Avoid Phuket At All Costs: Crime Capital Of Asia

[george]

OPINION

Phuket, Thailand: Crime Capital of Asia

Italian tourist Giovanni Stabbed in Phuket Jan 2012 by Gang on Beach

If you are headed to Thailand for holidays you will have a great time, with one exception, avoid Phuket at all costs. For fun, investment or business Phuket is far too dangerous for tourists.

Phuket is now the one of the worlds most dangerous destinations for foreign and local tourists and businessmen. Armed gangs, some Tuk-Tuk drivers, some Jet Ski operators, tour operators etc are mostly controlled by criminal elements and Phuket is no longer safe to visit for foreigners or Thais.

In January this year Vorasit “Plawan” Issara, owner of Phuket’s Sripanwa luxury resort was stabbed twice in the stomach and hacked in the neck with a makeshift axe in an attack outside a Phuket nightclub where he was entertaining guests.

Vorasit is the scion of Bangkok’s prominent Issara family, which runs the giant property development company Charn Issara.

This week more than 50 police officers, including a team from the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok, have been dedicated to catching the two men who attacked an unarmed female Australian tourist Michelle Smith, 60, who was stabbed to death in Kata.

The attack, believed to have been a botched bag snatch attempt, occurred at Phuket’s Kata Beach, about 200 meters from the hotel where the women were staying.

Michelle Elizabeth Smith and Tammee Lee Lynn were walking back to their hotel after dinner at about 10pm when two men approached on a motorcycle, said the report by Chalong Police.

The motorbike passenger, who was not wearing a helmet, attacked the women with a knife. Ms Smith suffered a 15-centimeter-deep stab to the chest that punctured her lung and heart.

Ms Lynn’s right arm was slashed in the attack.

Police believe the attack was a failed attempt to snatch the women’s bags or yet another rape attempt. However, the two men fled the scene without taking any of the Australians’ belongings. Injured, the two tourists were attempting to make it back to the hotel for help when they were assisted by a hotel employee who rushed both women to hospital by car. Ms Smith died en route to hospital.

Also in this month Egyptian couple Hossam and Sarah boarded a plane on June 2 bound for their dream honeymoon in Phuket. However, their love story, which began in their mid-teens, came to an unfathomable and abrupt end in Phang Nga, when their tour company decided to brave rough waters and lead a whitewater rafting trip that ended in disaster.

It wasn’t until three days after the trip that the body of the honeymoon groom, Hossam Mostafa, 24, named by the Egyptian Embassy in Bangkok as Hossamellein Mostafa Abdallas Hamada, was found last Monday.

In June alone there were a number of business related murders in Phuket on Thai Nationals.

All this just in one month, but it is not an anomaly, murder, rape and robbery are common place in Phuket and a stark contrast to the rest of Thailand.

-- Source: http://www.livetradi...-asia-77733.htm

[batblaster]

The problem, like for many other places, are the money. There are so much investors and money around Phuket, so many peoples bought a car or a new motorbike and almost all has an iPhone or iPad. Few years ago around we had a lot of internet cafe' now many are closing because so many peoples bought a computer or tablet and play from home using 3G. The quick and easy way the people here make money is the base for criminals. If few years ago they can get an handbag where inside the contents was an old nokia phone and few thb now is different. If you come in any of the disco in Patong you can easy see how many iPhone there are, is a 20k device, sold in a black market can give the amount of a normal monthly salary this is why the crimes is increased and will increase more.

The crime increase where are the money because the interest increase. I live in Phuket since 8 years and i can easy see the differences between now and few years ago.

[samsiam]

about time.

[Big Cannon]

No doubt you,ll be hounded for being alarmist by both those who have vested interests in maintaining the facade of Thailand as a dream holidat destination and those who prefer to keep there heads burried in the sand.

Phuket truly is a wretched place, I was beaten unconcious by two Thais outside 7*11 around 3 years ago myself, all for the grand sum of around 600 bht.

check this link http://www.thephuketnews.com/aussie-beaten-left-for-dead-say-family-31469.php

The fact is the veil is really being lifted oh Thailand these days as the crooks and skum become ever bolder, with scams and deciets getting taken to a whole new level.

