Murder or Suicide?

A Briton was found dead, tied to a pier in Sri Racha in the early morning hours on Sunday, Feb. 23. The man was identified as Geoffrey Chapman, 54, from Yokshire, Great Britain.
Pol. Capt. Panuwat of the Sri Racha Police and Pol. Major Chongsak Yaemlamun of the Pattaya Tourist Police concluded that Chapman had committed suicide, specu-lating that he had tied himself up, then jumped over the bridge to hang himself. They reported finding no signs of struggle, nor any other wounds. They also said that the deceased had money, valuables and identification in his pockets.
Pattaya Mail’s reporter on the spot, however, drew a different conclusion. He reported seeing blue marks all over the body of the deceased, and said that a bank book from a bank in Pratunam, Bangkok, was also found, but with only 4.20 Baht left in the account. Two withdrawals from the bank had been made within the past two weeks. The way the man was bound would also have made suicide very difficult to commit, since he was tied up around his waist, legs and then finally to a rock, and was thrown down into the sea at high tide. The body wasn’t found until the tide was low, making it look like the man had hung himself.
The body has now been sent to Samittivate Hospital in Bangkok for autopsy. Results will be available to police within approximately 6-8 weeks.

Life is better on the inside

Uthay Thungvises, a 28 year old male from Rayong who was released from jail in 1995, found life on the outside unbearable and missed his friends on the inside so much that he gave himself up to Bangbut Police holding a bag of marijuana. He said that society on the outside would not accept him, and life was too difficult because he had no work and no food.
He told police he had been making an effort to sustain his life on the outside since his release 2 years ago. Feeling he had no chance, he put together enough money to buy a 50 baht bag of marijuana, then went to the Bangbut Police Station in Rayong and asked befuddled officers to please arrest him on drug charges.
The officer on duty asked Uthay why he was doing this, and Uthay replied that he had been addicted to marijuana for a long time. He had no money to buy it so he would rather be in jail where it was readily available.
He also said that in jail he would be able to take vocational training. He was not hired for any jobs he applied for on the outside as he had been in jail. He went on to say that in jail he had good friends who understood him, and that he really missed his best friend named Toy, who had been his good friend in jail. He continued by saying that in the prison when he was ill there was always a doctor to take care of him, unlike on the outside. When it was meal time he always had food. He told officers he didn’t understand this “freedom” because for him it meant freedom to starve. He said he preferred jail to this type of freedom. He had originally been arrested on charges of possession of marijuana.

Guard injured in night-time bank robbery

The vault at the Maha Nakorn Bank in South Pattaya was broken into and an undisclosed amount of cash was stolen.

Security guard Virat Khampong received minor injuries when he was struck in the face with a 5 kilogram rock at the scene of a bank robbery at the Maha Nakorn Bank in South Pattaya last week.
Police found the guard covered in blood when they arrived at the scene, and immediately rushed him to Pattaya Memorial Hospital for treatment.
Investigations revealed that the bank had been broken into from the rear. The bank’s safe had been pried open, but the amount missing is at this time unknown.
Siroj Chaidharoensilp, the bank’s manager, stated that the method of entry was very confusing because the rear windows of the bank had been thoroughly burglar-proofed. He said that any type of attempted entry would have set off lights, whistles and bells both at the bank and the police station.
While Virat is being cared for at the hospital, manager Siroj Chaidharoensilp and the police plan to have a meeting with police experts to find the robbers and ascertain how they entered the bank without setting off the alarms.

Canadian robbed

Canadian tourist Angus Macleod reported to Pattaya Mail that his camera gear was stolen from his room at the Nags Head Hotel in mid-February.
Angus reported that on the night of February 9, he and a friend had left the hotel to eat dinner at another friend’s house. Feeling secure, he had not locked his camera equipment away in the hotel’s safety deposit box. When he returned to his room two hours later, his Sanyo video camera and expensive Minolta model 7000 35 mm camera were missing. There were no signs of forced entry.
Angus reported the thefts to both the Pattaya Police and the Tourist Police, but received no satisfaction. He did say that he received plenty of help from the night manager of the hotel, but when he returned a day later, she had been sacked.
A reminder to all tourists staying in any holiday destination: always lock up your valuables when leaving your rooms.

