Akara Suwatthikul of the Phuket Provincial Defense Office led a “special operation” accompanied by no less than four ranking officials from anti-drug operational units set up in Phuket had managed to arrest two suspects for drugs, the Phuket office of the Public Relations Department (PR Phuket) reported yesterday (Oct 18).
The operation was claimed to have been conducted under the instructions of Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew to crack down on drugs.
The raiding party was bolstered by six members of the Territorial Defense Volunteers (OrSor), said the report.
The team of law-enforcement officers arrested “Mr Sasipong” and “Mr Pakorn” (family names withheld) after the two were found with 17 pills of methamphetamine (ya bah) and four bags containing a total of 3.61 grammes of crystal meth (ya ice).
The ya bah pills were orange, noted the report.
The men were also found with more than B4,000 in cash. Also seized in the arrest were 60 cough pills, a modified lighter and two mobile phones, the report added.
Sasipong and Pakorn were both charged with illegal possession of a Category I narcotic with intent to sell and/or distribute, said the report.
Of note, the two men were arrested in the economically repressed slum area of Soi King Kaew, Rassada.
Meanwhile, Phuket Provincial Police yesterday reported the arrests of two young men caught at the Phuket Check point at Tha Chatchai trying to bring meth onto the island on interprovincial buses.
The two men were caught and arrested last Sunday (Oct 16), said the report.
At about 5:20pm, officers searched a bus from Danok, in Sadao District, Songkhla, and found “Mr Wuttichai”, 23, from Krabi with 43 ya bah pills.
At about 9pm a search of a bus from Phatthalung found “Mr Thitipong”, 23, from Phatthalung, with 189 ya bah pills.
Both men were taken to tha Chatchai Police Station nearby and charged with illegal possession of a Category I narcotic.
Also on Sunday, at about 2pm officers found Myanmar national “Ms Tiri”, 20, arriving on a bus from Chumphon.
Ms Tiri was carrying her passport, but was allowed to stay temporarily only in Ranong province, Phuket Provincial Police reported.
Ms Tiri was arrested for violating the conditions of her permission to enter the country, police noted in their report.
In Thalang, police are continuing their ‘zero tolerance’ arrest for drugs.
Thalang Police reported that on Oct 15 at about 4pm, officers acting under the direction of Thalang Police Superintendent Col Pisit Chuenphet arrested Worakorn Maliwan, 31, a resident of Moo 3, Pa Khlok.
Worakorn was arrested by the roadside near the Ao Por Bang Rong Intersection after he was found with two ya bah pills.
That same day, Thalang Police also arrested Nattakit Panniam, 18, from Trang province, at a workers’ accommodation dwelling in Moo 3 Pa Khlok after he was found with eight ya bah pills.
Both were taken to Thalang Police Station and charged with possession of a Category I narcotic.
While Phuket was reeling from floods across northern parts of he island and in Phuket Town on Monday, Phuket Provincial Police Commander Maj Gen Sermphan Sirikong led an assembly of officers at Phuket Provincial Police headquarters in phuket Town in rejoicing Thailand’s “National Police Day”.