Man U star Eric Cantona visits Pattaya

Accompanying the superstar were 12 members on the French national beach soccer team, who played in the “Tipco Pro-Beach Soccer Bangkok 2001” competition in Muang Thong Thani on May 12.

Pattaya’s mayor Pairat Suttithamrongsawat and a crowd of fans welcomed the players to Pattaya at City Hall and presented them with the key to the city. Cantona presented a jersey in return.

Visiting members of the French national beach soccer team included Joel Cantona, Pascal Olmeta, Clade Barabe, Paul Squaglia, Thiery Ottavy, Vincent Guerin, Lautent Fournier, Bruno Germain, Frank Bonora, Kader Ferhaoui, Bernard Pascual and Mamadou Faye.

The footballers toured the area in a cavalcade from the Million Years Stone Park down Pattaya Beach Road. Later that evening, the Thai House Restaurant hosted a dinner party for the players and treated them to a show of Thai boxing and traditional entertainment.

The following day the footballers visited Larn Island’s Thien Beach for some rest and an exhibition game against Pattaya’s V.I.P. Team and former players from the Thai National Team.

Golden eel brings Naklua family good fortune

Neighbors believe magic eel can guess lottery numbers

Vichan Pladplueng

For the past five years Montree Chamsil and his wife Samlee have been blessed with the luck of a golden eel.

Samlee and her lucky golden eel

Their son and his friend found the eel crossing the road and took it home where the friend’s mother wanted to make it that evening’s meal. But Chamsil’s son saved the eel because he thought it would make a better pet than a dinner.

The family claims their lives have steadily improved since the eel entered their household. Their last stroke of luck occurred just recently with a small lottery win. Members of the family say the eel is an agreeable house pet, that eats twice a day and is fond of strips of raw chicken or fish.

Neighbors constantly stop by to see the famous golden eel in hopes that it will help them interpret signs for the winning lottery numbers. The eel is under constant protection from others who may be envious of the family’s good fortune.

With the eel’s constant attention and envy, it is difficult to say who is actually luckier, the Chamsil family or the eel.

French resident murdered in South Pattaya

Body found on 13th floor of condo on Soi 13

Boonlua Chatree

Frenchman Claude Pierre Michele Merchant (sic) was found dead May 1 in his Pattaya Beach Condo on the 13th floor on Soi 13.

Employees at the condominium discovered the body after a woman friend of the deceased alerted them to a foul smelling odor emitting from the apartment.

Merchant’s door was locked from the inside and a condo employee had to climb through a small window in order to gain access.

The 67-year-old Frenchman was found lying in a pool of blood, with one bottle of Thai alcohol (35 Degree), four erotic magazines, and a tube of KY lubricant nearby.

Investigating police also found the victim’s wallet, which had no money inside. There was no indication that the rest of the victim’s belongings had been rummaged through. The murder weapon was not at the scene and police were left with few clues.

The Bang Lamung Medical Examiner identified three stab wounds in the chest and one more wound made from a sharp instrument at the waist. The condition of the body indicated the death occurred three days prior to discovery.

A friend of the victim, Miss Rungprakai Chaichana, 22, residing in Soi Bua Khao, told police investigators that Merchant had been living at the condo since February 1995, and she had known him for almost 5 years. She said he did not work but had money set aside and received money monthly from relatives in France. She described him as a non-drinker with no known ailments, only occasionally going out with friends in the evening.

Miss Rungprakai said she had been ill for the previous few days and did not come by his room until the day the body was discovered. She said finding the door locked with her knocks going unanswered and a foul smell lingering around the door prompted her to seek help. She also told police that Merchant usually carried around 5 or 6 thousand baht in his wallet and the items found next to the body were unfamiliar objects that Merchant was not known to possess.

Police are continuing the investigation looking for better clues to assist them in identifying the murderer. Thus far police suspect Merchant may have been murdered by a desperate prostitute or possibly a transvestite, both in need of quick cash and willing to commit murder.

