Fraud fugitive Brit nabbed in Phuket

Paul Ridden in detention in Phuket.

PHUKET: -- A British expat arrested in Phuket today was on a list of fugitives wanted by an international division of the UK’s Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA), the Phuket Gazette has learned.

Paul Ridden, 58, was arrested today after being fooled into meeting a friend in front of Chalong Police Station.

When he drove into the police station car park, his exit was blocked by other vehicles behind him.

“When he pulled up, Tourist Police volunteer Gary Halpin reached in and removed the key from the ignition,” said fellow volunteer Jum Ali Khan.

The move to lure Mr Ridden to capture today follows Chalong Police attempting to bring him in for questioning yesterday over a complaint by a fellow expat of being cheated out of 75,000 baht.

Sussex Police in the UK appealed to the public for help in finding Mr Ridden in June after he skipped police bail in April.

The appeal, which said Mr Ridden was wanted for “numerous fraud offenses”, was carried nationwide, including on the BBC website.

The appeal was issued by Detective Constable Rick Kent, Senior Officer, Operations, of SOCA’s Middle East and Asia division.

Speaking to the Phuket Gazette tonight, Mr Ridden confirmed that he had been contacted by the British Embassy in Bangkok, but he declined to answer any questions related to why he was wanted by the UK authorities.

After taking Mr Ridden into custody, Chalong Police Deputy Superintendent Col Boonlert Onklang noticed that the Eastbourne native had overstayed his visa.

Mr Ridden will spend tonight in detention at Chalong Police Station, and will be presented in court tomorrow to face a fine for his immigration infraction.

However, that may not be the end of his problems in Phuket.

At least six people were lining up at Chalong Police Station tonight to file complaints against Mr Ridden.

All the complaints related to Mr Ridden allegedly deceiving them or cheating them out of money.

One woman told the Gazette that he borrowed her motorbike and then rented it out to tourists.

Mr Ridden also rented cars from local rental operators, then rented them out to tourists, “like subletting,” he said.

“There are eight cars in total,” he added.

But one person ready to file a complaint said he rented a car from Mr Ridden, but he was still waiting for his deposit to be returned. “That was two weeks ago,” he said.

Yet Mr Ridden claimed that he was a victim of deceit.

“I was just trying to run a business in Thailand. What happened was that the guy I came to work with said he would get me a work permit, so I gave him 65,000 baht. That was three months ago," he said.

Mr Ridden said that he was working with a local firm that installs CCTV systems.

“I was like a sub-agent. I was getting the job and they were fitting it. Their manager told me that he could get a work permit for me if I worked for them for a year, so I gave him the money. But the boss never knew about it,” he said.

“The paperwork that was signed – which I still have – was all forged by the manager. And they know about it. That’s how it all started,” he said.

Mr Ridden said that the 75,000 baht involved in the original Phuket complaint was saved in a bank account.

“The money was for getting the man a visa, but he found a cheaper way and decided to do it himself. But to get the visa [the man wanted], he needed to have money in a bank account, and that what’s where it is. I will give it all back,” he said.

He also said that he had been in touch with several people – and in front of the Gazette he specifically asked for certain people to come and see him – so he could give the car registration books back.

Mr Ridden also asked that the Thai man he had hired to help him to run his business not be involved, especially since the Thai man’s wife was one month pregnant.

Thai football club hopes for Fowler power

 

Thousands of Muang Thong fans have bought Robbie Fowler jerseys

"Fowler to United." Even in a summer of intriguing transfers, this was one move which was bound to raise eyebrows.

But when the United in question turned out to be Muang Thong rather than Manchester, heads were scratched, brows furrowed and Wikipedia hurriedly consulted.
Robbie Fowler is one of the most prolific strikers of the past 20 years, standing at number four on the list of the English Premier League's all-time leading goal-scorers.
Almost 200 goals came over two spells at Liverpool - and there were dozens more for Leeds United and Manchester City.
But now, nearing the end of his playing career, his latest move finds him in Thailand's Premier League.
"I just love playing," says Fowler, 36, sitting barefoot in his yellow training kit at the back of the main stand of the Yamaha Stadium on the outskirts of Bangkok.
"I've always loved the game, regardless of where I've been. And it's the same here in Thailand - I thought: Why not give it a shot? The kids will enjoy it when they come over here, and I certainly will."
"I'm seeing new things in my life other than football, which I might never have seen."
Pulling power Thailand is far from the most obvious destination for a striker still deified by Liverpool fans who, to this day, refer to him by the simple nickname "God".
Ambitious, developing leagues from the United States to the United Arab Emirates offer star names of a certain age lucrative contracts to add a little of their quality - and pulling power. Fowler himself played two seasons in Australia's A-League.