Just last week I had a Thai guy come up to outside the mall in Siam square and demand 20 bht, I politely said mai pen rai cap and moved away. The nutter started screaming and frothing at the mouth calling me everything under the sun. I do not doubt he was on the point of attacking me until the mall security overheard and started coming in my direction. He walked away pretending to shoot me with his finger.

These stories are everywhere everyday and soon people will start turning there backs on the place en masse.

[bangkapi]

Duh.... I felt the vibes in the air back in '90. Went for a few days and never went back. Even then it was double the price of Pattaya and more expensive than Bangkok.

When will people learn to steer clear of that sh*t hole?

[firestar]

The problem, like for many other places, are the money. There are so much investors and money around Phuket, so many peoples bought a car or a new motorbike and almost all has an iPhone or iPad. Few years ago around we had a lot of internet cafe' now many are closing because so many peoples bought a computer or tablet and play from home using 3G. The quick and easy way the people here make money is the base for criminals. If few years ago they can get an handbag where inside the contents was an old nokia phone and few thb now is different. If you come in any of the disco in Patong you can easy see how many iPhone there are, is a 20k device, sold in a black market can give the amount of a normal monthly salary this is why the crimes is increased and will increase more.

The crime increase where are the money because the interest increase. I live in Phuket since 8 years and i can easy see the differences between now and few years ago.

Most of the problems I see aren't related to buying commercial goods or credit, but to Thai's pandemic addiction to Yaba.

Amost everybody underestimates how many people here are addicted and how far they will go to have more.

[KarenBravo]

The author must be on the pay-roll of the Pattaya City Council.

[virtualtraveller]

Only when the masses stop coming and the money spigot dries up will the local governor and police really get serious, how many times have consulates and ambassadors met with the governor to express these problems that continually occur with foreigners, and nothing ever gets done about it.

[KeyserSoze01]

Only when the masses stop coming and the money spigot dries up will the local governor and police really get serious, how many times have consulates and ambassadors met with the governor to express these problems that continually occur with foreigners, and nothing ever gets done about it.

No they won't. As tourist revenue dries up, the violence will only get worse as the scum has fewer tourists to extort / rob / murder.

[w11guy]

No doubt you,ll be hounded for being alarmist by both those who have vested interests in maintaining the facade of Thailand as a dream holidat destination and those who prefer to keep there heads burried in the sand.

Phuket truly is a wretched place, I was beaten unconcious by two Thais outside 7*11 around 3 years ago myself, all for the grand sum of around 600 bht.

check this link http://www.thephuket...amily-31469.php

The fact is the veil is really being lifted oh Thailand these days as the crooks and skum become ever bolder, with scams and deciets getting taken to a whole new level.

Just last week I had a Thai guy come up to outside the mall in Siam square and demand 20 bht, I politely said mai pen rai cap and moved away. The nutter started screaming and frothing at the mouth calling me everything under the sun. I do not doubt he was on the point of attacking me until the mall security overheard and started coming in my direction. He walked away pretending to shoot me with his finger.

These stories are everywhere everyday and soon people will start turning there backs on the place en masse.

I've also seen incidents like that in UK and USA. Not just a Thai problem. I've been here for 2 years and haven't seen any violent incidents at all. I've spent 6 months In New York and seen a few. And I've seen plenty of incidents like this in the UK. What you describe is just one mad person. It sounds like an isolated incident. I've been to Siam Square lots of times and never seen anything remotely like what you described.

[carvets]

Stories still abound of record numbers of tourists entering through Phuket airport and hotels having bumper years . It seems for all the people who realise how expensive it is compared to the rest of the country and how dangerous it can be , there are still more coming from Russia and China and Hong Kong etc who have heard none of this and still think its the idyllic paradise getatway.....and i have seen some horrendous violence here,...Thai on Thai and Ladyboy on farang,...the latter quite nasty ,...very skilled with a stiletto .

Edited June 27, 2012 by carvets

[KeyserSoze01]

No doubt you,ll be hounded for being alarmist by both those who have vested interests in maintaining the facade of Thailand as a dream holidat destination and those who prefer to keep there heads burried in the sand.

