Udon Thani News & Events

[Oytopikos]

UDON THANI, 4 August 2015 (NNT) - Thailand’s northeastern province of Udon Thani held an annual aviation emergency response exercise or U-EMEX 2015 to ensure that its provincial airport have all staff, equipment and systems ready for any kind of emergency, Director of the Provincial Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office Sarawut Palawat revealed during the exercise.

The exercise involved a mock-up accident in which an airplane experienced a mechanical problem at the front wheels while landing in the airport. The wheels’ failure made the plane skid off runway, causing an oil leakage that finally led to a big blast.

The exercise was conducted strictly in line with Thailand’s national emergency plan 2015 and the safety standards of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

The drill embraced not only outdoor training but also involved all working groups in the emergency response system, making it a full-scale exercise from tabletop to every specific task force. In this year’s exercise, four rescuers of Laos’s national rescue team also came to observe and joined the activity in Udon Thani.

: http://thainews.prd.go.th/CenterWeb/NewsEN/NewsDetail?NT01_NewsID=WNPOL5808040010010#sthash.GSuqjMy0.dpuf

[Oytopikos]

Five bankrupt cops sacked, more likely says top brass

The Nation August 7, 2015 1:00 am

Five police officers in Udon Thani who were declared bankrupt by the court were dismissed from the civil service. More than 100 police officers from various provinces including, Maha Sarakham, might face a similar fate due to overwhelming debts, said Provincial Police Region 4 commissioner Police Lieutenant General Boonlert Jaipradit.
Boonlert yesterday presided over a meeting of related officers and bank representatives about the issue of indebted police officers.

The region's 13,000 police officers owed a total of Bt9 billion to the Government Saving Bank. More than 2,500 officers who owe Bt2 billion have fallen behind with their repayments, he said.

Thanks to a regional project to help the officers negotiate their debts with the bank, 1,100 such officers who owed Bt900 million settled their affairs, while 1,200 officers who owed Bt1 billion were in the process of negotiating, he said.

However, 600 officers were sued for bankruptcy.

"Yesterday, we saw five Udon Thani police officers dismissed from work because their bankruptcy cases were finalised. About 100 more might be next," he added.

[Oytopikos]

A 31-year-old nurse accused of swindling more than 4 million baht from people in Udon Thani was detained by police in Bangkok’s Bangkok Noi district on Wednesday.

Malisa Srinanam was apprehended by Crime Suppression Division and Bangkok Noi police in front of Siriraj Piyamaharajkarun Hospital on Wednesday afternoon.

She was named in an arrest warrant issued by an Udon Thani court, accused of colluding with her ex-boyfriend in duping people to invest in selling medical equipment, Pol Lt Col Torsak Panklinput, a CSD investigator, said on Wednesday

The pair had opened a business, Malisa Technology Co, in Udon Thani’s Ban Dung district and persuaded people to invest in medical equipment, with a promise of a dividend of 10% on the investment money,...

http://bangkokpost.com/news/general/653188/nurse-arrested-on-swindling-charge

[Oytopikos]

Jail for child sex offender expelled from Thailand



A former Weston-super-Mare man expelled from Thailand to face child sexual abuse charges has been jailed for 15 and a half years.

Robert David Hastings, 62, who was living in the Thai city of Udon Thani at the time of his arrest, was convicted of 10 counts of indecent assault and three counts of indecency with a child following a short trial at Bristol Crown Court last month.

He was sentenced at the same court earlier today (14/8).

The offences were all committed in the 1990s in the Weston-super-Mare area against a vulnerable girl, who was aged between four and nine years old at the time.

The victim contacted police in February 2011 and was able to give a video statement the following month.

Further enquiries found Hastings had been living in Thailand since 2005 and so work began on carrying out a full and thorough investigation which would lead to his expulsion.

Hastings was arrested by Thai police in November 2014 and taken to the Immigration Detention Centre in Bangkok. He was expelled back to the UK in February 2015 following the conclusion of the police investigation.

Acting Det Sgt Martin Davies, of Bristol Investigations, said: “Robert Hastings is a deceptive and cruel sexual offender who took advantage of a vulnerable child and subjected her to some truly awful offences.

“When he was arrested by Thai police in November 2014 he told the media he was happy to return to the UK as “he’d done nothing wrong”.

“Members of the jury were able to see through his lies and convicted him of 13 serious sexual offences.

“I have tremendous admiration for the victim for finding the courage to report these crimes to us, and then being able to endure the long wait while the expulsion and judicial processes progressed.

