Thaivisa News

Udon Thani: Khaosod Online has located and identified a farang man who has received a lot of praises from Facebook users after he has been seen cleaning public telephone booths, collecting garbage and pulling weeds along roadsides in Udon Thani’s Muang district.

Khaosod dispatched a reporter to interview the man and found out that he is a German tourist from Berlin, named Peter Rudi Festetling and he has been doing this kind of community services in Udon Thani downtown for six years already during his annual vacation here.

On Wednesday, the Khaosod reporter met Festetling wearing white t-shirt, gloves and blue workshop jumpsuit. He was carrying a pair of tree scissors, a rake and garbage bag to cut weeds and collect garbage along roadside ditch of the Phosri Raod in front of the Charoen Hotel.

Festetling told the reporter that he is 55 years old and has been staying at the hotel.

The man said he makes his living as a cleaner in Berlin and he earns 100 euros a day or about Bt4,000. He said when he has free time, he will fly to Udon Thani and this year was his sixth year that he visited the northeasten province. This time he has been staying for five weeks now.

He said he loves Thailand and Thai people so he helped cleaning the area which he spotted that it was dirty and full with litter. He bought all the tools himself and has been doing it for five weeks.

He said Thai people were kind to him and always gave him cool drinking water and energetic drinks.

He was scheduled to leave Thursday and he would come back to clean Thailand every year, Khaosod reported. [See khaosod report here]

Bangkok:- Bangkok Metropolitan Administration Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra and a senior BMA official have expressed readiness to turn the Phadung Krung Kasem Canal a new route of shuttle boat service.

Writing on his Facebook wall, Sukhumbhand said the BMA would launch a shuttle boat service on the canal near the Government House for three months as a pilot project for an interesting private sector to take over the service.

He said the BMA could not run the boat service on its all.

He was commenting on an idea initiated by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who said the canal should be turned into a new shuttle boat route. Prayut has earlier launched a seasonal floating market on the canal.

But Sukhumbhand noted that the shuttle boat service could not continue everyday because the BMA would have to use the canal to retain rainwater during the rainy season to prevent flooding. Before heavy rains would come, the canal must be almost emptied, and the boat service would be halted, he explained.

Deputy BMA City Clerk Adisak Khanti said he saw that the canal should be used for a tourist boat route instead of passenger boat route because the ancient canal has been being preserved since it was dug during the reign of King Rama IV.

He said the canal runs past several important landmarks of Bangkok so boat trips for learning Bangkok culture should be launched on the canal.

He said the banks of the canal have been renovated beautifully and they may not withstand waves to be generated by speeding passenger boats.

But if the prime minister insists, he can give a written order to the BMA which will immediately implement it to open a new shuttle boat route, Adisak added.

Hua Hin, Prachuap Khiri Khan:- Kesarin Channiam, 36, felt sorry for her husband and son that their punctured tyre repairing shops had little number of customers as tyres in Hua Hin rarely burst or were punctured these days.

So, Kesarin came up with an innovative idea to bring customers to her family’s shop instead of simply waiting for an act of God. The plan prompted police to arrest her Tuesday afternoon.

Hua Hin police station chief Pol Col Chaiyakorn Srilardecho said Kesarin admitted to police that she dropped nails on the Pokklao Road along the railway from railroad crossing to the Hua Hin railway station with hope that the owners of cars with punctured tyres would use the service of the shop in their sight – her husband’s shop.

Chaiyakorn said his police station had received complaints that dozens of cars had suffered punctured tyres since January.

The station chief said he ordered his subordinates to check the area and focused the investigation on tyre repairing shops nearby.

At 2 pm on Tuesday, police found a box of nails in the storage compartment of Kesarin’s motorcycle. The nails are the same type with those punctured many vehicles’ tyres.

Kersarin said she bought a box of nails for Bt60 and dropped them on the road on both sides of traffic flows before her husband’s shop every three days.

Although she did it at night, she was seen doing it and the eyewitnesses informed police, leading to her arrest.

Chaiyakorn urged motorists whose tyres have been punctured in the area to file more complaints against the woman.

