Chiang Mai Hospital Worker Arrested On Cold Pill Theft Charges

[webfact]

COLD PILL THEFT

Hospital worker held

EKKAPONG PRADITPONG

THE NATION

Chiang Mai

CHIANG MAI: -- A drug storage official at Central Memorial Hospital has been arrested on charges of stealing 5,000 pseudoephedrine tablets and forging purchase orders for 370,000 tablets.

Police told a press conference yesterday that their investigation found that from May-September of last year, Phitsinee Prasertsri (Thidaporn Khampopk), 32, had reportedly taken the cold and sinus tablets containing pseudoephedrine on various occasions out of the hospital for resale.

While police were probing other cases of disappearing pseudoephedrine tablets, they were contacted by Central Memorial Hospital in Muang district about suspicious drug orders and missing medicine.

The hospital also had its representative file a complaint at the Muang Chiang Mai Police Station.

The investigation started last Thursday and a warrant for her arrest was approved.

Police said the suspect would use correction fluid to blank |out the pharmaceutical company's name on purchase |orders and also the quantity |of medicine, then write the names of two other companies and the new quantity on the orders before photocopying and faxing them to the other companies.

When the medicine was delivered, she allegedly smuggled them out to resell them.

Police were gathering evidence for arrest warrants for two or three people at the drug companies who were involved in this crime.

The drug route was also being traced to see if the pills were used to produce illicit drugs.

Waranya Lertworakitpipat, the hospital director, said the hospital usually uses 500 such tablets a year and orders only a small amount each time.

-- The Nation 2012-04-18

[Ajaan]

It amazed me when I moved to California that buying heavy-duty allergy meds like Zyrtec-D required registering with an ID (so they can keep track of how much you buy in a given month, and cut you off when you reach the quota)...

...and it made me realize how what an ex-girlfriend from the East Coast once told me is really, really true..."on the East Coast, they're mean but smart; on the West Coast, they're nice but stupid"...stupid indeed, an entire geographical area of the US where crystal meth is the #1 drug (if you've never been to the Western US but you've watched the cable TV series "Breaking Bad," rest assured, it is ALL true and not at all an exaggeration...)

So how fitting is it that a form of crystal meth ("yaa baa") is the number one drug in Thailand, sigh...

[TackyToo]

Why do I get the impression that no one a little higher on the ladder will ever get arrested?