “universal donors,”
won him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1930.
Chonburi police break up
violent robbery gang that
targeted foreigners
Chonburi police have arrested four alleged members of the
M16 Gang.
Patcharapol Panrak
Chonburi police have broken up a gang of armed robbers
who targeted foreigners living in isolated areas.
The arrest of four alleged members of the so-called “M16
Gang” was announced June 12. Apprehended were Niran Phosi, 44, of Rayong;
Soralak Srisangiam, 29, and Chartchai Phasuk, 31, of Chachoengsao; and
Uaychai Boonrue, 24, of Roi-Et. A fifth man, Boonlue Srithongbai, 38, of
Rayong remains at large.
Police also showed off a cache of weapons seized,
including an M16 machine gun and three handguns, one of which had been
stolen from a Thai man in Bang Saray. Also recovered by police was more than
a thousand valuable items from victims’ homes.
Region 2 Deputy Commander Maj. Gen. Niwat Ratanathamwat
said the M16 gang had caused tremendous problems for foreign residents,
particularly those who lived alone or in neighborhoods of Pattaya,
Banglamung and Sattahip where they had few neighbors.
Most recently, he said, the gang broke into the Huay Yai
home of Swiss national Rolf Ernst Seiler, 70. He was attacked with a meat
cutter and his 65-year-old wife Verena was tied up while the thieves took
more than 2 million baht in watches, jewelry and cash from the home.
Niwat added that gang members would cruise neighborhoods
in a black Isuzu truck, also seized during the arrest, looking for foreign
homeowners. Goods were then sold at a central Pattaya pawnshops that police
were investigating.
Police said the search continues for any others connected to violent
robbery gang.
German refuses to pay 47,000
baht bill, jailed when police
discover visa overstay
Boonlua Chatree
A German man who refused to pay his 47,000-baht hotel
bill was arrested by Pattaya Tourist Police after it was discovered he’d
overstayed his visa.
Roland Hofmann has been charged with overstaying his visa and refusing to
pay his hotel bill.
Sunthorn Changnong, a security guard at the Pattaya
Marriott Hotel & Resort called police in the early hours of June 8 when
Roland Hofmann, 37, tried to check out of his hotel early, saying he had no
money to pay the 47,376 bill for lodging, food and drinks.
Hofmann’s refusal to pay brought scrutiny of his passport
and officials discovered his visa had expired a month ago.
Hofmann told police he was working as computer engineer
and entered the kingdom April 11 to see a Thai woman who left him when his
money ran out. He said he’d been waiting for relatives to send more funds,
but they never did.
The German was charged with overstaying his visa and refusing to pay his
bill and was remanded to jail until his case can be heard in court.
Human-Trafficking Police break up Thai ‘swingers’ party
Police question the local swingers who each allegedly paid
an entrance
fee to take part in a sex party here in Pattaya.
Boonlua Chatree
Thirteen Thais were arrested for participating in a “pay
for play” swingers party advertised on the Internet at a Jomtien Beach
vacation house.
About 20 Pattaya and Anti-Human Trafficking Division
police stormed the Majestic Resident Village on Pratamnak Road June 13,
discovering six Thai couples, many nude in the swimming pool or inside the
house, and the organizer.
The arrested ranged in age from 27 to 52, all hailed from
Chonburi, Bangkok or Issan. Police also seized condoms, illegal sex toys and
a computer and telephone. The 13 were charged with indecency and possession
of restricted sexual devices. Each were fined 1,000 baht and released.
Thitiphat Watthakawimon, who owned the house and
organized the event, confessed to posting the ad on the Internet and
collecting an entry fee to participate. He was charged with facilitating
lewd acts, distribution of pornography and violation of various computer
crime laws.
Sriracha Tiger Zoo in 50
million baht upgrade to
woo Thai tourists
Theerarak Suthathiwong
The Sriracha Tiger Zoo is spending 50 million baht on a
new show area and upgrade to other facilities to reinvigorate its domestic
tourist base.
Sriracha Tiger Zoo is upgrading the zoo hoping to attract more visitors.
Zoo President Maitree Temsiripong announced the upgrade
June 3, saying the new tiger show area should be complete by next month with
all new facilities online by early next year.
Among the new features is a shooting gallery where
tourists can shoot food that drops to the tiger pen below. The showcase will
also feature Kenyan-style dancing and swimming with tigers.
Also on tap is a waterfall where tourists can feed and
take pictures with birds.
The hope is that the improvements spur visits from Thai
tourists during a time when foreign tourists have been frightened away from
Thailand by the “red shirt” political protests.
Unemployed ex-convict arrested in assault on Ukrainian couple
Boonlua Chatree
Police have arrested a four-time ex-convict in the
assault of a Ukrainian couple on Rimpha Beach.
“That’s the guy that attacked me,” Victor Mushchenko
points out Wanlai Bunlua for police.
Wanlai Bunlua, 31, was found taking shelter from heavy
rain near the scene of the June 9 attack. Tourists Victor Mushchenko, 30,
complained to police he’d been punched in the face by a man after he and
wife Sierra, 30, were aggressively approached for money. The injury required
six stitches at Pattaya Memorial Hospital.
The couple identified Wanlai as the attacker. The
unemployed Chantaburi native said he’d already been jailed four times, most
recently six months ago for trespassing. It was the reason he’d begged for
money from the couple, who claimed they didn’t have any to spare.
Uzbek pimp,
4 prostitutes arrested
Four Uzbek prostitutes and their female pimp
have been
arrested for solicitation of prostitution.
Boonlua Chatree
Immigration police have arrested an Uzbek pimp and four
of her prostitutes discovered working in South Pattaya.
Saidova Kurshida, 35, was taken into custody in the early
hours of June 8 after undercover Chonburi Immigration Office police hired
the services of one of her charges for 5,000 baht.
Also arrested were working girls Goyibova Nigora, 37,
Kurbonova Habiba, 24, Umerova Nodira, 39, and Abdurahimova Charos, 21. They
were charged with solicitation of prostitution.
Kurshida, meanwhile, was charged with pimping and overstaying her visa.
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