Fake passport leads to arrest

Ralf faces a jail term in Pattaya and/or deportation back to Germany.

The tourist police have arrested Ralf Reinhold Christian, a German national with a long criminal record. Police nabbed the man while he was drinking at Atlantis beer bar.
After examination, police determined his passport to be a fake along with the visas stamped inside the document. He was arrested and taken to Pattaya Police Station for charging.
At that time a Thai women who looked well to do entered the station and requested to post bail for Christian, but police refused as he was an illegal alien. The woman hurried away, avoiding reporters.
Police discovered that Christian had many arrest warrants out for him in Germany and that he probably was in the business of sending Thai prostitutes overseas, but as police have no evidence they cannot charge him on these counts.
He was charged with overstay and travelling on a false passport.

Rebuffed katoey assaults tourist

The bloodied victim reports his attacker to Pattaya police.

Pramote Saengchan, a pre-operative transsexual, was arrested by Pattaya police on assault charges for attacking a foreigner.
At the police station, Pramote admitted to hitting Carl Ingvoldstad on the head with an ashtray. The Norwegian tourist was sitting at a beer bar in Soi 8 , where Pramote was an employee. Pramote approached Ingvoldstad twice and was rebuffed. On the third approach, Ingvolstad pushed Pramote in the chest. Angered and ashamed, he picked up an ashtray and hit Ingvoldstad in the face with it.
Upon questioning, Ingvold-stad said he didn’t like transvestites and was very shocked that Pramote would do such a thing. The upset Norwegian said he was not coming back to Thailand.

Norwegian tourist dies of unknown causes

Tom Crown, 40 year old Norwegian tourist, was found dead in his room at Aphichart Apartments, Pattaya.
Pattaya police, investi-gating at the scene, reported that there were no wounds on the body and no signs of struggle. The body has been sent to the forensic division for autopsy.
Police have questioned a friend of the deceased, Pornthep Sorada, 24, who had been sharing the room with Crown. Pornthep told police that he had not seen Crown for many days prior to his death. He said he usually saw him every day as he like to drink beer all day at various entertainment venues in Pattaya. He said he became suspicious when he didn’t run into Crown so he went to his room and knocked on the door.
Police have yet to determine the cause of death. Investigations continue.

German held for suspected theft

Karl (left) points out the accused robber at Pattaya police station.

Pattaya Police arrested Stefan Ruski, a 35 year old German national, on charges of theft after Karl Walther and Nicolai Ilynich, a German and Russian respectively, reported that some of their personal goods were missing, which they claimed were in Ruski’s room.
Items stolen included a television set, a VCR, sound equipment and exercise machines. All of these were hidden in various part of Ruski’s room and it took police more than 2 hours to find them all. Russky and the loot were taken to the Pattaya police station.
Ruski told officers that he couldn’t imagine how all these items managed to find their way into his room as he hadn’t brought them in. He main-tained that someone must have maliciously planted them in his room while he was out of the country on a 4 day visa trip. He said that he himself had a lot of money and it was not necessary for him to steal these items. He also said that he was marrying a Thai women in March and would certainly not do anything to delay the sacred ceremony.
After officers had registered charges, Ruski refused to sign the police record book and denied all guilt.
Walther said he had made sure that he and Ilynich’s items were in Ruski’s room before informing authorities.

Bad temper leads to arrest

Narinrat and his son await the decision of police officers as to their fate.

Police received a report that a man who drove a pick-up truck owned by the Forestry Department was using guns and knives to attack a woman. Dispatchers quickly ordered a patrol car to the scene.
Once there, police found Mr. Narinrat Duangprasert, 36, in the process of slapping and kicking Ms. Randorn Chamroen, 27. Officers stopped the fight and searched the man who turned out to be totally unarmed. They arrested Narinrat and then searched his car, which they found to contain no weapons either. All they found was a little boy of two years old who was crying in the car.
Narinrat ran to the child and picked him up and comforted him. Following this, Ms. Randorn tried to take the child away from Narinrat, saying the boy was hers, but the youngster began to cry and put his arms out to Narinrat. The mother returned the child.
Officers took man, woman and child to the police station to sort out the problem. Narinrat told reporters that Randorn, his wife, had left him after they had had an argument at home and had come to Pattaya to live with a foreigner. This was the second time she had done this. He felt that he was not being treated fairly by police as he had not meant to kill his wife. He actually came to Pattaya with his son to try and convince his wife to return home.
The first time she ran away, Narinrat had found and assaulted her, resulting in a 6 month prison term. After being released from prison he had brought their son to Pattaya, but could not control himself due to his bad temper.
Narinrat was charged with assault and attempted murder with a screw driver. Colonel Atthapol Ngarmnak said he would see to the situation.

