Pattaya Mail Reaches Lucky Number 9!
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This week Pattaya Mail celebrates our Lucky
9th Anniversary, so we dedicate our center pages to the number 9. We’ve
chosen a handful of news stories that have run over the years, but due to
space restrictions, the following is nowhere near a complete listing –
just a small sampling of how the number 9 has appeared in some of its
various forms in the Pattaya Mail over the years. Have fun and see if you
can catch where the #9 appears in the following excerpts – some are
obvious, others are not. Good luck and Happy 9th
from the entire staff of Pattaya Mail. Chai Yo!
Nine
strange “hole-dwellers” leave police at a loss
December 1997: Police out on
their usual patrol in Soi Jurarat saw a group of odd people who appeared
to be engaged in a strange ritual.
The seemingly hypnotized group was intoning
incantations and processing around a hole in the earth. Members held
knives, peacock feathers and fly swatters. There were 7 adults and 2
children in the mysterious cult.
Police cautiously moved in and observed from time to
time a group member descending into the hole. When police asked the group
their faith, they rudely said they worshipped Lord Garuda.
“Don’t worry, no-one will kick you in the face,”
they shouted to puzzled police. They then began to beat wild and arcane
rhythms on their knives and fly swatters.
Police, worried about the public’s safety and the
group’s sanity, took them into custody for questioning.
Sum Sae-Ng, 47, the leader, told officers that the cult
worshipped ghosts and land spirits. The cult members were disheveled; some
clad only in under shorts. All nine were suffering from dehydration and
malnutrition as they apparently did not believe in eating.
Police officers tried to induce the children to take
water, but the leader forbade them, telling them that nasty ‘water
ghosts’ would possess their bodies. The children refused to accept water
or nourishment.
Police were at a loss as to how to handle the
situation, as the cult members were totally under the control of the
leader, who appeared psychotic and actively hallucinating. The whole group
would wai into the air, and then babble incomprehensibly.
All attempts to communicate with any group members
failed. When spoken to, the people would press one baht coins to their
foreheads and temples.
Without a court order and a doctor’s certification,
officers could do nothing but release them. |
Fangs a
lot!
February 1998: Two thieves, thwarted by a fearless
man and his canny K9 cronies, were delivered to the Pattaya police
station, suffering from fright and shock, with two dogs snapping at
their heels.
The victim manqu้, Phorasak Phiromkij, said he
awakened to the barking of his 7 Pit Bull terriers. Descending to the
first floor of his house, he found two men cowering on a credenza, high
above the bone-crushing jaws of his prize pets.
The thieves had a gun and threatened to shoot the man
if he didn’t call off his army of 4 legged storm troopers. Phorasak
told officers he reminded the men of some facts: 1. He wasn’t afraid
of death, 2. They only had six bullets and there were seven angry dogs,
3. If they did shoot him, the dogs would do them in sooner or later, and
4. They were in no position to bargain.
The thieves saw the logic in this and threw
themselves on Phorasak’s mercy. Telling the men to throw the gun away,
he called off five of the dogs and put them in another room.
Phorasak and two dogs then escorted the thieves to
the police station. Officers were a bit suspicious that a personal
vendetta might be in action, asking Phorasak how the men got past the
dogs in the first place. He proudly told officers the dogs were quiet,
very well-behaved and only killed people after they had determined they
were intruders.
The thieves fairly jumped into officer’s arms to
get away from ‘Puffy’ and ‘Sugar’.
The would be cat-burglars then began a breast-beating litany,
complaining about the failing economy, no work and dozens of children to
feed. Rather timorous officers seemed very anxious to get ‘Puffy’
and ‘Sugar’ out of the station, so they requested Phorasak take the
dogs home and return alone to file his complaint.
Does
anybody know where my hotel is?
December 1997: A lost
tourist from Finland, who apparently could not find his hotel and
who spoke no English, approached a police officer and spoke to him
in Finnish. The confused officer did nothing but stare at the
confused tourist.
Instead of taking the man to the police station,
the resourceful officer tried Thai accented English combined with
‘sign language’. Of course, sign language is different from
country to country. This increased the confusion.
The persistent officer then began a mime session
which looked like a combination of Marcel Marceau and Swan Lake. The
tourist was highly entertained but not the least enlightened.
The police officer did not yet know what the
tourist wanted. After a few more attempts, it was understood that
the tourist could not find his hotel. The two then went looking for
the man’s hotel. Neither knew the name, so the officer pointed
toward the Tourist Police Headquarters.