Phuket truly is a wretched place, I was beaten unconcious by two Thais outside 7*11 around 3 years ago myself, all for the grand sum of around 600 bht.

check this link http://www.thephuket...amily-31469.php

The fact is the veil is really being lifted oh Thailand these days as the crooks and skum become ever bolder, with scams and deciets getting taken to a whole new level.

Just last week I had a Thai guy come up to outside the mall in Siam square and demand 20 bht, I politely said mai pen rai cap and moved away. The nutter started screaming and frothing at the mouth calling me everything under the sun. I do not doubt he was on the point of attacking me until the mall security overheard and started coming in my direction. He walked away pretending to shoot me with his finger.

These stories are everywhere everyday and soon people will start turning there backs on the place en masse.

I've also seen incidents like that in UK and USA. Not just a Thai problem. I've been here for 2 years and haven't seen any violent incidents at all. I've spent 6 months In New York and seen a few. And I've seen plenty of incidents like this in the UK. What you describe is just one mad person. It sounds like an isolated incident. I've been to Siam Square lots of times and never seen anything remotely like what you described.

Good for you, although you seem to be in the minority.

I read comments like yours and have to wonder where you live and whether you ever leave your home, because I have regularly seen farang being harassed, corralled, conjolled, intimidated, pushed, stomped and beaten by locals.

As for "these things happen everywhere", I disagree. Show me a news article from any country where a tourist was attacked, beaten with a foreign object and robbed as they exit a 7-11. I'll be waiting with baited breath.

Also, how about sharing some of your experiences where you have "seen" these types of incidents in the west with your own two eyes?

[TheWalkingMan]

After clicking on the name of the video and being taken to youtube, I could see a list of Thailand related scam videos.

[Guest]

Stories like this are required to make the change for the better. If the stories are not printed, they does not exists. I live in Phuket and would like live in Phuket for years to come.

The general attitude has declined for some time and it will further if nothing is done to clean out the scum from this island.

I wish to live with genuine Thai people who still value morality over greed.

I hope that now Bangkok is serious to send army of fresh policeman here, who are able to work according to the law and clean out the local mafias which has grown ever stronger over the years.

As said before, drugs are one major issue on this island. Offered to the kids and other less strong minded people who will become addicts and the next generation of the scum. Making money for the mafias.

Just clean out the island. Use the big brush if needed.

Edited June 27, 2012 by Guest
: Profane misspelling of Phuket corrected.

[gamini]

My good friend called on me in Hua Hin last week on his way back from Phuket. .He moved there about 6 years ago and now he was leaving because in his own words it has become a terrible place. He said he is going back to Chiangmai. I have watched it "go down the drain" over the years . My first visit was in 1962 when it had only one hotel. Criminals seem to run the place and the officials are too scared to get rid of them . Same as pattaya.

It would be so easy to clean both places up but opposing vested interests are just too powerful it seems, Foreign criminals too have made these two places thier home. They need to be deported but unfortunately I can't hope for much change.

[gamini]

No doubt you,ll be hounded for being alarmist by both those who have vested interests in maintaining the facade of Thailand as a dream holidat destination and those who prefer to keep there heads burried in the sand.

Phuket truly is a wretched place, I was beaten unconcious by two Thais outside 7*11 around 3 years ago myself, all for the grand sum of around 600 bht.

check this link http://www.thephuket...amily-31469.php

The fact is the veil is really being lifted oh Thailand these days as the crooks and skum become ever bolder, with scams and deciets getting taken to a whole new level.

Just last week I had a Thai guy come up to outside the mall in Siam square and demand 20 bht, I politely said mai pen rai cap and moved away. The nutter started screaming and frothing at the mouth calling me everything under the sun. I do not doubt he was on the point of attacking me until the mall security overheard and started coming in my direction. He walked away pretending to shoot me with his finger.

These stories are everywhere everyday and soon people will start turning there backs on the place en masse.

I've also seen incidents like that in UK and USA. Not just a Thai problem. I've been here for 2 years and haven't seen any violent incidents at all. I've spent 6 months In New York and seen a few. And I've seen plenty of incidents like this in the UK. What you describe is just one mad person. It sounds like an isolated incident. I've been to Siam Square lots of times and never seen anything remotely like what you described.

Good for you, although you seem to be in the minority.