Police able to thwart attempted rape

Tourist police, after being hailed by a terrified young woman, arrived just in time to save a 14 year old girl from being raped by three teenage males.
Police in the area of the Little Court in Soi Bua Khao responded quickly when an 18 year old woman excitedly told them that her 14 year old sister was in the process of being raped inside an apartment in the building.
Police officers rushed into the apartment building, and, hearing calls for help from inside, kicked in the door and found three naked young men chasing 14 year old “Toy” (not her real name) around the room.
Samart Tangarm, 21, Sukhum Pengkhrang, 18, and Anont Imuan, 18, all three of whom are barboys at the Star Boys Bar, were arrested and taken to the Tourist Police station for questioning.
Toy, still terrified, told officers that she and her sister were walking to a friend’s flat in the apartment building when the three young men opened the door and pulled them into their apartment. They then manhandled the girls. The older sister managed to escape to alert police, but Toy was slapped once by Sukhum, who tried to rape her after tearing off most of her clothes.

Tip-off leads to heroin bust

Police received a tip-off that there would be a heroin drop at a garbage heap in Soi Mae Sri Ruen Chicken Noodles.
Police set up a stake out to catch the drug dealers and at the appointed time, Mr. Sanan Wongyao, 17, drove up on a motorcycle with a Mr. Niphon, (surname withheld) to wait for the buyer.
Police rushed in to make the arrest and when the two young men saw them they tore off on the bike. Officers managed to catch Sanan and found two large vials of heroin on him with a wholesale value of 5,000 baht.
Sanan told police that he had been hired as a mule by a big time pusher in the Jomtien area. He was paid 500 baht for making the delivery. The buyer failed to keep the appointment, though. Police have filed charges against Sanan and are looking for Niphon.

Police sweep nets ecstasy parties

A thorough investigation by Pattaya police turned up two “ecstasy” parties in South Pattaya last week full of wealthy drug using teenagers from Bangkok.
The Crime Suppression Division learned that these drug related parties began in Bangkok and travelled to certain establishments in Pattaya. Police officers, learning of these activities, planned a bust at two well known venues in South Pattaya. They started on their crusade at 5 a.m. and in three hours managed to arrest a number of drug crazed teens and confiscate a large amount of drugs and contraband.

Caught using ecstasy, these Bangkok teens ended up behind bars.
At the first venue, police nabbed 5 ecstasy junkies and an illegal automatic 9 millimetre pistol, along with 35 packets of the drug known as Ketara or “K”. Police found an additional 5 packets of “K” and ecstasy on another suspect. All this was taken to the Pattaya police station.
The second squad, which raided another well known venue, found marijuana, ecstasy and weapons on the revellers.
Most of the suspects were from wealthy and prominent families, as poorer people would have no opportunity to gather such a stash of drugs and weapons. Police officers said they were to be charged and sub-ordinates should give them no special consideration just because they were children of some of the country’s most rich and powerful families.