“She has shown unwavering support of the investigation and I hope this conclusion will help her to find some form of closure.

“We’re extremely grateful to all the agencies both here and in Thailand involved in arresting and bringing Hastings back to the UK to face trial, especially the National Crime Agency, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Crown Prosecution Service.”

Rachael Scott, head of the CPS South West Complex Casework Unit said: “The CPS worked closely with Avon and Somerset police and other partner agencies to bring this case before the court. This conviction and today’s sentence highlight our combined commitment to bringing sexual offenders to justice.

“We have a dedicated team of specialist lawyers who review rape and other serious sexual offences working alongside police investigators on these highly sensitive cases. I would like to reassure anyone who has suffered at the hands of a sexual offender that the CPS will always seek to prosecute where there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to do so, no matter how long ago the offences were committed or where in the world they are now hiding.

“Robert Hastings was unable to evade justice and will now have to face the consequences of his crimes.”

https://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/newsroom/jail-for-child-sex-offender-expelled-from-thailand/

[Oytopikos]

Thieves targeted foreigners' homes in Northeast

Two members of a gang of burglars targeting houses of foreign residents in the Northeast have been arrested and some of the 10 million baht of loot recovered, in Nakhon Ratchasima’s Bua Yai district.

Pradit Chainok, 28, and his brother Prasopchok, 26, both Bua Yai residents, were detained and presented at a press conference at the Provincial Police Region 4 office on Friday.

The two brothers looked for their victims at Udon Thani airport, targeting foreigners with Thai wives, said Pol Lt Gen Boonlert Jaipradit, commissioner of Provincial Police Region 4.

The suspects then followed the chosen victims to their houses and waited for an opportunity to break in and steal whatever valuables they could make off with, Thai media reported.

http://bangkokpost.com/news/general/656088/thieves-targeted-foreigners-homes-in-northeast.

[Oytopikos]

A man arrested with 3 million baht worth of marijuana in Udon Thani has told police that he agreed to smuggle the drugs because he needed the money for his wedding.


Pongpan Walasud, 26, a resident of Bung Kan province, was apprehended after local police and border patrol officers searched a car parked at a petrol station in Muang district of the northeastern province  on Friday evening. Inside the Toyota Camry sedan, which had a Bangkok licence plate, they found five fertiliser sacks containing 297 bars of compressed marijuana, each weighing a kilogramme.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/673504/pot-smuggler-labour-of-love.

[Oytopikos]

DR KANGWAN WONGRAT-SAMEETUAN, director of Namsom District Hospital in Udon Thani province, has been named the "Best Rural Doctor of 2014" for encouraging new physicians to use their knowledge to help the grassroots, especially in rural areas.

"I was very glad when I successfully entered Siriraj Medical School, then I was very proud when I graduated and this time I'm very proud and glad that I'm rewarded with the best rural doctor prize," he said yesterday.

"I will continue my duty as a rural doctor until my retirement," he said.

Mahidol University's Medical School at Siriraj Hospital hosted the 41st ceremony, bestowing the prize to Kangwan for his contribution to the rural hospital in the Northeast for 31 years.



At the press conference, Kangwan said he wants to use his medical knowledge to benefit the people and wants new doctors to follow the will of the father of Thai modern medicine, Prince Mahidol of Songkhla, to contribute their skills to the masses.

He said he wanted to become a rural doctor after he graduated. When he was posted to Namsom District Hospital 31 years ago, the district was mostly undeveloped and the danger of the communist insurgency was ever present.

"At that time, the hospital had only 10 beds and the lack of medical staff and equipment was a major concern, but now the area has already developed and more people reside in the district. The hospital now has 60 beds," he said.

"We are now facing new problems of hospital management, as the hospital is larger and the people are now suffering more from chronic diseases such as diabetes due to the change of lifestyles.

"These are the challenges that we are trying to tackle," he added.

Dr Prasit Watanapa, director of Siriraj Medical School, said he was pleased to present the prize to Kangwan because he had seen Kangwan's good work at Namsom District Hospital and his contribution to healthcare development in the rural area.

"Doctors like Kangwan are very important to our country. Doctors who give up their comfortable lives to help the people in rural areas set an example for others," he said.

Dr Samut Zhongwisan, chairman of the rural doctor prize committee, said there were 15 nominees and the committee had visited their hospitals to talk with staff and patients and monitor the hospitals' operation to find the finest practitioner for this prize.