It has been suspected for some time that some shops located on provincial roads resorted to this tactic to create customers.

Bangkok:- Officials yesterday conducted a search at a vast place in Bangkok’s Chatuchak district following reports that a chimpanzee was forced to live in poor conditions there.

During the search, they found a male chimp inside a small cage that was just two metres wide and 2.5 metres high. The move follows an online campaign on change.org, which gathers the signatures of people who call for the rescue of the animal. The list of signatures was submitted to the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation last week.

Jira Smithichote, 68, yesterday came forward and identified himself as the chimp’s owner. It is around 30 years old.

“This is Canoe. It has been with me since it was still a kid,” Jira said, “I’ve got it from a friend”.

His place, which used to host the Smithichote School, spans over 16 rai. Canoe, however, has been locked in the cage because Jira believes it is easier to care for this pet.

Thiradej Palasuwan, an official from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, has now instructed Jira to enlarge the case for Canoe and provide it with toys. According to him, the cage must be at least six metres high and spans over at least 185.6 square metres.

“We will come back to check on the animal every three months. We will issue a warning if we find that he fails to comply with the order. After three warnings, we will seize the chimpanzee,” Thiradej said.

Jira said he would soon make a decision on whether to keep Canoe or to give it to the department.

The Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand and its allies say they will follow up with this case.

Bangkok: – The Office of the Attorney General is preparing to appeal the sentencing of a convicted dog attacker, saying the initial penalty was too light.

OAG deputy spokesman KosolwatInthuchanyong said public prosecutors would seek an appellate review to impose actual imprisonment instead of a suspended jail time.

In the first judicial decision after the law against animal cruelty came into effect last month, the NongKhai Provincial Court found KhamdeeKottha, 50, guilty of assaulting a dog.

The court sentenced Khamdee to serve one month in jail and to pay a Bt2,000 fine. After citing grounds for leniency, the imprisonment was suspended for one year.

Kosolwat said prosecutors would argue that the suspended punishment was not in proportion with the wrongdoing.

Khamdee used a knife to slash the dog in the face which needed 100 stitches, he said.

The attack made grievous bodily harm and the dog had no history of being ferocious, he said.

The convict admitted he thought the dog might attack his free-range chicken but there was no justification for the knife-wielding chase after the wounded dog. He was restrained by the dog’s owner before making further attack.

The prosecutors argued that the intent of punishing for animal cruelty was to deter unjustified, unprovoked attacks that humans inflicted on animals.

Factual evidence of the case in question showed that the convict had attacked the dog on the whims and that he had no cause like self-defence to justify his action.

Under the new law, the offence on animal cruelty is penalised by up to one-year imprisonment and a fine of up to Bt40, 000.

Chiang Mai: – The Supreme Administrative Court has ruled to award Bt40 million compensation for 131 Mae Moh victims of air pollution caused by the lignite power plant in Lampang.

The high court’s ruling ends 12-year court battle between Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand and the victims and surviving family members.

The case initially comprised 19 separate petitions before being combined. Some 15 bed-ridden victims died before the final verdict.

Under the court order, the Egatis to pay for compensation package covering medical expense, unemployment, physical-handicapped and health and mental impacts.

The initial compensation package amounts to Bt24 million and the high court orders additional penalties for Bt21 million.

The Egat is obliged to comply with the court order and pay the victims within 30 days.

MaliwanNakwirot, leader of Mae Moh Victims Network, said the verdict was a judicial confirmation that the Egat did cause air pollution adversely impacting on health and livelihood of residents nearby the power plant.

A victim TheeraPhonwongsri, 83, said although he was happy with the verdict, he still regretted that his 76-year-old wife and victim had died before the justice was served.

The first-tier and the final judicial decisions found the Egat guilty of negligence in the lignite power generation causing the excessive emission of silica dust and toxic gas, sulfer dioxide.

Victims suffered silicosis, a lung disease caused by inhaling silica dust.

In computing the compensation package, the lower court relied on a lump sum payment for Bt240, 000 for each victim.