U-tapao Group meets again

A meeting of many members of the U-Tapao airport committee was held at the Grand Sole Hotel. Members include people from all sectors of society and public and private organisations. The purpose of the meeting was to push for U-Tapao Airport to become a commercial enterprise.
It was pointed out that the airport had all the proper facilities already in place and had the capacity to serve at least 5000 passengers at any one time. It would also be a boon for business on the Eastern Seaboard.
The airport is also near a deep-water port, which makes it ideal for cargo transfer. It would also help tourism as travellers would not have to make extra trips by car from Bangkok. The navy has already agreed that the airport is ready to become commercial and has given its blessing to the project.
As the Nong Ngu Hao airport has been being considered for the last 30 years and no decision has yet been made, the U-Tapao airport would relieve Don Muang of some of its burden. The problem at U-Tapao now is Thai Airways has not put U-Tapao on its route list thus causing a lack of confidence and keeping carriers from other countries from wanting to use U-Tapao. But at the same time there are numerous charter flights which land at the airport at this time.
There is also some problem with route agreements between countries, especially Korean Airlines. The Korean flag carrier was refused permission to land 37 charter flights per week at the airport, which caused slight rumbles between the two countries and caused Thailand damage.
U-Tapao airport can handle any type of aircraft and is not facing the logistic problems that some people say, a navy representative said.
The Navy has 9,000 rai, 8,000 of which is for the airport. At this time, only three projects have been approved for this land area. One is an service centre for large commercial aircraft. Another is a cargo depot. Third is for a TGV style high velocity train. But there is still enough land for many other projects. One of the only problems is that the joint use of the airfield causes some cross-traffic between navy planes and other aircraft which entails a short wait for runway use. Another two way runway could be built.
The airport has generated a lot of money, but the money has gone directly into government coffers instead of being used for airport improvements.
The results of the meeting were to draft a request, asking for the following:
1. Let U-Tapao airport be a landing site for charter flights.
2. Let U-Tapao become a commercial airport like those at Chiang Mai and Phuket.
To make this come true is a desire of the people of the Eastern seaboard. We hope that the country’s adminis-trative bodies see how im-portant this is.

Thailand and Australian tourism authorities meet

Mr. Michael R. Polley, M. H. A., Member of Lyons, Parliament House, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia; and Peter Standford, Counsellor, Australian Embassy in Bangkok, meet with President of the Parliamentary Commission on Tourism, Dr. Sansak Ngarmphiches and his team.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand welcomed officials from Australia’s department of tourism who came to do a survey of methods of tourism promotion in Thailand.
A lecture was given by the President of the Parliamentary Commission on Tourism, Dr. Sansak Ngarmphiches, followed by a discussion in the Parliamentary meeting room.
After this a luncheon was held, during which Dr. Sansak told the Australians to look into Thailand’s many attractions which would interest Australians.
The enthusiastic Australians said they would promote Thailand back home down under. Officials from both countries agreed to work together on developing tourism.

Petrochemical plant to open in Rayong

Thai Petrochemical Industry (TPI) and Hoechst Global Basic Chemicals announced a plan to form a joint venture in Rayong.
The plant, which is scheduled to begin operation in 1999, will produce 150,000 metric tons of 2-Ethylhexanol and 70,000 tons of n-Butanol annually.
TPI, Thailand’s largest petrochemical company, and Hoechst Global have worked together on production and marketing projects over the past two decades.
Hoechst Global Basic Chemicals is a major division of the Hoechst Group of Frankfurt, one of the world’s largest chemical and pharmaceutical pro-ducers.

Pattaya leaders discuss Pattaya’s political future

After the news was released that a request was being put before cabinet members of the Ministry of the Interior for a change in Pattaya’s form of government due to the failure of the present system, Pattaya Mail conducted an interview with some of the more prominent citizens of Pattaya, asking for their opinions on this change.
There are two systems being considered. One is that of a municipality. The other is that of a metropolis, which would make Pattaya’s government similar to that of Bangkok’s.