The tourist police managed to communicate that
they would like to look at the man’s hotel receipt. Unfortunately,
the hotel’s name was not printed on the receipt. It merely said
“Room 419” and “paid, 500 baht.”
The police took the Finn on a tour of Pattaya in
their squad car, hoping they might run into the hotel. After
approximately 1 hour, the tourist became frustrated, got out of the
police car and went to drink beer on Soi 9.
At the time of going to press, no-one knew
whether the Finn made it back to his hotel or not. |
German
expat busted
with
contraband
9 a.m. November 9, 1998 :
Police officers from the Pattaya Police International Crimes Division
arrested a German national living in Banglamung, who was suspected of
selling contraband electrical equipment.
Armed with a search warrant from Chonburi court, the
two officers and a squad of police raided the condominium, finding
computers, circuit boards, and other electrical equipment. Over 1,000
bottles of contraband liquor were also found. The confiscated contraband
filled five police pick-up trucks and was valued at over 10 million baht.
All was taken to the police station for safe keeping.
The suspect was taken in for questioning, and when asked for the bill
of lading and permit for the goods, he stated that it was all for his own
personal use. Police were skeptical…
Large
scale drug dealer caught - Owns 4 homes and has 4 wives
May 28, 1999: Banglamung
Police had been monitoring a suspected amphetamine dealer for nine
months, and by May 21st they felt they had collected enough
information to arrest the suspect, Sangwan Phothiwad, aka “Keo”.
Sangwan, age 30, was stopped by police while
driving along Greenway Road in front of the Khao Sao Thoong Thong
Temple. Police searched his vehicle and found 1,600 amphetamine
pills (type orange) in a blue plastic bag.
Later, further searches were conducted by police
at Sangwan’s four homes where each of his four wives resided.
However, no other drugs were found…
After a full year of dealing drugs and making huge profits that
afforded him four homes and four wives, he is now taking a break… |
Chonburi
releases
9,999
seahorses
April 9, 1999: Pichai
Sonjaeng, managing director of the Institute of Marine Science, Burapha
University Chonburi, organized the release 9,999 seahorses into the ocean
to commemorate His Majesty the King’s 6th Cycle Birthday on December 5,
1999.
The first time that the seahorses were released was in
February 1999. The releases will continue every month until reaching the
target number of released seahorses.
The releases are being sponsored in part by Kunsadung Buaprasert of
Esso Thailand. Esso donated 100,000 baht in order to preserve the
seahorses and protect them from extinction.
Age
is only a number - love conquers all
Appeared in the June 9, 2000 edition:
Mr. Udom Hongsamut met Miss Pachara Butranoi at a fishing park in
Nong Prue and liked her right away. But at first he was afraid to
let his feelings be known to her. He thought she would be
embarrassed by their age difference. Udom is 73 and Pachara 21.
Nonetheless, Udom followed his feelings and often
returned to visit Miss Pachara. Miss Pachara said she was not
interested in Udom at first, thinking his advances were in jest. But
in due time she became familiar with his good nature and realized
his intentions were genuine.
The
happy couple married, despite the 52 years difference in age.
She admitted she was concerned with what her
parents and relatives would think of the age difference, but said
Udom made her realize that age was merely a number. What was truly
important were honesty and understanding.
Their relationship developed to the point where
she gladly accepted his marriage proposal. The marriage took place
at Udom’s chicken farm in Moo 1, Nong Prue on the morning of June
1st.
The groom presented a dowry of 10,000 baht and a gold necklace to
Miss Pachara’s parents before the wedding ceremony. At the end of
the proceedings, Udom demonstrated his strength for the crowd by
walking up to a can and giving it a good swift kick sending it
flying off into the air. |
Korean
restaurant raided after serving endangered snakes for 9-years
April 2000: The Hi-D Restaurant on Soi Chaiyaphruk
had been serving exotic snakes for over nine years. Unfortunately, many of
the types of snakes they served were on the protected species list. On
April 10, the forestry police finally became wise to the situation and
raided the restaurant, arresting the owner and 20 employees.
One of the restaurant’s best selling dishes was a
special python soup selling for 1,000 baht, which the restaurant claimed
heightened sexual activity. The pythons were being skinned and prepared in
front of the table.
Police confiscated more than 1,000 kilograms of refrigerated snake
meat, body rejuvenating elixirs and other strange preparations made from
the protected animal’s different organs. Police also confiscated
thousands of live snakes kept in containers scattered throughout the
restaurant. The live snakes were handed over to animal protection
agencies.