Lottery ticket salesgirl puts the finale on boyfriend’s wandering lifestyle

A knife to his shoulder stops his womanizing

Vichan Pladplueng

Rungruang Tomek, 28, died from a fatal stab wound to his shoulder on May 9. The murder weapon, a blue handled knife, was found next to his body.

Rungruang, originally from Kamphengphet, had been residing with his girlfriend Siriporn Chomcheuy, a 27-year old woman from Lampang employed as a lottery ticket distributor in Pattaya.

Mrs. Natasan Wanupatam, a neighbor, found the body outside the couple’s apartment.

The deceased’s wife, Siriporn, told police the two had been living together for over a year, but that Rungruang was prone to womanizing. She said the couple had many arguments about his infidelity, and on May 9 Rungruang became abusive. She said she feared Rungruang was about to attack her, so she grabbed a knife and stabbed him in the shoulder. She said he stumbled out of the room and fell to the ground outside.

Siriporn is now in police custody charged with homicide.

American dies in head-on collision with petrol truck on Hwy 36

15,000 liters of fuel spilt - explosion averted

Vichan Pladplueng

Robert Jerome Treves, a 51-year old American, was killed in a head on collision with a fuel truck on Highway 36 at approximately 5.00 a.m. on May 13. The fatal accident occurred in Nong Plalai sub-district outside of Pattaya city limits.

Firefighters covered the area in foam to prevent the split fuel from exploding.

Fire trucks, rescue workers and Banglamung police were immediately called to the scene and had to direct traffic away from the accident area, as the overturned fuel truck was spilling fuel onto the ground area.

Fire fighters, using chemical foam to cover the entire truck and surrounding area, prevented a possible explosion from the 15,000 liters of diesel and gas fuels spilling onto the tarmac.

Treves’ Honda car was demolished. Treves was crushed inside.

The driver of the petrol truck fled the scene and police are searching for him for further questioning.

German tourist mugged

Perpetrators allegedly make off with 20 baht gold

Vichan Pladplueng

Devlin William Hanhaniman (sic), 53, from Germany was treated for multiple wounds to the head after he was mugged by 3 assailants. Devlin was taken to the Pattaya Memorial Hospital at approximately six in the morning on May 9.

Devlin told police that after coming to an agreement with a young lady at the Starlight Beer Bar opposite the Sunshine Garden Hotel, where he had been staying since the 2nd of May, he returned to his room intending to meet the girl later.

During the walk back to the hotel he said two men came from behind and a third person he described as “a woman of the second category” approached from in front. He said the three attacked him with heavy lengths of wood, beating him to the ground. He said they got away with a gold bracelet and necklace weighing 10 baht each.

Police were unable to apprehend the street bandits but are continuing the search for the muggers believing the three are known thugs in the area.

Chinese tourist drowns off Larn Island

Loxinfo opens new service center in Pattaya

Chakrapong Akkaranant

Doctor Tachapong Hotrabhavananda, PhD and CEO of Loxley Co. Ltd. (Loxinfo), presided over the opening ceremony of the company’s latest branch on Pattaya 3rd Road.

Pattaya Mail MD Peter Malhotra congratulates Doctor Tachapong Hotrabhavananda, PhD and CEO of Loxley Co. Ltd. (Loxinfo), and his team on the opening of the company’s latest branch on Pattaya 3rd Road.

Starting at 9 a.m. on Friday May 11, nine monks performed a religious ceremony to sanctify the new branch office. The ribbon cutting ceremony followed at 11.30 a.m., with a host of guests attending, including Chanyuth Hengtrakul, Advisor to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, and Peter Malhotra, managing director of Pattaya Mail Publishing Co., Ltd.

The new office is open Monday - Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Services provided at the center include technical advise on specific business operations, correcting technical problems, registering new permanent internet accounts, accepting service payments, providing international roaming service and complete internet set distribution.

Fake yaba hits the streets

Three arrested for giving clients headaches

Vichan Pladplueng

Three enterprising yaba addicts found a novel way of supporting their drug habit: manufacturing and selling fake “yaba”.

Police arrested Surat Kasorn, 31, Chaiyant Charernying, 25, and a 19-year old woman named Sirilak Kaengchant last week after receiving information the trio was selling drugs from their residence near Soi Kophai.