I read comments like yours and have to wonder where you live and whether you ever leave your home, because I have regularly seen farang being harassed, corralled, conjolled, intimidated, pushed, stomped and beaten by locals.

As for "these things happen everywhere", I disagree. Show me a news article from any country where a tourist was attacked, beaten with a foreign object and robbed as they exit a 7-11. I'll be waiting with baited breath.

Also, how about sharing some of your experiences where you have "seen" these types of incidents in the west with your own two eyes?

true. I lived in Chiangmai for 30 years and I have never seen anything even remotely like what has been happening in Phuket or Pattaya .

Where I live now in Thailand we don;t even lock our doors when we go out and the locals are delightful honest and very friendly.

[waza]

hopefully this warning will save a few lives

[Sharp]

Easy solution is cheap mass transit the Tuk Tuks will disappear and people can hop on and off buses /light trains so to eradicate the opportunist watching and waiting for people having to walk due to the over priced short rides of the present day available transport ,as for the police well kick the lot out start again...

[JoePai]

Come on Pattaya - can't let Phuket get away with being called the "Crime Capital"

[KarenBravo]

For tourists Phuket is a nightmare waiting to happen, but for an expat who knows better than to live in the tourist hotspots it's as crime free, peaceful and friendly as anywhere else in Thailand.

In 4 years of living away from the tourist areas I'm yet to have a single problem. The local Thais near me are as friendly as anywhere else in the country as far as I'm concerned.

I live among fantastic countryside, near amazing beaches and all the restaurants you care to mention. Not a tuk tuk or suit seller, or violent mugger in site. Let Patong, Karon, Kata etc go to the dogs. The other 70% of the island is doing just fine.

Spot on.

[necronx99]

Meanwhile in Sydney there were 3 fatal hit and runs in a week and a mall security guard was killed by 3 scumbags who have spent their entire life on welfare.

Hans who was 68 and worked for 18 dollars an hour was kicked to death in a major shopping mall at 9pm when he attempted to stop them from breaking into a Wendy's kiosk.

But yes Phuket seems very bad.

[Wavefloater]

It seems that not long ago, there would be a small brigade of people defending Phuket in a thread like this. However, the same passion to defend it doesn't appear in this thread. Those past defenders appeared to be foreigners who had business interests there (and would understandably want people to think well of Phuket). Does the the lack of defensive comments indicate that those business people have given up trying to redeem Phuket's reputation, moved away from Phuket (maybe to Chiang Mai), or are now in agreement that Phuket really is a dangerous place?

[sportsman69]

Just looking thru the web looking for a cheap flight back to OZ. This appeared.

Phuket Prison Guard Shot Moonlighting: 'Three million Baht Stolen'

Anyone know about this. Was he running a still making hooch, 3 mill is a lot of moonshine

http://cheapthailandflights.org/phuket-prison-guard-shot-moonlighting-three-million-baht-stolen/

[Phuket Stan]

For tourists Phuket is a nightmare waiting to happen, but for an expat who knows better than to live in the tourist hotspots it's as crime free, peaceful and friendly as anywhere else in Thailand.

In 4 years of living away from the tourist areas I'm yet to have a single problem. The local Thais near me are as friendly as anywhere else in the country as far as I'm concerned.

I live among fantastic countryside, near amazing beaches and all the restaurants you care to mention. Not a tuk tuk or suit seller, or violent mugger in site. Let Patong, Karon, Kata etc go to the dogs. The other 70% of the island is doing just fine.

Spot on.

And I could not agree more

Whats that old adage....."Go to bed with dogs....U get up with fleas"....its the company u keep guys plus Phuket has very open press so nothing is sat on / hidden....if u break wind the press hears about it

[xylophone]

Despite all that has been said, it will not be easy to clean up the likes of Patong and surrounds, the reason is quite simple.......corruption. The Tuk Tuk owners are required to pay the BIB every month, that's why more of them appear on the road than are actually necessary and the reason why the BIB won't get rid of them because it is a major source of income. The same applies to the jet ski operators, so no cleaning up as far as they are concerned..............and so it goes on.

Times are getting tight and many bars are suffering, however the BIB still visit them on a monthly basis to collect their monthly payments and are now demanding more. There is more to be made from fleecing the bars than policing the streets so that's where their efforts are concentrated.

