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 Phuket.
They are in no particular order of importance but roughly in order of publishing. These are from Monday, February 5th to Sunday February 11th, 2024.
He was taken to the Patong Police Station to face charges of driving without consideration for the property and life of others, safety concerns, fighting/obstructing officers, disobeying officers’ orders, and reckless driving.
Seized from him were an avocado (119 Baht), a bottle of honey (225 Baht), a bottle of beer (119 Baht), a bottle of olive oil (279 Baht), two bottles of whisky (9,999 Baht and 2,099 Baht), butter (254 Baht) and a tea box (282 Baht).
3. A British man was arrested after he allegedly exchanged fake money at an exchange booth in Phuket.
He transferred crypto money to the value of 34,900 Usd (1.24 million Baht) to Mr. Ozeias. He received Euro cash in exchange from Mr. Ozeias. He denied the charges however and claimed he didn’t know the money was fake.
The Nigerian men admitted that they were in a romance scam gang which involved getting Thai women to open bank accounts for them.
Officials said they asked foreign beach goers seen relaxing on beach beds and umbrellas where the items came from and had the response ‘They brought those beach bed umbrellas and rented them from outside the beach’. Police are reportedly going to entirely ban even bringing “your own” umbrellas and chairs to close the loophole allowing vendors to sell rentals off the beach. They also plan to ban alcohol on the beach to discourage parties and gatherings.
6. A TuK Tuk taxi driver was fined after his foreign passenger was seen dancing on a roof in Patong.
There were also no updates from Patong Police on if the foreign passenger would be tracked down, identified, and possibly fined as well.
That’s it for this week. Be safe!