Pairat Sutthithamrong-sawat, Pattaya’s present and possibly last mayor (if system is changed to a municipality) said that Pattaya’s founding and subsequent government is a special one in Thailand. He said that Pattaya’s system of setting up a city council with 9 members elected and eight appointed from the civil service for two year terms was only to preside at ceremonies. The main job of this group, he said, was to appoint a city manager who really had the power to implement policy, although the city manager was supposed to follow the council’s policies.
The failure of this type of government was, said mayor Pairat, that the mayor did not have the power to implement policy or do anything else which would have any effect on the city. He said this also caused delays in the solving of sudden problems. The mayor continued to say that sometimes these could be solved with an efficient city manager, but there was often disagreement as to method between the two. This caused a clash of policies in abstract theory which led to very concrete problems not being solved. This led to city managers resigning and a waste of time as a new one had to be hired and learn the job. Mayor Pairat felt that this was the main cause for the ineffectiveness of the present system.
The mayor said he would like to see Pattaya governed the same way as Bangkok metropolis. This would give elected officials the freedom and the necessary power to make quick decisions when needed. He felt that a municipality style govern-ment would not be effective as it would have to go through the same bureaucratic procedures as the present system.
Dr. Sansak Ngarm-phiches, MP of Chonburi, said he would like to see Pattaya change to a municipality system of administration so that the elected officials could make proper plans for efficient standardisation of public utilities. This would bring them in line with Pattaya’s standing as Thailand’s number one tourist destination, as Pattaya is able to bring in no less than 100 billion baht.
The Ministry of the Interior should make a suitable decision as to Pattaya’s form of government as the city council’s term finishes on June 20th 1997. This is why the matter was presented to Sanoh Thienthong before this so the change could be implemented before the present city council’s term runs out.
Dr. Sansak said he had been a council member since the founding of Pattaya. There have been 9 mayors and 14 city managers in a period of 18 years. He said this was the region with the most changes of administrators in all of Thailand. He said this came from differences in opinion between the mayor and the city manager, which caused the whole administrative structure of the city to be shaky and flounder. He felt that the method of administration should be changed to a method which was suitable to Thai society, that is, by elections.
MP Charnsak Chavalit-nititham said that Pattaya should have a government that is suitable to the region. He said that the edict used in 2521 could not respond to the people’s needs. This was because of the bureaucratic red-tape involved in all decision making. He would like to see Pattaya governed in municipality form. He said that the Royal Decree of 2521 had made Pattaya the equal of a municipality already.
THA President Sutham Phantusak said that the people of Pattaya had wanted the form of government changed long ago as the administration of the city had collapsed again and again. He would like to see Pattaya in the form of a municipality, as it would have an elected mayor as the city head. The mayor would thus have the power to make decisions on matters in an expeditious manner. This is different from the present system in which the mayor has no power except to preside at ceremonies. He said that the non-co-operation of some civil servants in the govern-ment also caused delays in the decision making process.
He felt that Pattaya’s potential could be developed to its fullest after a change of government. This would reverse the droopy economic trend and cause tourism to mushroom.
Sophin Thepchak, Presi-dent of the Pattaya Business and Tourism Association (PBTA), said she would like to see Pattaya change its government into a form which could respond to its needs as quickly as possible. She was especially emphatic that the areas concerning tourism be looked at. Some of these are public utilities, the environ-ment and public discipline in areas such as traffic, cleanliness, and many others. At this point she said the city had no power to solve these problems, so she wanted a change so there could be a direct decision making process. She said a Bangkok style metropolis government would be wonderful. But she thought a municipality government would be okay, too. Anything would be better than the present situation.
Virat Kijsom, the Head of the Pattaya Media Association, said that the present government of Pattaya does not suit the Thai ethos, as people think that the mayor has power equal to mayors of other municipalities. Thai people feel most comfortable governed by one person with power. Several of the former mayors of Pattaya have not understood the conditions of their office and have “stepped on the city managers’” toes. This has caused problems between mayors and city managers, who have the real decision making power. This misunderstanding of ad-ministrative duties has caused the city administration to fail due to those administrating and not due to the form of government. If there is any change he would like the city government to take the form of a municipality, which would suit this region of Thai society.
Charnyuth Hengtrakul, Head of the Provincial Council, said that the Ministry of the Interior has known of this problem and has taken the change of government motion into meetings before. The motion for change was made in 1994 but was overturned by Chonburi MPs as they felt that being a municipality would not suit the dignity of a tourist resort. Later, the issue was submitted to the cabinet again and on the 18th of February this year a change was again discussed. But the change to municipality was not in line with the desires of the people and business community who should like to see Pattaya as a Bangkok metropolis style entity.
Many others have opinions on this subject. Most feel that changing Pattaya to a municipality would be a step backwards as the people would like to see the city as a Bangkok metropolis style government in which the city would not be under the control of the Ministry of the Interior. This would give the city freedom in adminis-tration, and the power to make quick problem solving decisions.