Armed gunmen ‘business as usual’ for bird’s nest island off Phuket
The Phuket News

The island where the incident happened is to the east of Koh Yao Yai. Image: Google Maps

PHUKET: -- A report by a local sailor threatened by a man brandishing an automatic rifle to keep away from an island east of Phuket has prompted nothing more than a warning by police for tourists to stay clear of bird-nest operations in Phang Nga Bay.

Koh Yao Police Chief Col Jirasak Siamsak confirmed to The Phuket News that he received a call from the Phuket Tourist Police, and in turn returned a call to a tourist on Saturday (Mar 19), who asked for police to investigate the armed man.

“We were anchored 100m from shore he brandished a gun. The chief of police from Koh Yao Yai said it was OK and did nothing. We are anchored now 1km from shore hopefully out of range,” the sailor told The Phuket News.

“I told the tourist, Mr Tom, that the island was a government concession area for bird nests and that the men in the area were armed. I advised him, for his own safety, to stay far off or come back to moor at Koh Yao Yai,” Col Jirasak said.

“He did not understand what I said so I phoned my friends who can speak better English to explain to him about the government concession area,” he added.

Full Story: http://www.thephuketnews.com/armed-gunmen-business-as-usual-for-bird-nest-island-off-phuket-56705.php

-- Phuket News 2016-03-22

<deleted>? So threatening automatic gun fire is totally OK to prevent sailors from mooring at Koh Yau Yai?

When did they transform Koh Yao Yai into a high security military zone?

It gets worse every day. Unbelievable.

There's an island like this near to Prachuap Kiri Khan. We took a boat trip to it and there were 5 to 6 armed guards. They invited us over, cooked us a meal and explained that the price of these bird nests is so high that they had to secure the island. This is a business that's been going on for ages.

Yes, a local near there told me (years ago) that they are not allowed near those birds nest islands and heavily armed guards keep everyone away.
At up to $10,000 a kilo, it's no joke.
Best to adhere to their warnings.

What are the nest's used for? Bird's Nest Soup? Why are they so valuable?

When you find out, post it. Also post how much business income tax they pay into the Thai revenue system.

"For his own safety" .........

If anyone had read the entire article, you would have seen that the island in question is apparently not one of the two islands granted a government concession. (I did plug in the GPS coordinates given in the article and that location was on the mainland in Krabi. Go figure)

.....any proof of the government overseeing this.....

.....one poster suggests not......

...thus what conclusion can we draw.......

...selective eradication of corruption.......???

There was a good documentary on TV a while back about the harvesting of birds nests. The amount of money that is paid for the right to harvest is amazing. You are talking in the millions of USA. It was also pointed out in the documentary that most of the harvesting is done by giving bribes.

Rhino horns, tiger bone, and bird spit.

Rubbish,all of it.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

When you find out, post it. Also post how much business income tax they pay into the Thai revenue system.

In 2009 , the concession right was 700 million baht for a period of 3 years. It was won through an "Open Auction" , though the consortium that won the auction still have to negotiate with the existing holder to let him into a joint venture.

Nobody knew how many shots were fired and how many got killed. The Big shots, ie Politicians, Police , Mafias all got their hands in the pie.

IF I am a foreign tourist , I would not even bother to go near those areas and it is meaningless to complain as you would come across some mad ones pullling out guns on you even when you are driving on the road. And these people are just protecting their livelihoods.

Btw , the on-going price for a kilo of processed birds nest is usd22,000. So you would see a lot of houses are being transformed into caves to entice the birds to build their nests here in the South. Of course the cultured ones are cheaper.

The bottom line is ...this is Thailand ...and dont expect the Government , the Thais to act and behave like Westerners. Life would be much simpler if we can come to that conclusion.

Another negative effect caused by Chinese influence (they're the ones buying the nest soups). Just about all news connected to China/Chinese is BAD NEWS

Maybe 'not business as usual'...

Phuket Gazette story ---> http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket-news/Marine-police-arrest-boat-captain-shotgun/63515#ad-image-1