First, we’ve had the ongoing saga of the murder of Hungarian businessman Peter Reisz, whose mutilated body was found in Patong. He had been stabbed multiple times and bashed in the head, then dumped, wrapped in plastic.
At time of press, two Hungarian men have been arrested in relation to the death. One of the suspects, a particularly unsavoury character named Moshe David, was once pulled in and questioned by Thai police after the disappearance in Thailand of a Hungarian billionaire, Laszlo Csepai.
The business magnate was spotted on CCTV at an airport in Thailand with David, shortly before he disappeared. But with nothing more to go on, Thai police had to release him.
Meanwhile, the hunt continues for missing American surfer Brett Bean. A regular visitor to Phuket – he had spent part of the year here for the last eight years – he was due to fly back to the United States on November 29 but did not make the flight.
Checks showed that Mr Bean left his bungalow in Karon on November 26. His surfboard and other belongings were found in the bungalow, but his wallet, mobile phone and notebook computer were not.
His mother, who he would email every day and who had waited in vain for his arrival at Los Angeles Airport, is now on the island, and offering a 50,000 baht reward for any information that will lead to the discovery of her son.
However, the saddest news of all this week at all is that stories like these two – a murder and a missing persons case – seem all-too-common on our sandy shores.
While arguably Phuket is no more dangerous than any other major tourist destination – especially when you consider more than 2 million people vacation here each year, a figure set only to rise – these two cases are a reminder of the island’s potential for darkness.
It’s not palm trees and sunshine all the time.