Phuket Provincial Police Commander Maj Gen Rungrote Thakurapunyasiri confirmed to the The Phuket News today (May 22) that authorities here have currently arrested a total of 1,664 people, one of the highest nationwide.
“In part this is because some people are more used to being active and living during the night but they must begin to adapt,” Gen Rungrote said.
“The high numbers indicate that police officers are working hard to fully enforce the law,” he added.
The duration of the curfew was reduced slightly last Sunday (May 17) from 11pm to 4am as part of the drive to ease restrictions implemented to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“Many of the people that officers have arrested are heading home but didn’t quite make it within the curfew hours,” Maj Gen Rungrote explained.
“Now the curfew time is shorter they have more time to make it home within the timeframe,” he added.
Phuket Provincial Police today noted that only 92 of the 1,664 people arrested so far were arrested at checkpoints. The remaining 1,572 arrests were made by patrols.
The arrests so far were counted as 1,606 cases, of which 1,308 have been already processed, with 298 cases still waiting to be prosecuted, the Phuket Provincial Police also noted.
According to the report, the number of arrests for breaking the curfew without essential reason reported by each police station on the island so far is as follows:
Muang Phuket Police Station – 477 (1 new case)
Patong Police Station – 345 (2)
Wichit Police Station – 228 (3)
Karon Police Station – 137 (1)
Chalong Police Station – 115 (1)
Thalang Police Station – 132 (10)
Cherng Talay Police Station – 52 (1)
Kamala Police Station 36 (zero)
Tha Chatchai Police Station – 34 (zero)
Kathu Police Station – 73 (1)
Sakhu Police Station - 35 (1)
“I want to ask people to comply with regulations by not leaving the house during the curfew to minimise movement and reduce the occurrence of communicable diseases,” Maj Gen Rungrote concluded.