The high court adjusted the package to reflect the specific conditions of each victim.

Mae Sot, Tak:- Three boarding houses of underprivileged Myanmar children at the well-known Mae Tao Clinic of Ramon Magsaysay Award-winner Cynthia Maung were burned down 6 pm Wednesday.

Officials said the fire spread from the burning of the sugarcane plantation near the Children’s Development Center School run by Cynthia.

About 100 poor Myanmar children, who are studying at the school, stayed at the boarding houses. None of them was injured as they were evacuated in time.

After fire fighters of the Tambon Thasailuad Municipality were alerted of the blaze, they rushed to the scene with fire engines. They also enlisted help of fire fighters from nearby tambons.

However, the fire spread quickly and consumed the three wooden boarding houses. The fire fighters could only contain the blaze from spreading. The boarding houses were burned down in about an hour.

Fire fighters and local villagers help evacuate the children to safe are.

Some of the children testified that they saw burning sugarcane leaves blown to the roof of one of the boarding houses, which was made of dried banana leaves.

The children tried to put out the fire but the strong wind and dried banana leaves made the blaze spread very fast. The children decided to flee from the houses and alerted officials.

The Mae Sot police station and Fourth Infancy Regiment Taskforce in Mae Sot joined force with the Mae Sot border patrol police command to investigate the incident to try to locate the ones who burned the sugarcane plantation.

All the children had to live inside the school temporarily.

Cynthia has been running the Mae Tao Clinic since the 8 August 1988 uprising to help underprivileged Myanmar people along the Thai-Myanmar border.

Phuket:- A body with dragon tattoos of an unidentified man was found in a small creek in Thalang district Wednesday morning.

Pol Lt Col Watcharin Jirattikalwiwat, an interrogator of Thachatchai police station, said he was alerted about the body of the unidentified man at 8:45 am.

Watcharin rushed to the scene with Pol Lt Col Kittisak Noophueng, a scientific expert of the Phuket Scientific Crime Detection Office and rescuers of the Kusoltham Phuket Foundation.

The body was found lying on his back under the shallow water in the creek running along the Ban Sakhu-Sirinart National Park Road in Moo 3 village in Tambon Sakhu. The creek was lower than the road by about two meters.

Watcharin said the man appeared to be about 170-175 centimeters tall and appeared to be about 25 to 30 years old. He wore beard and did not put on a shirt. He was wearing blue jeans without shoes.

There were dragon tatoos on his chest and left shoulder.

His head and neck was hit with a sharp and hard object and his left ear had a severe cut. Police did not find any identification card. There were Bt200 banknotes in his trousers’ pocket.

Watcharin said the man apparently died about six hours before the body was found. A plastic bag was found near the body and a big cardboard was found on the roadside. Police took them as evidences and the body was sent to the Thalang Hospital for an autopsy.

Local residents did not know the man. Watcharin said the assailants might not be native people either because they apparently expected that the creek would have had a high tide to wash away the body.

Samut Prakan: A 54-year-old Malaysian woman died on board an EgyptAir flight from Cairo before it landed at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport Tuesday afternoon.

Airport police were informed of the death at 12:15 pm shortly after the Flight MS 960 of EgyptAir landed. The police were informed that Nik Aziah Binti Nik Yusof died before the landing.

Police checked and found the woman’s body on the seat No 22B. Medical officials checked and did not find any wound or trace of fighting or her body. The body was sent to the Police General Hospital’s Forensic Medicine for an autopsy.

The woman was travelling from Cairo, Egypt, with her 25-year-old son and she was scheduled to make a transit flight at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport to Malaysia.

The son told police that his mother had chronic illness, including high blood pressure, and she was returning home to Malaysia to receive treatment.

The son said his mother complained of stomachache and pain over the body during the flight so he told her to try to sleep. But when the plane landed, he found that his mother has died.

Police will inform the Malaysian embassy in Bangkok to reclaim the body to be sent to Malaysian for religious rite.

A similar incident happened abroad a Nok Air flight from Don Mueang to Chiang Mai on January 17.

