Barkar Nash (Page 929)

SAMUT PRAKAN: A 28-year-old Chinese man was arrested after a trove of smuggled, pirated goods was found in a warehouse in Muang district on Tuesday.

Luo Zhipeng was apprehended at the warehouse, which is in tambon Phraekasa. Police also impounded  about 100,000 falsely branded items that included gas stoves, skateboards, hairclippers, camera bags and table fans.

Pol Maj Gen Phuthidet Boonkrapue, head of the Economic Crime Suppression Division, said on Wednesday that the goods were all smuggled into Thailand and stored at the warehouse for sale through retail shops and online platforms.

Mr Luo admitted to ownership and was charged with hiding and selling smuggled goods, he said. 

PHUKET: Two Indian tourists drowned and a third was rescued after they were swept out to sea by strong waves that pounded Karon beach on Tuesday evening.

Four swimmers have now drowned in the sea in the last five days on this resort island province.

Police said the three men went swimming at Karon beach, near the Naga statue, on Tuesday evening. There were red flags on the beach warning people not to go swimming because the sea was too rough. The three swimmers were swept out to sea.

One of the men was rescued by lifesavers and was safe. The two others were also pulled from the water and were rushed to Patong and Chalong hospitals, where they were declared dead. Doctors said they had drowned.

Pol Lt Col Chompunut Ananthayakul, investigation chief at Patong, said they received a report of the double drowning about 8pm. The Indian embassy had been informed and would notify relatives, he said. Names were withheld in the meantime.

On July 28, a Senegalese tourist drowned while swimming at Freedom beach in tambon Karon of Muang district. His body was recovered on Sunday morning. On July 30, a Thai tourist from Phitsanulok province drowned and two others were rescued at Surin beach.  

PATTAYA: Police are hunting a man seen on video threatening a group of foreign tourists with a gun at a viewpoint on a local hill.

The 99-second video showed the gunman was of foreign appearance, aged 20-30 years and about 170 centimetres tall. He threatened about 20 men of Middle-eastern appearance, ordering them to sit down next to each other, at the Sor Thor Ro 5 hill viewpoint.

The gunman was wearing a black shirt and black trousers and wielded a pistol he pointed at the head of one man while giving orders.

The video appeared to have been taken with a handheld device, possibly a phone, and was posted on the Siamchonnews website, with no given source. The incident apparently occurred in the morning.

Pattaya police chief Pol Col Thanapong Phothi led investigators to the scene on Wednesday. They were examining surveillance camera recording  fromth area and questioning local vendors. 

Police were also trying to find the tourists who were threatened.

A senior Pheu Thai figure admitted on Tuesday he is concerned the Constitutional Court will accept for deliberation a petition seeking a ruling on the rejected renomination of Move Forward Party (MFP) leader Pita Limjaroenrat.

The court has scheduled a hearing for Thursday to consider whether to review the Ombudsman’s petition, which also asked it to order parliament to postpone the prime ministerial vote.

Legal experts say the court can either reject the petition, accept it for consideration, or accept it and put parliament’s prime ministerial selection process on hold pending its ruling.

Pheu Thai list-MP Sutin Klungsang said the court’s decision will decide whether parliament’s joint sitting on Friday to select the prime minister will go ahead and if Pheu Thai can nominate its own candidate.

Pheu Thai, which is taking the lead in forming the coalition, plans to nominate Srettha Thavisin.

However, Mr Sutin said the eight prospective coalition partners will have to hold talks and decide their next move if the court rules Mr Pita can be renominated.

Thanakrit Vorathanatchakul, a prosecutor attached to the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG), said at issue is whether the rejected renomination of Mr Pita is a violation of the constitutional rights of those seeking a judicial review.

He said complainants objecting to parliament’s rejection of Mr Pita’s renomination see it as a violation of their rights.

The individual whose rights are deemed affected in this case is Mr Pita, but the MFP leader is not one of the petitioners, he said. If the court does not agree, it may reject the petition.

“And if the court (does that), a request seeking the postponement of the prime ministerial vote is automatically dropped,” he said.

Mr Thanakrit cited as an example a petition involving a charter amendment of the two-ballot system passed by parliament.

New Palang Dharma Party leader Ravee Maschamadol, who disagreed with the change, sought a judicial review and claimed it was a violation of his rights as an MP.

The court threw the petition out because the change involved legislative work carried out as stipulated in the charter. It said Dr Ravee’s constitutional rights were not violated.

The National Health Security Office (NHSO) has introduced a prosthetic fistula made of natural rubber for subscribers of the universal healthcare (UHC), also known as the “gold card” scheme, in a bid to save more than 540 million baht of the medical budget.

Dr Athaporn Limpanylers, deputy secretary-general of the NHSO, said on Tuesday that he inspected on July 18-19 the fistula meant for UHC subscribers in Yala and Songkhla.