"We judged on the experience of each doctor, healthcare management, interpersonal relations, academic knowledge, leadership and creativity for doing good things for the people. A nominee is not required to be a Siriraj Medical School alumnus," he said.

It was hard to choose the award winner, as all candidates had excellent performance.

The winner would hopefully inspire and act as a role model for rural doctors across the country, he added.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Udon-Thani-hospital-chief-named-best-rural-doctor-30268096.html

[Oytopikos]

BANGKOK (AP) — More than 100 students and villagers crowded into a northeast Thailand college forum to hear about American gas companies conducting drilling operations in their region. A lieutenant colonel and dozens of soldiers and police officers followed them in.

The armed police began photographing members of the crowd, a menacing move in a country now run by a military junta that bars protests and routinely cracks down on dissenters. Some in the audience had already viewed the military as part of the problem, since months earlier they had forced demonstrators to make way for drilling equipment.

"With soldiers in the meeting room we were scared because we could not criticize the state officers who protect the company," said Chainarong Sretthachau, a professor who organized the May event at Mahasarakham University. "If I did not agree, they would not allow us to organize the conference."

Villagers in the northeast provinces of Udon Thani, Khon Kaen and Kalasin are trying to stop the drilling operations by American company APICO and its subsidiary Tatex Thailand.

Opponents of the operations describe them as fracking, or hydraulic fracturing. The technique requires high-pressure injection of water, chemicals and sand to crack shale rock and allow gas to seep out, but has been criticized for causing water pollution and even triggering small earthquakes. Fracking has boosted fuel production in the U.S. and elsewhere while meeting increasing opposition from affected communities.

APICO has said it is not fracking in the Southeast Asian country, though documents relating to its work say fracking was at least attempted there and describe wastewater ponds that are consistent with fracking operations. The Thai government says fracking is going on in the country's shale-rich northeast but would not say precisely where.

In any case, the drilling will apparently continue. Earlier this year, Thailand's Office of the Ombudsman dismissed a complaint that the country's National Human Rights Commission had filed on the villagers' behalf. The ombudsman's office, which investigates allegations of government wrongdoing and can refer cases to Thai courts, did not return phone calls or emails and provided no explanation for the dismissal.

More than 200 residents in communities near well sites have complained to the human rights commission about skin and respiratory problems and six have been hospitalized, according to commission member Nirun Pitakwatchara. Videos of farmland posted to Facebook and other sites allege that rubber trees and other agriculture have been damaged by associated airborne chemicals such as sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide gases. Chainarong said that locals in one village near a gas operation report that their water has become brown and unusable.

Phuthon Anochadech, a villager whose rubber trees are near APICO's operation in Udon Thani, said that when drilling began two years ago, "It smelled so bad, we couldn't breathe."


He said in a telephone interview that he lost nearly 1 million baht ($28,000) that year because his trees produced little, and his worker quit because the fracking work was making him sick.

"Before all this, he was a healthy man, but during that time, he had to take allergy pills every day, his eyes were always watering from the haze until he couldn't do it anymore and he quit," Phuthon said. "He said he would die if he stayed."

Phuthon himself suffered from rashes and breathing problems, and he said his crops continue to suffer. He said APICO offered him compensation that does not begin to cover his losses.

Nirun said the human rights commission and the government had struck an agreement in early February to hold a forum for local stakeholders before drilling began, but the agreement was ignored. He said APICO officials "aren't announcing to the people about projects and exploration."

APICO is a privately held company incorporated in Delaware but based in Bangkok. It referred questions to its CEO, Dwight Johnson, who did not return repeated phone calls and emails from The Associated Press seeking comment.

The commission has been meeting with local communities for the past year and hosted a June meeting attended by 400 people. In total, petitions from eight communities in eight different provinces were filed against oil and gas exploration with the commission.

"We accumulated every single case and it boiled down to just one problem, which is granting concessions for natural resources should go through the legal process of environmental impact studies," said Kraisak Choonhavan, an adviser to the commission.

While APICO and Tatex have filed formal environmental impact assessments, Thailand's Environment Act requires that activities in the EIA be carried out only when locals are informed at least 15 days in advance. Chainarong said that according to residents, APICO obtained signatures granting consent to drill by giving away T-shirts, bags and nail cutters to villagers and making them sign for the items.