A 60-year-old man became unconscious shortly after the flight took off. The captain had to return to land at the Don Mueang Airport. A flight attendant gave him resuscitation but there was no response. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Farang praised by Facebook users for community services in Udon

pic: Udonthani Update

Udon Thani:- An unidentified young German has won a lot of ‘Facebook likes’ and praise among Thai social networkers after he was seen doing community services in Udon Thani’s Muang district.

A Facebook fan page, Udonthani Update, has posted pictures of the German man cleaning a public telephone booth and the post has won a lot admirations. The post was online on Monday and it has been liked by over 4,200 times and shared by over 400 times.

The admin of Udonthani Update said a resident of Muang district spotted the farang clearing a public telephone booth in front of a Government Saving Bank’s branch on Phosri Road at 2 pm on February 19 and took the photos.

“He is a German and he is doing this for free. He has not received any pay. His name is not known. He is cleaning a telephone booth that we, Thais, made it dirty with graffiti. He said he loves Thailand but what are we, Thais, doing?” the post says.

A Udon Thani resident, called Boombim, posted the German’s picture taken from the back, showing him collecting garbage near Charoen Hotel. She said the man was working since early in the morning and he refused to allow her to take his frontal photo.

“I could only buy him a bottle of water. I really admire him,” she posted.

Channel 3 reported this Facebook talk of the town in its morning news program Wednesday.

Channel 3 said it dispatched a reporter to look around but the reporter could not locate the farang. But many local residents confirmed seeing the man doing several types of community service, including lawn mowing, for awhile.

A security officer of Charoen Hotel said the man has been staying at the hotel and he is scheduled to check out on Thursday.

NakhonPathom: – Police have arrested a male suspect following months of investigation on 10 cases of raping and killing old women in the central province and nearby areas.

Tawan, aka Boonsong, Thongyim, 35, confessed to his crimes of robbery, rape and murder. He fled to NakhonRatchasima’sPimai district after the cases came to light.

After raping and robbing, he killed two of his victims. In the course of investigation, a surviving victim identified his picture as the attacker.

Police are checking DNA evidence to confirm the suspect’s statement.

Pending remand hearing, the suspect is in the custody of Thammasala police station.

The serial crimes came to public attention after the Central Investigation Bureau formed a task force in December to solve 10 open cases with similar modus operandi.

The latest case happened on December 25. The suspect broke into a house in Phutthamonthon district.

As he was molesting a 70-year-old grandmother in her bedroom, the 39-year-old woman owner came to investigate the noise and became the rape victim. The two survived the attacks.

DNA evidence matched those collected in previous cases.

The cases dated back to September 2010. A 70-year-old victim was raped and robbed in her house at SamutSakhon’s Ban Phaew.

Another case was in 2012 involving a 61-year-old victim in SamutSongkhram’s Bang KhonThi district. The victim was killed after sexual violations.

In the same year, another victim, 70 was raped in fruit orchard at Bang KhonThi.

In 2013, a 78-year-old victim was raped and killed in Phutthamonthon.

Surviving victims said the suspect would use rape, lasting about a minute, to coerce them to reveal where they kept the money.

Bangkok:- The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) is looking into a Canadian’s complaint that a used-car dealer duped him into buying a Bt3.03 million vehicle.

Timothy Rogers, 59, has complained that he bought a Nissan Fairlady Z 370 from the Phetchaburi-based dealer in mid-2013 because it advertised that the car was manufactured in 2012 and already cleared by the DSI.

“After the payment, I found out that the car was in fact manufactured in 2008 and that the DSI has not yet certified it as a properly-taxed car,” Rogers said on Tuesday.

He explained that he was unable to read the Thai-language purchase agreement and unsuspectingly believed in what the dealer said.

“I’ve got the idea of what is really going on only after I contacted a firm for auto-car insurance,” he said.

Rogers said after he found out the truth, he tried to return the vehicle to the dealer and get his money back. But Ban Raisom, run by Sonthaya Angkinan, has said it will take the car back only if Rogers agrees to get just Bt1.7million back.