Crowds at top-league games in Thailand are getting larger each year

 

But Thailand has never been known for big-money deals nor, indeed, the quality of its football. The national side has never qualified for the World Cup, and slipped as low as 137th in FIFA's rankings as recently as 2006.
Meanwhile the domestic competitions and the clubs which compete in them have long suffered from widespread apathy because of Thai fans' enthusiasm for the English Premier League.
But things are changing in Thai football - and Muang Thong United are at the vanguard. They were languishing in the second division as recently as four years ago.
But following successive promotions, the club won Thailand's premier league in each of the past two seasons, regularly drawing crowds of more than 10,000.
Bringing in foreign expertise has been part of the game plan: First came coaching staff - including the current head coach Henrique Calisto, a Portuguese veteran poached from Vietnam's national side.
Players followed, including another with English Premier League experience - the former Fulham defender and Bradford City captain Zesh Rehman.
"The first thing that's evident is the passion for football - it's immense," says Rehman. "Once you come and see it for yourself, it opens your eyes."
"When you see people trying to develop their game and drag it up to the next level, and they want you to be a part of that, for me that's a privilege."

 

Robbie Fowler says he is still passionate about playing football

 

For the other English player on Muang Thong's books, Thailand presents an opportunity for a fresh start.
By his own admission, 21-year-old winger Romone Rose did not make the grade at Queens Park Rangers - but he thinks playing in Thailand will help to improve his prospects.
"Instead of dropping down the leagues in England you can come somewhere else," says Rose.
"The standard of football here is somewhere between the [English] Championship and Premiership - it's a lot better for me than playing in League One or League Two."
Cost covered All of this is music to the ears of Muang Thong's genial general manager, Ronnarit Seu-vaja.
He says his club are on a mission to pull Thailand into the elite level of Asian football, alongside Japan and South Korea. And he believes that signing Robbie Fowler will help them on several levels.

 

Fowler, pictured here (L) holding the Uefa Cup in 2001, says he has more victories in him

 

Most obviously, there is box office appeal. With so many Liverpool fans in Thailand, covering the striker's financial demands was never likely to be an issue. "We sold 10,000 Robbie Fowler jerseys in the week after he signed," grins Mr Seu-vaja.
He hopes that having a senior professional on the books who has played at the highest levels in Europe will provide an inspiring - and educational - example to the young Thai players who make up the bulk of Muang Thong's squad.
But it seems that the former Liverpool favourite's contacts book was perhaps the greatest prize.
"We now have more connections with European football, particularly in England," he said.
"He has contacted many professionals who could come and work in Thailand - fitness coaches, physios or even players who didn't have knowledge of Thai football before. So we're going to gain a lot of returns from Robbie Fowler."
For Fowler himself, an adventure in Thailand is a chance to keep playing and - as he puts it - "to win something for once".
"I still want to score goals," he says. "It sounds stupid, but I still want to be the best - although I know that's never going to be the case now."
"But I still have ambitions - I still want to win things - and I'm certainly not coming over here just for a holiday, because I want to do well for myself as well."
With the Thai Premier League entering its final stretch, that is great news for Muang Thong United fans - but not so good for their opponents.

Rice scheme will hurt Thais and help Vietnam

Consumers face prospect of high prices, low quality rice from Burma, Cambodia: TDRI

While consumers and taxpayers will suffer from the government's controversial rice policy, Vietnam will substantially gain, the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) has warned.

Ammar Siamwalla, a prominent economist, yesterday asked the government to answer hard questions on the rice pledging scheme - its cost burden, impact on consumers, and farmers' and government ability to boost global market prices.

"As the government is set to buy paddy at Bt15,000 per tonne from farmers, it has to build up a large stockpile this year - and years later it must accumulate ever larger and larger stockpiles in order to maintain these high prices, which will in the end lead to high costs for taxpayers," Ammar warned at a TDRI press conference yesterday.

When the government releases rice from the stockpile, the price would drop in the global market, which would result in more losses. "It's a dilemma," he said.

High prices would hit consumers and if the government provided a subsidy to consumers, the cost burden to the public would be ever higher, said Ammar, a distinguished scholar at the independent think-tank.

"Thai consumers may have to queue to purchase cheaper rice, subsidised and sold by the government, while rocketing high prices will force Thai rice out of the world market. But rice export rivals, such as Vietnam will gain substantially," he warned.

He was pessimistic about the government's capacity to boost prices in the global market, or that the market price would increase due to an expected high demand. "The government is whistling in the dark," he said.