When police burst into their house, the three were busily packaging pills. They were immediately taken into custody and their pill production equipment and a large quantity of various contents used in making pills were seized.

However, subsequent tests of the ingredients showed they contained no narcotic substances, and were instead a mixture of common pain relievers for headache, flour, mineral water and food coloring.

The finished pills resembled methamphetamine “yaba” pills, and only experienced drug users or trained narcotic agents would be capable of noting the difference in smell. The three tricksters sold the pills to drug users, swindling them out of 60 baht per pill and giving them a severe headache in the process.

Smoking the mixture was said to give the user a long lasting, throbbing pain in the head accompanied by nausea. Nonetheless, “business was good,” Surat said, because the pills were selling for half the cost of genuine stuff.

Police have learned that the phony amphetamines are currently flooding the drug business in Pattaya.

Surat, Chaiyant, and Sirilak were each amphetamine users and came up with the idea of profiteering off of fellow addicts. They are now facing a number of charges including operating a business without proper permits and distributing merchandise with the intent of deceiving consumers.

Associate Judges hold annual conference at PEACH

Over 1,000 judges, associate judges and judicial system workers met at the Pattaya Exhibition And Conference Hall (PEACH) at the Royal Cliff Beach Resort last week for their annual associate judge conference.

Judge Tawachai Phitakpol, chief justice of the Supreme Court, gave a keynote speech at the opening of the annual associate judge conference held at the Royal Cliff Beach Resort’s PEACH.

Mrs. Duangmal Silapacha, chief justice of the Central Juvenile & Family Court, presided over the conference, held from May 9-11. Judge Tawachai Phitakpol, chief justice of the Supreme Court, gave a keynote speech.

Thirty-four juvenile and family courts from throughout the kingdom were represented at the conference.

Discussions focused on current social issues contributing to the growing drug problem. New correctional methods and rehabilitation treatment for young people with chemical dependence were among the main topics discussed at the conference. Ideas were also exchanged on implementing educational and vocational training programs for drug addicts.

Additional topics concerned changes required in the juvenile court system and changes in the laws and regulations to support the desired goals.

US Embassy Consular officer to visit Pattaya on May 18th

Consular officer, Colin Furst from the U.S. Embassy, Bangkok will visit Pattaya on May 18th. The visit will provide the opportunity for Americans residing in the area to obtain a number of consular services without having to travel to the US Embassy in Bangkok

Mr. Furst will be providing services at the following times and location:

Friday May 18th from 8 a.m. to 12 noon and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Montien Hotel Pattaya, #369 Pattaya Second Road, Central Pattaya, Tel. (038) 428 155-6.

The list of services provided during the visit:

* extra passport pages

* passport applications (be advised, however, that new passports must be picked up at the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok-they cannot be sent by mail)

* notarials including affidavits required by the Thai government for marriage, driver’s licenses and certain types of visas

* registration with the U.S. Embassy

* information on application procedures for Thai citizens seeking U.S. visas (note that visa applications must be submitted at the U.S. Embassy, Bangkok).

Please note that U.S. law requires a US$55 (or Thai Baht equivalent) fee for each notarial service provided. Passport applications cost US$40 - 60.

Please share this information with other American citizens in your area. Should you have any questions, contact the American Citizen Services office on (02) 205 4049 or via email at: [email protected]

For additional information about the American Embassy in Thailand, please visit the website at http://usa.or.th

May marks global drive to free child servants

from the Child Labour News Service

Starting from May Day, the Child Servants’ Freedom Month organised by the Global March Against Child Labour has been pushing open people’s doors and minds to this long standing abuse against children.

Child domestic servants around the world are spending their precious childhood in endless hours, days, and years of hard labour. Unlike most other forms of child labour, domestic servitude remains hidden behind closed doors and absent from the public’s consciousness.

Domestic child labour has been condemned by the UN as a modern form of slavery, but only now is the international community coming together to stop the practice.