Believing that this offer is unfair, the Canadian has lodged a complaint with various authorities including the Office of the Consumer Protection Board (OCPB).

The OCPB has finally referred this case to the DSI.

DSI senior official Surawut Rangsai says his agency will coordinate with relevant authorities in solving this case. He adds that in the meantime, Rogers can still use or even sell the car.

“But the Customs Department may ask for import-duty payment from him,” Surawut says.

Many dealers have tried to evade import duty by claiming that imported vehicles are locally-assembled cars. The Customs Department is in the process of checking whether this Nissan Fairlady has undergone proper import procedures.

Bangkok: –The Office of Narcotics Control Board has announced the crackdown on a trafficking gang and the seizure of 25-kilogram crystal methamphetamine.

In a joint operation with the military, the ONCB tracked down the trafficking suspects from the North en route to the South before making the arrest in NakhonPathom.

The authorities have identified JatoJalo, 49, as the lead trafficker. He is a Chiang Mai resident and Lahu (Muser) tribe man.

The gang members include ThawatKhamngern, 39, from Chiang Rai, ThaweesilpSrithon, 40, from Chiang Mai and PornthepNenthong, 45 from Phayao.

The others are KachornsakAree-ua, 23 and SomjaiSuwankham, 45. The two are from Songkhla.

Based on the ONCB investigation report, Jato smuggled the ice for the minority groups living along the Thai-Myanmar border.

He and his gang members then moved the illicit drugs to Bangkok to await order. He used ice-cream coolers to hide the drugs.

The gang is known as one of the key ice suppliers for Bangkok and the South.

Before the drug bust, the gang stashed the drugs in a refrigerator and other household items on a pick-up truck under pretext of moving to a new residence in the South.

While the gang stopped for petrol refill at MueangNakhonPathom district, the authorities decided to raid and apprehend the suspects.

Confronted with evidence, the suspects admitted to trafficking ice and related charges.

The ONCB plans to conduct further investigation aimed at uncovering the illicit wealth amassed from drug money.

Pattaya, Chon Buri:- A 73-year-old Italian man was found dead in his condominium room in Central Pattaya Tuesday, police said.

Pol Lt Yom Prommasart, an interrogator of Pattaya police station, said the body of Antonio Cavaliere was found in his room at the Nine Carats Condominium on Soi Arunothai in Tambon Nong Plua of Bang Lamung district.

Yom was on duty when he was alerted that the body was found so he rushed to the scene with rescuers of Sawang Boribun Thammasathan Foundation.

Cavaliere was staying in the room No 89 on the third floor alone. He was found lying on his back on the bed. He was wearing a white t-shirt and grey shorts.

Yom said the Italian appeared to have died four or five days before his body was found. Officials did not find any wound on his body and there were no trace of fighting in the room either. Yom said there was no sign of theft as Cavaliere’s belongings were still kept neatly.

But the toilet room appeared in a mess, indicating that he might be suffering from vomiting and diarrhea before he died.

A maid of the condominium told police that she noticed stench from Cavaliere’s room for a few days earlier. Tuesday morning, she suspected that something might happen to the Italian so she alerted a condominium male staff who climbed to peek into the room from the next room’s balcony. The staff saw the body lying on the bed.

Yom said police believe the Italian succumbed to his chronic ailments. His body was sent to the Forensic Medicine Institute at the Police General Hospital for an autopsy.

Kamphaeg Phet:- Local villagers who believe in superstition have been flocking to a house in Kampphaeng Phet’s Klongsarn district, hoping a stillborn piglet there could give them luck in lottery betting.

They have been visiting the house of Amporn Chansri, 49, in Bueng Lom village of Tambon Klong Nam Lai since Saturday when the piglet was born in clear mutation. But the believing villagers see that the piglet resembled to the Hindu God Ganesh who has an elephant head.

The piglet was about 32 centimeters long and its body was measured at 24-cm while its weight was about 1,500 grams.