Phuthon, the rubber farmer, said that at the beginning of the drilling operation, APICO held an "educational session" telling residents the work would bring "jobs, ease of transport and civilization to the village." He said they offered souvenirs — "cheap things which cost less than 100 baht ($2.77)" — and asked people to sign their names as proof of receiving them. He said he took nothing.

The drilling dispute is taking place around the Dong Mun gas field, which covers 31.9 square kilometers (12.3 square miles) and has expected gas reserves of 96 billion cubic feet, enough to power about a million homes for a year.

In February, demonstrators from the town of Ban Na Dun in Khon Kaen blocked APICO's equipment from being transported to a drilling site, but soldiers, police and masked guards made them clear the road.

"I understand them, the villagers, when they said educated people took advantage of them," said Lt. Col. Napasit Pongwarapisarn, the provincial military chief of staff who attended the university conference. "I sympathized with them but what can the military do? Everything was signed. Military and police have to do it. We follow orders."

In late April, the group Stop Fracking Thailand staged a protest outside the U.S. Embassy demanding that American oil companies leave Thailand. In response, APICO representatives denied the use of fracking in northeastern Thailand.

However, Coastal Energy Company, a Cayman Islands-based company that owns a 39 percent stake in APICO, announced hydraulic fracturing tests at the northeastern APICO-operated gas fields in 2009 and 2010. Those tests were unsuccessful, and the company did not specify whether subsequent successful drilling involved fracking. Coastal Energy is now a subsidiary of Compania Espanola de Petroleos SA, which is owned by the Abu Dhabi government.

The EIAs for APICO and Tatex Thailand do not specify if the companies are using hydraulic fracturing but do detail onsite chemical wastewater ponds containing toxic materials such as arsenic, which are characteristic of fracking operations.

Phumee Srisuwon, director of Mineral Fuels Management Bureau for Thailand's Ministry of Energy, said fracking techniques have been used on a limited basis by state-owned energy company PTTEP, which has partnerships with APICO. He said those wells are in the northeast but would not say whether they are the same ones villagers are protesting.

He said fracking is "still in the early stage in Thailand."

APICO released a statement in early March saying that its obligations, including hosting meetings with locals in the affected areas, were met, and that the company's concession through the Thai government is legal.

Natural gas powers 75 percent of Thailand's electric power plants, and foreign companies account for more than half of the natural gas produced within the country. All the gas is sold back to the state, said Witoon Kaoaien, chief production supervisor for PTTEP.

Foreign companies are conducting both inland and offshore fracking operations in Thailand. Coastal Energy Company began using offshore hydraulic fracturing techniques in the southern province of Songkhla in 2013, according to its annual report.

Chevron uses seawater injection techniques at wells in the Gulf of Thailand's Pattani Basin. A 2011 research paper from the International Petroleum Technology Conference, authored by a Chevron Thailand Exploration and Production team, mentions Chevron Thailand's use of "prolonged hydro-fracturing" in this area, noting that the method fractures rock by injecting water, but differs from conventional hydraulic fracturing in that the cooling of the rock causes the fracturing, rather than high water pressure.

"Chevron does not apply hydraulic fracturing technology in Thailand," company spokeswoman Saransri Prawatpattanakul said in an emailed response to questions from the AP.

Many Thais have questioned the government's continued pursuit of fossil fuels, but it is risky to challenge military leaders who have maintained full control since a May 2014 coup.

Before the May conference, Chainarong said he was summoned to Maha Sarakham's city hall by Lt. Col. Napasit to sign an agreement forbidding criticism of Thailand's military government and allowing the officers to attend.

Napasit said in a telephone interview that the military and police had been invited to the conference. He described the document-signing as a normal procedure under the military government.

The lieutenant colonel was the last speaker at the forum. When he took the microphone, attendees rose from their seats and walked out.

http://news.yahoo.com/thai-villagers-gas-drilling-sickens-them-ruins-crops-080608120.html

[Oytopikos]

Firm closer to applying for mining licence amid local uproar
Seksanti Kanlayanawisut
The Nation September 16, 2015 1:00 am
As Udon Thani environmentalists expressed their objection to a public meeting on mining concessions being held at a military camp, Asia Pacific Potash Corporation (APPC) was one step closer to applying for the mining licence.
APPC executive Woravudh Hiranyapaisansakul said yesterday's public meeting in Non Sung district brought the company closer to applying for a mining licence.

Mining firms are required to have such meetings, or "Prachakhom Mooban", so they can explain their operations to the villagers and hear what the locals have to say. The information is gathered by the Industry Ministry, which uses it to consider if it should grant the licence.