Responding to Deputy Prime Minister Kittiratt na Ranong who said the government may ask farmers to reduce rice production to keep prices high, Ammar argued that the government could not tell farmers to cut rice production if it faced having too much stock.

"Farmers have the freedom to grow rice. Even in past times of absolute monarchy, the farmers could not be forced to do so," he said.

Although food prices were expected to increase, demand for rice consumption per capita, in particular in emerging economic nations, was likely to drop gradually each year, as affluent consumers shift to spend more on other items, Ammar explained.

TDRI's study said the Thaksin government had faced a loss of Bt19.13 billion from rice pledging in 2005/06 by pledging 5.24 million tonnes of rice, while the income guarantee by the Abhisit regime recorded a loss of only Bt7.38 billion in 2009.

Some 300-500 millers from 2,000 mills, and 10-20 giant exporters would benefit from the pledging scheme. Only 500,000 farmers from a total of four-million households stood to gain from rice pledging, TDRI chairman Nipon Poapongsakorn said. Outstanding costs totalling Bt141 billion from the rice subsidy in 2005 to 2009, included a smaller Bt44.6 billion incurred from the income guarantee scheme.

He said farmers would ignore developing grain quality as the government had set up a high pledging price without regard to rice quality.

The pledging project would draw a flood of rice from Cambodia and Burma. The market mechanism would be destroyed and only millers and a few exporters who joined the pledging scheme would survive, as the state would monopolise rice trading. Past attempts by the Thaksin government to form a rice cartel with Vietnam in order to influence global prices had been a proven failure, he noted.

The new government blames the Democrats' income guarantee scheme for not increasing rice prices, and says that is why it plans to resume the controversial price-pledging scheme.

Sumeth Laomoraphorn, CEO of CP Intertrade, yesterday drew strong support for the government rice pledging policy, saying the vision was in the right direction by foreseeing world's rice stocks at a low level while the price was trending upward.

According to futures stock prices of four key commodities - rice, wheat, maize and soybean - the rice price has not been adjusted in line with those other three crops. Moreover, rice prices have been exported at lower prices than they should have.

Major rice exporters such as the US, Vietnam and Pakistan have low stockpiles while export volumes are rising. Stockpiles in Thailand and Vietnam have reached 8 and 2.1 million tonnes respectively. But Thailand's export share is 30 per cent, and Vietnam 20 per cent, of the average global trade of 31-32 million tonnes of rice a year.

Sumeth urged the government to undertake a policy mix between income guarantee and pledging to shore up Thai rice prices. "The income guarantee scheme will directly pay compensation to farmers while pledging will shore up the price when it goes down," he said.

Aldhouse extradition to Phuket looks inevitable: British press

Lee Aldhouse, who is wanted for the August 2010 stabbing murder of American Dashawn Longfellow in Phuket's Rawai subdistrict.

PHUKET: The extradition of British kick-boxer Lee Aldhouse to Thailand to stand trial for the August 2010 stabbing murder of US Marine Dashawn Longfellow now seems inevitable, British media have reported

Britain's Sunday Mirror today reported a source in the British Home Office as saying: “The only way he could have realistically avoided extradition is if he would have faced the death penalty if found guilty. But the Thai Government have assured us that he will not.”

Mr Aldhouse has 14 days to appeal the ruling, according to the report.

Nicknamed "The Pitbull", Mr Aldhouse managed to flee Thailand through Cambodia, but was later arrested at Heathrow Airport in London.

Spirited Thailand make Aussies work for victory

Despite producing a spirited display, Thailand succumbed to a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to Australia in their opening Group D match of the World Cup qualifiers at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane yesterday.