The local vllagers and people in neighboring villages who heard words of the piglet with one big eye and a trunk-like nose came to Amporn’s house with joss sticks to pray on it. They hoped to see certain visions that they could interpret into numbers for betting on the lottery for the end of this month draw.

During the past four days, Amporn placed the piglet on a worshipping tray and covered part of its skin with gold leaves. She said the piglet was still not rotten on the fourth day when she decided to put it in a jar of liquid preservatives after she led villagers worshipped it for many hours during the day.

Amporn said she did not mind the villagers coming to pray but she doesn’t want them to have high hope that they would win lotteries. She said the issue depends on one’s own belief.

Thais are known for their belief in things that are extraordinary and they often interpret them as being sacred and could help them win lotteries.

Bangkok:- The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has launched an app for motorists to beat the notorious traffic congestions in the capital.

Thaweesak Lertpraphan, deputy director of the BMA’s Traffic and Transport Department, said the app, BMA Traffic, is available for both iOS and Android-based smartphones and tablets.

Thaweesak said the app reports traffic conditions on Bangkok streets in real time so motorists can plan their routes to avoid congested roads.

Desktop or notebook computer users can also use the same service by going to www.bmatraffic.com, he added.

The deputy director said the app and website has been developed as part of the project to use CCTV cameras for checking and reporting traffic conditions.

He said the BMA applied various technologies to analyze traffic data in real time so that the app and website could promptly advise Bangkok motorists to avoid the congested roads.

The apps can be downloaded free of charge. It shows Bangkok’s street map. The congested roads will turn red and the roads with good traffic flow turn green. The roads with many vehicles turn yellow.

The app was developed with cooperation from the (Intelligent Traffic Information Center Foundation.

For the iOS version, it is now in Version 1.1.2, which is about 17.2 megabytes in size. Most users have gave it four-star rating.

Many users of the iOS version posted a comment in appreciation of the app.

Recently, the Transport Ministry has unveiled new application software, DLT Check In, designed to address grievances for taxi services. The app is developed by Department of Land Transportation (DLT).

Once the app is activated after the start of a taxi trip, the device will be connected online to the DLT database.

Samut Sakhon:- A 51-year-old man was found dead inside a Toyota Altis sedan car with burned charcoal inside on a road in Samut Sakhon’s Muang district early Tuesday, police said.

Pol Lt Itthiporn Prompinan, an officer on duty at the Muang Samut Sakhon police station, said he was alerted of the death at 2:30 am.

He and rescuers of the Karnkusol Samut Sakhon Foundation rushed to the scene and found the body of Wu Tsan Ming in the driver’s seat, which was in full reclining position. He was wearing white shirt and jeans trousers.

Itthiporn said a stove with burned charcoal was found on the floor in front of the front passenger’s seat along with half a bag of charcoal. An empty beer can was found on the car’s dashboard. When the car was found, it was filled with smoke.

Initially, rescuers knocked the windows but there was no response so they used a tool to unlock a door only to find that he was already dead.

Itthiporn also found Bt8,000 in cash and some ID cards on Wu’s body. No wounds or trace of fighting were found.

Officials believe he died about three hours before his body was found.

The car, which has a license plate from Nakhon Pathom, was found parked on the road leading to the entrance of Pak Bor Temple in Tambon Bang Krachao.

Itthiporn said police had yet to locate the man’s relatives.

Earlier, there have been several reports of foreigners taking their own life by inhaling carbon monoxide.

In one of reported incidents, a 64-year-old British citizen died early 2013 after he lit a stove inside a room of a house in Udon Thani to inhale the smoke.

NakhonPhanom: – A Lao woman passenger, assisted by another bus passenger receiving instruction from mobile-phone, has given birth to a baby boy on the bus en route through the remote PhuPhan mountain range.

Following the successful child birth delivery, the Lao woman, identified as SerthMalakun, 30, was admitted at PhraAjarn Ban Hospital in PhuPhan district.

Driver PrasitTongthong said his VIP Bus 99 left Bangkok’s Mor Chit Station at 8.30 pm on Sunday as scheduled. The NakhonPhanom-bound bus had five male and two female passengers.