He said he was told of the products by Dr Worawit Wanichsuwan, director of research at the Medical Institute of Prince of Songkla University (PSU).

The prosthetic fistula was funded by the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT). The PSU took about six years to finish the research, Dr Worawit said.

Researchers used natural rubber from the South to produce it, based on the suitability of the environment and weather, he added.

The NHSO has been scouting the product in a bid to purchase it in bulk and support its Thai subscribers who are happy to use a prosthetic fistula made in Thailand, which it can provide without charge to support Thai medical products, Dr Worawit said.

Before the introduction of this fistula, Thailand had to import similar but more expensive products from other countries, which can be costly as one patient must use five sets of a prosthetic fistula, and each one costs around 300 baht.

About 54,000 gold card subscribers require a prosthetic fistula and excretory support each year.

If all of the scheme’s 150,000 members used a prosthetic fistula for one year, the NHSO would have to pay 2.25 billion baht.

However, the new product costs just 190 baht, translating into huge savings, Dr Worawit said.

Dr Athaporn said the NHSO has stressed the importance of using innovative Thai products to replace those imported from abroad.

Not only will this save money, but it will support Thai manufacturers and improve the economy, he added.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) and the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) have sent a 30-strong team to clear rubbish along rail tracks near Phaya Thai after a Japanese netizen posted pictures of a Kiha-183 train, donated by Japan to serve tourists, passing through an apparent dump site in the area.

Twitter user @tabinezumiworld posted the picture on Sunday with a message saying it showed the gap between rich and poor in Bangkok.

The area is to be used for building a new elevated train line.

In a subsequent comment, he also posted a message in both Japanese and Thai that he knew that homes had recently been demolished for the new project.

He also noted that “There was broken glass, pieces of concrete and leftover food,” and he wondered when all this rubbish would be collected.

“It is unsanitary and has a bad odour. I hope for a speedy resolution. I urge the Thai government, City Hall and SRT to take action,” he tweeted.

The post was picked up by ThailandFootpath Facebook, which has more than 300,000 followers and also later carried by mass media.

Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt on Tuesday responded to the outcry by inspecting the area himself.

He said the piles of garbage along the railway are a result of the demolition of about 100 homes of local communities living illegally along a 1.2km stretch of track.

Mr Chadchart said the demolition took place last month to pave the way for the construction of the Don Mueang-Suvarnabhumi-U-Tapao high-speed rail route, but after the demolition, the rubbish had just been left there.

Ekkarat Sriarayanpong, head of the SRT governor’s office, said that the SRT and BMA had sent a 30-strong team to clean up the area, and a backhoe tractor and trucks were used to remove and transport the waste from the area.

He said that SRT will set up a fence and will also put up “no trespassing” signs to stop any intruders and those who may throw away their own rubbish in the area.

KRABI: Maya Bay — made world famous by the Hollywood blockbuster The Beach starring Leonardo DiCaprio 23 years ago — will be closed for two months during the monsoon season for the purposes of natural rehabilitation.

It was closed off to the public and tourists from Tuesday until Sept 30, said Ratchanok Phaenoi, chief of Hat Noppharat Thara-Mu Koh Phi Phi National Park.

She said this is also being done for tourist safety, as strong waves during the rainy season will make it difficult for boats to dock at Loh Sama Bay on Koh Phi Phi Le, which is within walking distance of Maya Bay.

It reopened to tourists on Jan 1 last year after being off-limits for three and a half years due to overcrowding, which led to the destruction of coral reefs and its marine ecology.

Since last year, the park has capped the total number of tourists to about 4,000 a day and does not allow people to swim in the bay in order to protect the island’s sensitive ecology.

The park forbids tourist boats from docking at the bay but has a pier at Loh Sama for them. Maya Bay will be closed every year during the monsoon season from now on, the park said. Ms Ratchanok said the break will help restore its ecology.

Figures showing there were 39.7 million people in full-time employment in the second quarter this year, an increase of 660,000 on the same period last year, have been released by the National Statistical Office (NSO).

Deputy government spokeswoman Traisuree Taisaranakul on Tuesday revealed the improvement in the employment situation in the country after the NSO data showed the number of people working full time or around 35-49 hours per week has increased by about 560,000.

The number of people who work more than 50 hours a week increased by about 350,000, while those in part-time jobs or working less than 35 hours decreased by 240,000 people.

Unemployment also declined to 1.1% — with around 430,000 people still out of work, compared to the same period last year in which 1.4% of the working population, or about 550,000 people, were without jobs, Ms Traisuree said.

“Indicators of the overall labour situation are positive,” she said. In addition, there are now only 74,000 people who have been unemployed for more than a year in the second quarter, which is down from 140,000 people in the same period last year, added Ms Traisuree.