Driver
arrested for taking
voters
to the polls
August 6, 1999: … The
ballot controlling official at Moo #9 noticed that several vehicles
full of voters were showing up at the polls in his area. Assuming
something might be amiss, he made discreet inquiries and discovered
that the concerned voters were paid 200 baht each to come and use
their voting privilege. Free transportation was provided as well.
Others received amounts of rice instead of cash.
Uan, the driver, was arrested and charged with
arranging transportation for voters to and from the voting polls,
which has a fine of no more than 200 baht, or three months jail, or
both. Offenders of such an offence also have their voting privileges
removed for four years.
Uan told police that he was contacted by a man identified only as
Sompong, who had asked him to ferry voters to and from the polls. The
voters were to vote for the #1 and #2 names on the ballot for Moo #9,
where three people were campaigning for the two positions… |
Burglar
arrested with odd choice of tools
September 2000: Twenty-eight
year old Jirapong Khaengkhan was arrested last week for breaking into the
Soi Bongkot home of Mrs. Wanida Rungruang. What made his crime slightly
more unusual than others of its type was the nine burglary “tools”
police found inside his little black bag.
Police were a bit nonplused to find what they described
as two “artificial male sex organs” along with six screwdrivers and a
cutting tool…
Jirapong was charged with burglary and late night breaking and
entering. He did not make it known why he was carrying the sex toys.
Amphetamine
Suppository
January 2000: 36 year
old Sommai Phumpheudphon admitted himself to hospital, complaining
of severe rectal pain from a roll-on deodorant bottle he had
secreted in his anus.
However, doctors from the Pattaya Memorial
Hospital called the Drug Suppression Unit when the detailed case
history revealed that Sommai had amphetamine pills in the bottle.
Sommai was still writhing in pain on the
emergency room operating table, waiting for surgery to begin, when
police arrived to give the doctors the O.K. to begin their dirty
work.
A successful 20 minute operation produced a
healthy and decidedly large, roll-on deodorant bottle wrapped in
black cloth tape. After cleaning up the afterbirth, police
confiscated 900 amphetamine (yaba) pills found inside before
arresting Sommai and taking him into the station…
When he found he could not remove the deodorant bottle he sat on
the problem for three days but his clients started insisting he get
it surgically removed… |
Jilted
“Tom” burns ex-lover’s bike
Vol. 9 No 9 March 2001: In a drunken act of
revenge, Miss Araya Srikanchana, age 39, set fire to her ex-lover’s
Honda Tena motorcycle in the middle of the street connecting Sois 7 and 8.
Apparently, the woman Miss Araya had been in love with
for the past few months had been seeing a man.
Blazing
saddles the sequel - in the middle of the street.
Miss Araya later told investigating police that the
matter had upset her so much she decided to burn the recently purchased
motorcycle as revenge for her lover’s change of heart.
The fire was quickly extinguished, but the motorcycle
was reduced to a smoking, unsalvageable cinder.
The subsequent police investigation led officers to
Miss Araya, who they found still in the area and extremely intoxicated.
The police officer on duty assessed the disturbance caused by Miss
Araya’s actions and fined her accordingly before releasing her with a
stern warning to behave.
Warning
- Crocodiles on the loose
Finally, November 9, 2001
is a day many won’t soon forget: Citizens
of Naklua, Banglamung and Pattaya (were) warned to stay alert after
“many” saltwater crocodiles escaped from the Million Years Stone
Park and Crocodile Farm… Search teams with assault rifles scoured
the area.
Local citizens (were) also
being warned to stay away from flooded marsh areas, streams, klongs
and ponds in the area, and to be extremely vigilant around the local
beaches… Government officials expressed a “grave concern for the
safety of tourists on the beaches in Pattaya” should any of the
escaped predators make it to the open sea.
Flash floods on November 1
broke a hole through the wall of an enclosure at the Million Years
Stone Park and Crocodile Farm where 2,000 saltwater crocodiles, 3-5
meters in length, were being penned…
An
experienced crocodile handler subdues one of the first of the
Million Years Stone Park and Crocodile Farm escapees.
The director of the park
said he assumed no more than 10 escaped, but unconfirmed reports put
the number as “much higher”. The actual number was unknown…
By Tuesday, November 6,
there were unconfirmed reports that up to six were recaptured and
returned to the park. Also as of Tuesday, no injuries had been
reported, although a witness in Naklua reported he saw a 4-meter
long crocodile vault from a small klong and devour a dog.
Local authorities organized a massive hunt
for the extremely dangerous creatures. Heavily armed search parties
worked around the clock to capture and return the crocodiles, or
when safety was at risk, to shoot them… |
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