On the back of scrappy performances in Thailand's 3-2 aggregate win over lowly Palestine, which earned them a place in the last-20 team stage, few expected Winfried Schaefer's men to come away with anything from the Australia fixture.
To put the narrow win over Palestine in context, it is worth noting that the second qualifying round tie came only a few weeks after Schaefer, 61, was officially appointed as Bryan Robson's successor in July.
With the German veteran having had time to settle in to his new job, there was optimism in the Thai camp that they could spring a surprise by at least taking a point off the Australians, who have reached the last two World Cup finals in Germany and South Africa.
Despite being deprived of the services of his No 1 goalkeeper Kawin Thamsatchanan, who has been sidelined with an elbow injury, the former Cameroon trainer was bullish that his men could cause an upset against an Australian side boasting several high-profile players, including Everton midfielder Tim Cahill.
The Thai side suffered a further setback before kickoff when Suchao Nutnum was deemed unfit to start the game, prompting Schaefer to field Sompong Sorlap in an unfamiliar role on the right side of the five-man midfield.
With the presence of 194-centimetre Josh Kennedy up front and Cahill, renowned for his aerial prowess, operating behind the towering striker, Schaefer's opposite number, compatriot Holger Osieck, showed which route the hosts intended to take to the goal.
Schaefer instructed his team not to concede a goal in the opening 20 minutes if they were to stand a chance against the home side, who finished as runners-up in the Asian Cup earlier this year. And the Thais honoured his words, standing firm in the face of an early assault from Australia.
In fact, the visiting team went one better, taking a shock lead from their first meaningful attack with a quarter of an hour gone. Sompong, normally a striker, repaid Schaefer's faith by cutting a pass from inside his own half before continuing his run to receive a return pass into the opposition area.
The Buriram FC forward then sent the ball to the overlapping Jakkaphan Kaewprom, who delivered a tantalising cross across the face of goal for Teerasil Dangda to side-foot past the wrong-footed Mark Schwarzer, sparking wild celebrations among a group of Thai fans at the stadium.
The goal stung the hosts into action; they nearly came back into the contest when Bret Holman broke clear down the left flank, but Sinthaweechai Hathairattanakool, deputising for the injured Kawin in goal, did well to intercept his pass with Australia players ready to pounce.
The Australians came even closer to equalising on the stroke of halftime when a good interlink play between Kennedy and Cahill almost resulted in a goal, with the latter taking the former's knock-down into his stride before firing it straight at the keeper. The halftime whistle brought a chorus of boos from the home fans.
Osieck's halftime talk seemed to have reinvigorated his side as the Australians quickly pushed the visitors onto the back foot after the restart. Just before the hour mark, the hosts restored parity when Matthew McKay was sent clear into the left side of the area before blasting a fierce shot, which Sinthaweechai parried into the path of Kennedy, who made no mistake from the rebound.
Moments later, the hosts had the ball in the net again but it was disallowed after the referee adjudged Cahill to have fouled the goalie when he challenged for the ball in the air.
The hosts continued to press and Sinthaweechai had to produce his best to tip Luke Wilshere's curling free kick from a dangerous position outside the box over the bar.
It looked as though the teams would have to share the spoils, but substitute Alex Brosque had different ideas, breaking the Thai resistance with an opportunistic strike that denied the Thais the point their fighting display deserved.

New Thai foreign minister arranges first overseas trip alphabetically

Thailand's new foreign minister unveiled plans for his first overseas visits, saying he had decided to arrange the tour schedule in alphabetical order.

Surapong Tovichakchaikul, the new Thai foreign minister  

Surapong Tovichakchaikul, whose appointment last month attracted criticism in Thailand because of his lack of high level experience, said he will travel to Brunei first on September 11.

The regional tour will encompass the nine other countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc.

"I will start with Brunei as it is first alphabetically, but Indonesia will come second because it's currently chairman of ASEAN," he told reporters at Government House in Bangkok.

The alphabetical order will then resume with a trip to Cambodia, on September 14, and then Laos.

He said he would visit all other ASEAN nations - Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam - within September without giving exact dates for each country.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who took power last month after an overwhelming win in the July 3 election, has not yet revealed her travel schedule.
Her fledgling government has already drawn fire over a recent visit to Japan by her brother, former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, who lives abroad to avoid a jail term for corruption.
Thailand's opposition says the country's new leadership illegally helped Thaksin obtain a visa for the trip.
Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 coup, addressed international media and visited areas devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami during the tour, which was seen as an attempt to return to the world stage.

Google Street View is Coming to Thailand

During a press conference this afternoon, the Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and Google announced a partnership for “Promoting Thai Tourism through the use of Google Street View”. Street View in Google Maps lets you explore places through 360-degree street-level imagery, whether you’re looking at locations in your town or across the globe. With Street View, you can check out a restaurant before going there, find beautiful places around the world to visit on your next vacation, or check out neighborhoods when you’re looking to move. For Thailand, they are hoping that the street view pictures of tourist attractions will help boost tourism.




A fleet of specially equipped cars will soon be heading out onto the streets of Bangkok. The Google cars have 15 lenses taking 360 degrees of photos. It also has motion sensors to track its position, a hard drive to store data, a small computer running the system, and lasers to capture 3D data to determine distances within the Street View imagery. It normally takes at least a few months to process the collected images before they appear online. It is estimated that it could even take two to three years to have a comprehensive map of Thailand with street view coverage. More information and samples of street view can be found at google.co.th/streetview.