Hello, Phuket Express Readers and Supporters!

The following is our weekly feature in which we highlight the top local stories in our area of Phuket from the past week. The number of stories differs from week to week.

These are chosen and curated by our editorial team and are designed for our readers to get a quick “catch-up” of important stories they may have missed. We publish many stories daily and it is easy to lose track of important events or changes in our area. We do national recaps in a separate article, this is only the top local stories in the Phuket province.

They are in no particular order of importance but roughly in order of publishing. These are from Monday, January 30th, 2023, to Sunday, February 5th, 2023.

Let’s get started and see what the top local stories were!

1. The Phuket Tourism Authority of Thailand (Phuket TAT) is expecting 12 million tourists to visit Phuket this year.

In this coming Summer there will be more Israeli tourists visiting Phuket as well, a relatively new market for Phuket. Some of these visitors have been visiting Phuket before and some are new tourists.

2. The President of the Andaman Guide Association has clarified about a rumor about officers allegedly extorting money from a Saudi Arabian tourist.

The story came to light after this week an unidentified tour guide spoke out on a Thai television news program. Phuket officials however say this is an ancient story and no longer relevant.

3. In total 90 illegal taxi drivers in Phuket were fined in the past three months and 33 of them have had their driving licenses suspended for 90 days.

‘Black Plates’ is a term commonly used by the PLTO to call a normal personal vehicle (with a white license plate, ironically) but instead were found being used to transfer passengers as an illegal taxi. Meanwhile, taxis with green license plates can be serviced in provinces where they have been registered only.

4. A Russian suspect was arrested for allegedly robbing other Russians for cash and crypto currency in Thalang.

A Belarusian man was arrested for being allegedly involved in robbing other Russians for cash and crypto currency in Thalang.

5. Four Nigerian men were arrested in Rawai and Chalong with more than 1,200 days of overstay each.

The arrest follows after officers received an anonymous tip-off from a concerned citizen that they (Foreigners from the African continent) stayed in an area where not many people lived and were suspected of being involved with romance scams.

That’s all for this week, as always thanks for your support!

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