Shortly after midnight, the bus reached the remote mountain range straddling between Kalasin and NakhonPhanom.

Serth suddenly cried for help alerting Prasit about her contraction and imminent child birth.

Prasit said he parked the bus by the roadside and that confusion ensued as no one had had experienced giving birth and a nearest hospital was almost an hour away by driving.

Calm restored after woman passenger Kriratiya stepped forward to identify herself as a NakhonPhanom hospital worker.

Kriratiya used her mobile phone to call her nurse friend who in turn gave instruction on how to assist in natural child birth delivery.

Prasit and male passengers helped to make necessary preparations, turning the bus into the makeshift delivery room. They then stepped off the bus to wait on the roadside.

Around 5.30 am, the delivery was pronounced a success. Prasit drove to the district hospital where the mother and her newborn baby, weighed 3,300 grams, were found in good health.

Serth works in NakhonNayok. She was travelling back to her hometown Kammuan, Laos to give birth.

Krabi: – Police and harbour officials have imposed 10,000 baht fine on a tourist boat anchored off Phi Phi Island for installing undersea aquarium without licensing.

Police said the further legal proceedings would hinge on the ruling of marine park authorities.

Critics said the undersea aquarium endangers the abundant corals and marine life in the Hat NopparatThara-Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park.

Phi Phi Cruiser chairmanNikomOcha said he had valid boat registration and proper licensing for tourism business.

Nikom said his company is based in Phuket specialising in providing excursion services for tourists between Phuket and Phi Phi.

He said he commissioned the construction of the boat in question and named it “Undersea World”.

He had sought and received valid permission to operate the flat-bottomed boat for tourism.

He modified the boat to be able to lower the enclosed, glass-windowed platform from the ship bottom into about 2-meter under water.

The platform was designed to allow sea water to flow through, hence allow the coral fish to swim in and out of the enclosure.

By using air pressure, the water level in the platform would be lowered, creating the impression of a shallow swimming pool where the tourists could swim, snorkelling and feed and play with the fish.

Critics claimed about marine park offence for using food to lure coral fish. Boat operator rebutted about feeding the fish. He admitted, however that he was previously unaware of the offence and that he would advise tourist from feeding.

He also insisted he fully complied with the law related to marine transportation and tourism.

Pattaya, Chon Buri:- A German businessman died of a gun wound on his head early Monday while his girlfriend told police that he turned the gun on himself.

Pol Maj Jirasak Aebfaeng, an interrogator of Nongplua police station, said Arthur Wilhelm Grudda, 41, was pronounced dead at Bangkok-Pattaya Hospital.

Jirasak said he was alerted at 5:30 am Monday that a foreigner shot himself and was severely injured inside a house on Soi Pornprapha Nimitr 27 in Tambon Nongplua in Bang Lamung district.

Jirasak in turn alerted the Sawang Boribun Foundation, which sent rescuers to the house. The rescuers found Grudda with a severe gunshot on his right temple and he was still breathing weakly. He was rushed to the Bangkok-Pattaya Hospital.

Police found a .38 homemade gun at the scene.

Grudda’s girlfriend, Sunaree Kingsida, 22, told police that the German shot himself after a quarrel with her which prompted her to tell him that she decided to end the relationship. Sunaree said she has been living with Grudda for two years.

Before the quarrel, she said she found a picture of Grudda with another woman on his smartphone so she cried foul. Sunaree said during the quarrel, Grudda allegedly beat her until another foreign businessman living in the same house stepped in to tell him to stop.

Sunaree said she had been often beat during quarrels so she decided to break up with him. She said she packed her belongings and went in Grudda’s room to tell him that she was leaving.

She claimed that Grudda suddenly pulled out the gun under the pillow and shot himself at the right temple.

Customs Department to increase duty treshhold for tourists

Bangkok:- The Customs Department is planning to grant the import-duty exemption for a higher value of products that people have brought into Thailand for personal use or souvenirs.

At present, arriving passengers must pay import duty if their products are worth over Bt10,000. Tax rate is 30 per cent. This threshold has often provoked outcry, with tourists complaining that items for their own use or souvenirs for just family members can easily go past that amount in current economic conditions.

