PHUKET: Police on Phuket will support call centres being set up in each district on Phuket so taxis can pick up and drop off passengers anywhere on the island, Major General Panya Mamen said today.

Major General Panya, the Region 8 Police Commander and Task Force Chief, was speaking after two arrested officials from Kata-Karon blamed ''two-faced'' Phuket Provincial authorities for their predicament.

Deputy Mayor Sompong Dabpeach and Chief Senior Officer Weerasak Anaekwongsawat told Phuketwan they had often proposed solutions to taxi and tuk-tuk issues in Kata-Karon but Phuket provincial authorities were always half-hearted about the suggestions.

As four more senior Kata-Karon officials surrendered to arrest warrants today, Major General Panya warned that any intimidation of witnesses would be severely punished.

The days of taxi and tuk-tuk drivers on Phuket painting yellow lines on public roads and declaring parking in public spaces only for themselves were over, the Major General said.

''Thirty-six shacks on public land in Kata-Karon have been destroyed and the four officials who surrendered today are accused of supporting taxi drivers, as well as supplying them with free electricity and water,'' he said.

Whenever there were local council meetings to settle disputes between businesspeople and taxi drivers, the council officials always sided with the taxi drivers, Major General Panya said.

''From now on, taxi drivers must upgrade themselves to wear uniforms, to be well-mannered and to provide an appropriate service by picking up and dropping off passengers everywhere on Phuket,'' he said.

Deputy Mayor Sompong earlier told Phuketwan that he was ''shocked yesterday afternoon when I received an arrest warrant from police. We try to do our job and there are about 400 taxis in Kata-Karon.''

''Phuket Province has to be the backup for us but they are two-faced,'' he said. ''The number of black illegal taxis keeps growing but police do not arrest the illegal drivers.''

Chief Officer Weerasak said the central government of Thailand had not looked closely at the system in Kata-Karon that allowed local people to take up nine different occupations with the support of local council officials.

''We support the system as much as we can,'' he said. ''But there are bad people among them so the police should arrest them and follow the rules. We have tried to sort the problem out.''

Other officials on Phuket say that Kata-Karon officials have been supportive of taxi drivers taking over more than 80 percent of the parking spaces in the district and controlling access to and from all resorts by extortion and intimidation.

Major General Panya said similar task force operations that have so far seen more than 100 arrests in Kata-Karon will follow in Patong and at Phuket International Airport.