Woravudh made it clear that such meetings weren't held to ask for approval for the mine construction. After the village headman submits the meeting report to 15 villages in two sub-districts, the local bodies can hold a meeting in which administrators offer opinions. The information that is submitted to the provincial industrial office is passed pass on to the ministry. Then the minister orders the office to organise a public hearing for the whole province, he added.

However, environmentalists yesterday alleged that the public meeting had been arranged in such a way as to facilitate capitalists to get mining concession as fast as possible.

Manee Boonrod, a member of the Udon Thani environmentalist group, said she received a letter on September 10 to attend the meeting on the potash mining concession in Udon Thani. She said the meeting should not have been held at the military camp, more than 10 kilometres away from communities. The heavy military presence at the site implied that the government did not want public participation and wanted to award the concession to the private sector as fast as possible. She said the regulations state that the public meeting must be carried out at Tambon Huaysampad or Tambon Namuang in Prachaksilapakom district.

She said her group vowed to fight against injustice and the lack of transparency in the mining concession.

NGO Cord's secretary-general Suwit Kularbwong said the potash mining is a large development project that will have a significant impact to the environment. The government should not rush to give a concession without public participation.

"The Prachakhom Mooban was carried out without justice and the villagers are likely to face problems as a result," he said.

Rajabhat University lecturer Santipap Siriwattanapaiboon said the Department of Primary Industries and Mines had amended relevant laws in March, which stated that voting in public hearings on projects under the responsibility of the department was not needed.

"This is to facilitate the mining concession without taking into account public participation. The fact that it was held at a military camp means it should not be called a public hearing,"’ he said.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Firm-closer-to-applying-for-mining-licence-amid-lo-30268882.html

[Oytopikos]

UDON THANI:– An Australian man spent a night in the cells after going on a drunken rampage in Udon Thani.

Jason Mark Walsh, 38, had to be restrained by officers after becoming violent following an argument with his girlfriend and her family.

According to Thai news site Khaosod, Mr Walsh had been persuaded to travel to Udon Thani to the visit the family of his girlfriend, who he had met approximately one month earlier in the popular resort of Pattaya.

Apparently, Mr Walsh and his girlfriend were going to announce their plans to get married to his her parents and the rest of the family.

However, several hours after arriving at the family home, it is alleged that a now drunk Mr Walsh got involved in an argument with his girlfriend and other family members, which resulted in Mr Walsh leaving the family home and returning to the B2 Boutique Hotel in Udon Thani town centre.

Upon his return to the hotel, the report in Khaosod states that Mr Walsh became aggressive towards a group of local teenagers and hotel staff, before the police were called.

As the fracas continued, it is alleged that Mr Walsh started shouting abuse and spitting at the first police officers to arrive at the scene.

Finally, Mr Walsh had to be restrained by six police officers before being taken to the local police station, where officers thought it was best for Mr Walsh to spend a night in the cells and sober up.

Mr Walsh was released without the charge the following day.

The story was originally reported by Khaosod on 14 September.

Source: Khaosod

[Oytopikos]

Udon Thani airport has reopened its recently renovated passenger terminal, according to a National News Bureau of Thailand report.

Officials said the airport, technically designated an international gateway, has upgraded its terminal to prepare for the introduction of the ASEAN Economic Community.

The airport has no international flights, although buses run from the airport to the border with Laos at Nong Khai where travellers connect with a bus to Vientiane Laos.


It is the only connection the airport has with the ASEAN Economic Community member countries.

Minister of Transport Akom Termpittayapisit presided over the opening ceremony, Sunday. The renovation was carried out under the supervision of the Department of Civil Aviation.

The terminal covers an area of 8,536 square metres, with a capacity of handling up to 400 passengers per hour.

The renovated building, when combined with the existing passenger terminal, can handle up to 1,200 passengers per hour.

Officials expect more travellers to travel between Vientiane, the capital of Lao and Nong Khai, a border town around 80 km north of Udon Thani. From there they can take a mini-bus to connect with flights from Udon Thani.

Currently, Udon Thani International Airport is served by five domestic airlines that offer 48 round-trip flights daily from Bangkok(DMK). Around 1.4 million passengers use the airport annually.

http://www.ttrweekly.com/site/2015/09/udon-opens-airport-terminal/

[Oytopikos]

Warrants issued for arrest of two skull thieves

The Nation September 23, 2015 4:25 pm

The Udon Thani Provincial Court Wednesday approved arrest warrants for two shamans who allegedly stole a skull from a graveyard for amulet making.
"We will track them down," Udon Thani Police Station's superintendent Pol Colonel Wit Muttasin said, "Their crime has emotionally devastated the victim's family".