The situation will not change in the likes of Phuket or Pattaya because that's where the money is concentrated so that's where the BIB focus their efforts on extorting it, rather than fighting crime.

A major change is needed from the top, however as a lot of the money flows upwards to these very folk, that is not likely to change either.

Either get used to the fact that this will not get any better and try and live with it or move away, because that seems the only answer.

[Wavefloater]

For tourists Phuket is a nightmare waiting to happen, but for an expat who knows better than to live in the tourist hotspots it's as crime free, peaceful and friendly as anywhere else in Thailand.

In 4 years of living away from the tourist areas I'm yet to have a single problem. The local Thais near me are as friendly as anywhere else in the country as far as I'm concerned.

I live among fantastic countryside, near amazing beaches and all the restaurants you care to mention. Not a tuk tuk or suit seller, or violent mugger in site. Let Patong, Karon, Kata etc go to the dogs. The other 70% of the island is doing just fine.

Spot on.

And I could not agree more

Whats that old adage....."Go to bed with dogs....U get up with fleas"....its the company u keep guys plus Phuket has very open press so nothing is sat on / hidden....if u break wind the press hears about it

That makes perfect sense -- get away from the sleaze and away from the trouble. I live near Pattaya. Due to my work, I must be in this area but hate Pattaya, so I choose to live as far away as I practically can and only go there when absolutely necessary. So, I completely understand what you are saying.

Unfortunately, if nothing is done to protect the naive tourists from the violence and scams, Phuket may eventually have more serious economic problems. I have never been subject to any violence in Phuket, but the general unfriendliness and obscene worship of money that is endemic with the native business community turned me off ever going back there again. In my opinion, Phuket has a lot of problems to sort out, and time may run out before the locals truly realize it.

Edited June 28, 2012 by Wavefloater

[Felt 35]

For tourists Phuket is a nightmare waiting to happen, but for an expat who knows better than to live in the tourist hotspots it's as crime free, peaceful and friendly as anywhere else in Thailand.

In 4 years of living away from the tourist areas I'm yet to have a single problem. The local Thais near me are as friendly as anywhere else in the country as far as I'm concerned.

I live among fantastic countryside, near amazing beaches and all the restaurants you care to mention. Not a tuk tuk or suit seller, or violent mugger in site. Let Patong, Karon, Kata etc go to the dogs. The other 70% of the island is doing just fine.

Spot on.

And I could not agree more

Whats that old adage....."Go to bed with dogs....U get up with fleas"....its the company u keep guys plus Phuket has very open press so nothing is sat on / hidden....if u break wind the press hears about it

Following the "open press" the latest weeks, Phuket is infested with flies so the question is if there are much else than "dogs to go to bed" with!

[grumpyoldman]

I think this is some sesationalist journalism, taking advantage of a couple of recent crimes, plus an incident that wasn't even Phuket.

Maybe this guy is trying out for The Sun? Or in America, trying to get on the Dr. Phil show?

"Crime Capital of Asia" prove that one for me, show some statistics, because that is pure B.S. Phuket no longer safe for visitors or Thais, again just sensationalist journalism.

The Sri Panwa guy at a club in Phuket town at 3:30 or 4 in the morning. That story still has to be yet confirmed how he was acting in the situation. O.K. recent death of the Australian lady tragic for sure, but for the journalist to say "police considered possible rape" is tossing fuel on his article's fire and there is no proof to that, at all.

Then comes the Phang-Nga drowning, not in Phuket !!!

Washington D.C., inner parts of LA, certain parts of London, Rio, I can go on and on with more dangerous places than Phuket. And as far as Asia, I believe the last UN report had crime in China higher. "Crime Capital of Asia"............horsesh*t.

[steelepulse]

>>The Tuk Tuk owners are required to pay the BIB every month, that's why more of them appear on the road than are actually necessary and the reason why the BIB won't get rid of them because it is a major source of income.

No no, that's wrong. The tuk tuk association pays the bibs after each operator makes his monthly contribution to the association. Corruption would never be so transparent that you would see individual drivers handing over their 10-15K/mo .

[KarenBravo]

Phuket more dangerous than Manila?

Manila is in Asia, isn't it?