Representing over 150 million workers worldwide, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) has been mobilising its members for the campaign. The confederation calls child domestic servitude, “One of the most exploitative forms of child labour”. The solution, they say, is for children to have a chance to go to school, to enable them to build up life without poverty.

The ILO Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour set the scene by identifying the conditions of child domestic servants as one of the worst forms of child labour. Many child servants, the majority of whom are girls, are easy targets of physical, psychological, and sexual abuses that scar them for life.

“Child domestic work is one of the most disturbing features of human life,” says Cecilia Flores-Oebanda, the Global March co-ordinator for Southeast Asia. “It is shocking to think that child servants may be hit and burned and girl workers may be sexually abused, not in far-off factories or brothels, but right next door.”

Partners of the Global March Against Child Labour are taking the case against domestic child labour to communities, governments, courts and the streets during the Child Servants’ Freedom Month. Activities have been planned for the whole month to raise mass awareness on the issue.

In India, former child labourers and school children will continue their efforts to make homes child labour free with the ‘Child Labour Free Home Sticker Campaign’. In Togo, key civil society leaders will be gathering to consolidate actions against their region-wide problem. In the Philippines, a Domestic Workers’ Day will be held to shed light on domestic child labour issues. In Boston, students will be leading a Freedom March against child domestic slavery. Throughout Central America, ILO-IPEC and the Global March Regional Co-ordinator will be launching a multi-pronged assault on this widespread problem. The approach will be a combination of action research, public awareness campaigns, and national-level planning.

The Child Servants Freedom Month is the first effort to create a worldwide movement against domestic child labour. The initiatives of civil society organisations, activists and child servants themselves which have existed at community and national levels will be unified internationally through the Global March, the largest civil society movement against child exploitation. Their voices will echo throughout the world, loudly and clearly calling for freedom for children.

Northeastern girls fooled into flesh trade escape from Pattayaland Soi 1

Vichan Pladplueng

Once again a group of young girls were lured into venturing down to Pattaya with promises of making up to 10,000 baht a month as waitresses in the booming restaurant business, catering to hungry foreign tourists. Not part of the “Thai Chuay Thai” program but certainly a popular endeavor among enterprising scam artists that was even more popular in decades gone-by. At least this is the story described to Pattaya police by five young girls from Kalasin Province on the 9th of May.

Five young women from the Northeast of Thailand who had been fooled into the flesh trade escaped from Pattayaland Soi 1.

A Thai woman in her 30s, identified only as “Tong”, allegedly convinced the five girls, ranging from 15-18 years of age, into believing that good money was to be made in Pattaya as waitresses. Relatives of the young girls were just as gullible, especially after accepting 500 baht up front from the girl’s future wages, and the young women were sent off to Pattaya on the afternoon of May 8.

They were picked up in a van by two men in their mid 30s or early 40s and early the following morning the van parked in front of a beer bar in Pattayaland Soi 1. The girls said the incredulous surrounding scenery caused concern, and seasoned employees, still sleepy from the previous night’s work, soon enlightened them to the fact that they were expected to do a lot more than merely perform as waitresses. The girls were ushered inside a four-story commercial building with a beer bar on the first floor and small rooms on the second and third floor where clients were taken for servicing.

After being officially informed by an older female patron at the bar that the girl’s future jobs included selling sexual favors to foreign clientele, the older girl started looking for a way out of what appeared to be a bleak future that each girl was unprepared to settle into. They used the excuse of using the bathroom on the first floor as an opportunity to make a quick escape, and went straight to the police to request assistance in returning home.

Eventually, the girls were able to make their way to the Pattaya Children and Women’s Assistance Center.

Police later investigated the location the girls had described, but found it mysteriously closed down with no one available for questioning.

Updated every Friday
Copyright 2001  Pattaya Mail Publishing Co.Ltd.
370/7-8 Pattaya Second Road, Pattaya City, Chonburi 20260, Thailand 
Tel.66-38 411 240-1, 413 240-1, Fax:66-38 427 596; e-mail: [email protected]

Updated by Chinnaporn Sungwanlek, assisted by Boonsiri Suansuk.
E-Mail: [email protected]