Wanted in this case are Narong Phumphuchit and Arthit Kongkarian, both 35. Being natives of the Udon Thani province, they have now gone into hiding.

Their accomplice, Bangorn Srinanam, was arrested on September 15.

[Oytopikos]

A young married mother and her lover have been arrested in Udon Thani over the death of her 20-month-old daughter, who was sexually abused, police said on Wednesday.

The 23-year-old woman, whose name was withheld, and her lover identified only as Nopparat, 22, were arrested separately in Phen district of Udon Thani on Wednesday.

The arrests followed a complaint by relatives that a girl one year and eight months old had been sexually abused and later died at a hospital in Nong Khai in the early hours of Wednesday.

:http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/713176/married-mother-lover-arrested-over-sexual-abuse-of-baby.

[Oytopikos]

Potash mining still boiling issue despite councillors’ votes
Chularat Saengpassa
The Nation

UDON THANI: — LOCALS IN two tambons of Udon Thani’s Prachaksinlapakhom district continue to oppose a project to launch potash-mining operations in their hometown, even after their local administrative bodies had voted on the issue.

These two tambons are Huai Sam Phad and Na Muang.

On September 25, Tambon Huai Sam Phad Administrative Organisation voted against the project, while the Tambon Na Muang Administrative Organisation voted for it.

Opponents of the project in Tambon Huai Sam Phad remain active because they want to make sure potash mining will not take place in their hometown. Opponents of the project in Tambon Na Muang, meanwhile, have planned to petition the Udon Thani Administrative Court over allegations that public forums on the project were not properly organised.

Asia Pacific Potash Corp (APPC) plans to launch mining operations in five tambons of Udon Thani’s Prachaksinlapakhom district, including Huai Sam Phad and Na Muang.

Manee Boonrawd, who has long fought against the project, submitted a letter directly to Udon Thani’s industry chief Thanawat Lert-sukhon this week asking that the APPC project exclude Tambon Huai Sam Phad from its operation.

“Locals are worried the project will endanger their environment, health and way of life,” she said. “By majority vote, our councillors have disapproved the project”.

Of 25 councillors of Tambon Huai Sam Phad administrative organisation, 12 voted “no” to the APPC mining project while nine voted “yes”. Four councillors abstained. Thanawat said he would inform the Industry Ministry of the local people’s wishes.

For about 14 years, a large number of locals in Tambon Na Muang have fought against the mining project alongside the like-minded in Tambon Huai Sam Phad.

However, when the decisive voting was held on September 25, 13 councillors of Tambon Na Muang administrative organisation approved the project. Six others disapproved while seven abstained.

Udon Thani environment conservation group secretary Decha Khambaomuang said one public forum on the project took place at night and lacked a quorum,

“How can it be used for [supporting]the project?” he asked.

He said the report prepared by the APPC for its potash-mining project must be illegal because it was based on an inappropriately organised public forum.

“We will ask the court to invalidate the report,” Decha said.

He said locals would not accept the mining operations in tambon Na Muang because the site was near community zones, schools, colleges, and medical facilities.

On Decha’s proposal, Thanawat said Industry Minister Atchaka Sibunruang would look into this project and make a decision.

“If she disapproves the project, it will be scrapped. But if she approves the project, a public hearing will be held in Udon Thani to listen to the opinions of locals again,” Thanawat said.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Potash-mining-still-boiling-issue-despite-councill-30270417.html

[Oytopikos]

Australian pedophile arrested in Udon Thani

BANGKOK:– A convicted pedophile who had been found guilty of sexually abusing two children in Australia has been arrested in Udon Thani.

Trevor Yardley, 71, was previously jailed for seven years in relation to his crime and was arrested following a tip off from police in Australia who asked Thai authorities to locate Yardley after they noticed he had started transferring money from his bank account in Australia to an account in Thailand.

Yardley was arrested at the home of his Thai wife and is accused of entering Thailand illegally after being found without a valid entry stamp in his passport, Pol Lt Gen Nathathorn Prousoontorn told a press briefing on Sunday.

Pervert Yardley will now be deported back to Australia.

During the briefing, Pol Lt Gen Nathathorn also announced the arrest of two Russian men who were wanted in connection with crimes in their home country.

Source: VoiceTV