Major E-Cigarette Bust in Bangkok: Police Seize Over 30,000 Devices Worth 5 Million Baht

[Georgealbert]

 

Picture courtesy of police.

 

Police in Bangkok have dismantled a major illicit e-cigarette distribution network, seizing over 30,000 vaping devices with an estimated value exceeding 5 million baht. The raid, led by Sutthisan Police Station, resulted in the arrest of four suspects.

 

At 19.30 on 1st February, senior officers from Sutthisan Police Station, including Pol. Col. Jetsada Suaisom, Acting Chief of Metropolitan Police Division 2, and Pol. Col. Phorntep Chalermkiat, Superintendent of Sutthisan Police Station, led an operation targeting a condominium in Soi Lat Phrao 12, Chatuchak district. Acting on intelligence from an informant, officers had been monitoring the location, suspected of serving as a storage and distribution hub for illegal e-cigarettes.

 

Upon identifying individuals matching the reported descriptions, police moved in to conduct a search. The initial inspection revealed a large number of e-cigarettes packed in parcel boxes. Following questioning, the suspects admitted to storing additional stock in their condominium unit. A thorough search uncovered e-cigarettes neatly arranged on shelves, as well as numerous boxes prepared for shipment to customers.

 

Police arrested four individuals identified as:

 

• Danusorn Saenphap, 29

• Saowalak Suthawan, 37

• Thanathit Thawisuk, 51

• Thasaringkham Watchai, 30

 

During police interrogation, the suspects confessed to illegally selling e-cigarettes online for approximately one year. Authorities believe the operation was one of the largest illegal vaping supply chains in the capital.

 

The suspects face multiple charges under Thailand’s Consumer Protection Act (1979) and the Customs Act, including:

 

• Selling prohibited products as ordered by the Consumer Protection Board

• Possessing and distributing contraband goods under Section 246 of the Customs Act

 

All four individuals, along with the confiscated e-cigarettes, have been handed over to Sutthisan Police Station for further legal proceedings.

 

Authorities have stated that investigations are ongoing to identify additional parties involved in the illicit trade, with potential arrests expected as part of an extended crackdown on illegal e-cigarette distribution networks in Thailand.

 

-- 2025-02-02

 

 

[hotchilli]

On 2/2/2025 at 5:32 AM, Georgealbert said:

During police interrogation, the suspects confessed to illegally selling e-cigarettes online for approximately one year

Do the police monitor online outlets?

[Davedub]

Read: Police take measures to protect the Thai tobacco monoploy, reducing the harm inflicted on their profits. Protecting and serving the public? Reducing people's access to a nicotine delivery system that has been proven time and again, without doubt to be far less harmful than smoking is neither protecting or serving anyone except those reaping vast profits from the legal sale of traditional cancer sticks. This is a national disgrace. From the policy makers to the boots on the ground, they should be ashamed of themselves - total loss of face.

[khunjeff]

Amazing police work! Those vape vendors are almost impossible to find...other than on every street corner and in every market. And of course all the police officers publicly vaping all over the country are actually conducting secret research into the supply networks 😅

[rumeaug]

It is called trying to empty the sea with a strainer...