The other day, a woman was dismayed when customers officials at the Suvanabhumi Airport told her to pay Bt37,000 in tax for a luxury bag she bought for herself during a trip to Japan.

“We will increase the threshold taking into account what are being used in other ASEAN nations,” the department’s deputy director general Paisal Chuenjit says. He has not revealed the planned amount yet.

He, however, explains that while the new plan has not yet taken effect, everyone must strictly comply with current law governing imported items.

Paisal says customs officials have now particularly checked Thai tourists coming back from Japan, South Korea and Europe. Records show such groups of tourists have usually returned with new products worth over Bt10,000 but failed to make declarations.

“And we have found that many of them have bought these products for commercial purpose. They have advertised those products online,” he says.

According to Paisal, the Customs Department will soon accept credit-card/debt-card payment for import duty so as to give convenience for people who do not carry cash with them.

-- 2015-02-23

Bangkok:- The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration will soon ban daytime vending on the Asoke Montree Road following complaints by the people that vending stalls are completely blocking the roadsides, Wallop Suwannadee, chief advisor to the BMA governor said.

Wallop said over 100 street vendors are causing nuisance to passers-by on the road so the BMA has to put the place into order. He said the BMA decided to allow vending on the Asoke Montree Road only at night.

Wallop said the Watana district office has been instructed to find new venues for the day-time street vendors of Asoke.

Boontham Huiprasert, the director of Watana district office, said at present the BMA set aside an area for vendors to sell on the Asoke Montree Road from 6 am to 6 pm but many vendors have been selling outside the permitted zone.

He said the roadsides are full with vendors days and nights. The district office has counted that there are 142 daytime street vendors and 34 nighttime vendors on the Asoke Montree Road.

The BMA has a policy to ban vending during the day on the Asoke Montree and the vending will be allowed from 7 pm to midnight only, Boontham said.

He said he will next week hold talks with owners of private properties on the road to allocate spaces for the street vending. For example, the vendors may be allowed to sell in the Srinakharinwirot University and the Thai Franchise Center.

“I would like to ask owners of buildings and owners of private firms along the Asoke road, which exist in high number, to allocate spaces for canteens for their staffs,” Boontham said.

“Most offices do not have canteens, prompting their staffs to shop for foods on the street.”

The BMA has already banned vending on several major roads, including Silom.

Chachoengsao:- A roadside chicken noodle shop in Chachoengsao’s Bang Pakong district has become popular for its unconventional view – monitor lizards of “hia” in Thai turn up for chicken bones. But now the shop patrons have been treated with a more exciting and unconventional view.

On Saturday, a 1.5-metre-long cobra joined the free lunch at the noodle shop, scaring the regular-guest monitor lizards that crawled back into the ditch near the shop as well as causing panic among some human patrons.

Natcha Yenjit, 44, the owner of the shop, called the Chachoengsao emergency unit immediately and the unit sent a team to capture the snake for releasing into the wild – elsewhere.

The noodle shop, whose name in Thai is Kin Teiw Doo He (Enjoying noodle while watching monitor lizards), is located on Charanyanon Road in Tambon Thasa-ard. Since ‘hia’ is an abusive word in Thai, the shop’s name has to modify it a little bit.

The shop has been popular among Chachoengsao people and residents of nearby provinces that they can enjoy noodle while watching about ten monitor lizards eating chicken bones and meet left over from them.

According to Thairath Online, Natcha said her patrons were enjoying noodle Saturday morning when they heard water splashing. When they turned to look at the ditch, they saw all the monitor lizards rushing into the water.

At first, the customer did not see anything wrong but a moment later, a customer spotted a cobra eating chicken bone thrown to the monitor lizards.

Natcha said she decided to call the emergency unit to capture the snake for fear that it may become a regular patron and may bite the human patrons.

“Several of my patrons said my shop may have to change the name to Kin Teiw Doo Hao [Enjoying noodle while watching cobra] instead,” she said.