Major drug crackdown nets 100 million baht worth assets and 10 suspects

[webfact]

Major drug crackdown nets 100 million baht worth assets and 10 suspects



BANGKOK: -- Narcotic police have seized about 100 million baht worth of assets and arrested 10 suspects in a major crackdown of a drug trafficking network covering ten provinces.

Hundreds of police were mobilized in carrying out raids of 61 targets in Chiang Rai, Phayao, Petchabun, Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, Chainat, Nakhon Sawan, Nakhon Pathom and Songkhla provinces said to be linked to the Tern family’s network.

The seized assets include land and buildings, a hostel, cars, motorcycles, gold ornaments, cash and bank accounts.

The major crackdown was a follow-up operation after the arrest on March 15-16 of Kornthong Seesaikerd, a Hmong tribesmen, and nine other accomplices as they were trying to smuggle three million methamphetamine pills in five cars to their customers.

Narcotics police said that the drugs originated from Myanmar and then transported by boat in the Mekong river to Laos and smuggled overland into Loei province and transported by cars or trucks to the central region where they were distributed to buyers with a portion smuggled further down to the southern region.

Police said that the Tern family drug gang usually made use of their drug money to buy properties and to set up front companies to launder their drug money.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/major-drug-crackdown-nets-100-million-baht-worth-assets-10-suspects/


-- Thai PBS 2014-09-01

[clockman]

Ten people! Well its a start.

[halloween]

Is that the 10 in the picture?

[JeremyBowskill]

And que the usual "the police never follow the drugs to Mr Big" bored thaivisa miss Marples.

[NongKhaiKid]

The usual phrase ' connected to a local politician / influential figure ' is missing, so far !

[Nuddy]

There are 10 people in the photo, however 2 appear to be cops and three seem to be news/photographers.

Is there confusion with the name of the family, Tern and the number 10? Or the ten provinces?

Maybe the other 5 of the ten Tern family involved in the ten province are not there?

[CMNightRider]

And que the usual "the police never follow the drugs to Mr Big" bored thaivisa miss Marples.

I suspect "Mr. Big" are high ranking members of the Burmese government. Burma is a narco state, and anyone on the Thai side would be much smaller players. I'm sure DEA plays a vital role in assisting the Thai police, on the narcotic trafficking problem in Thailand. Congratulations to Thai law enforcement. :-)

[Patje]

Great !!!

[kerrysum]

No shit Sherlock....

[bino]

Is that the 10 in the picture?

It should be obvious that none of these people are suspects. No fingers pointed.

[Hermes100]

100% total waste of the tax payers time money and energy

will this have even the slightest effect on somebody abilty to obtain that drug?= no

will this stop others trying to supply this drug? =no

will this put people off trying to take drugs? = no

will this save the taxpayer money?= no,

will this cost the tax payer a huge sum of money? yes, and already has and will

will these polciys of having big police operatons and making big arrests and seizure in anyway stop the drug industry/ no, not at all, not even a tiny dent.

All of this is proven beyond question.Even one of USA heads of DEA has said this. The 'war" on drugs can never be won. Never has, never will.

Just a constant waste of resoruces.

And, yet, despite all the evidence, some still support this totally failed policys.

The big boys love them. Know that by supporting these policys you are supporting the big boys.

The whole thing is one big joke and I wonder where peoples mind is at.

[thhMan]

If you stop the drug trade along with mafia and other illegal crimes... then the 1% unemployment rate will show its true value....

[The Deerhunter]

100% total waste of the tax payers time money and energy

will this have even the slightest effect on somebody abilty to obtain that drug?= no

will this stop others trying to supply this drug? =no

will this put people off trying to take drugs? = no

will this save the taxpayer money?= no,

will this cost the tax payer a huge sum of money? yes, and already has and will

will these polciys of having big police operatons and making big arrests and seizure in anyway stop the drug industry/ no, not at all, not even a tiny dent.

All of this is proven beyond question.Even one of USA heads of DEA has said this. The 'war" on drugs can never be won. Never has, never will.

Just a constant waste of resoruces.

And, yet, despite all the evidence, some still support this totally failed policys.

The big boys love them. Know that by supporting these policys you are supporting the big boys.

The whole thing is one big joke and I wonder where peoples mind is at.

The 100 million baht in confiscated criminal assets will appear on the other side of the ledger. This is not Mary Jane or Opium. It doesn't give people a pleasant high or send you to dreamland for a few hours This is Ya Ba, ("P" Crystal meth etc). It turns decent people including executives & business owners into dangerous maniacs and lunatic drivers. This stuff is a real danger to society and a huge driver of billions of baht worth of personal & property crime. I am not sure how you would suggest the authorities handle this drug. It is an extremely antisocial drug, in fact it is poison to society.

[anon467848]

"Major drug crackdown nets 100 million baht worth assets" that is approx $3,15 million which is chicken feed.... they should try and get some of the guys higher up the food chain which would get some prized assets, but we know that this will never happen to 'connected' people. T.I.T.

Edited September 1, 2014 by merlin2002

[kurita]

I think you forgot a zero

[whaleboneman]

legalize all drugs. educate the people. sell drugs with little profit to those that still want them. instantly put the bad guys out of business. and probably reduce petty crime by at least half.

[thaiguzzi]

And que the usual "the police never follow the drugs to Mr Big" bored thaivisa miss Marples.

I suspect "Mr. Big" are high ranking members of the Burmese government. Burma is a narco state, and anyone on the Thai side would be much smaller players. I'm sure DEA plays a vital role in assisting the Thai police, on the narcotic trafficking problem in Thailand. Congratulations to Thai law enforcement. :-)

Nice Avatar. Looks like Sonny B. in his early days.

[atsiii]

No courts involved? No presentation of evidence? Sounds like more policing for profit, doesn't it?

[ratcatcher]

"Major drug crackdown nets 100 million baht worth assets" that is approx $3,15 million which is chicken feed.... they should try and get some of the guys higher up the food chain which would get some prized assets, but we know that this will never happen to 'connected' people. T.I.T.

This looks more like turkey feed to me.

100,000,000.00 THB = 3,129,169.79 USD Thai Baht ↔ US Dollar 1 THB = 0.0312917 USD 1 USD = 31.9574 THB

[tfc]

My only issue is that "they" banned a very useful medicine "pseudoephedrine" unless I go to a hospital, see an ENT then pay inflated prices.

The ban was meant to reduce drug production but from what I read from the catches the production seems to be going up.

[Triplebank999]

100% total waste of the tax payers time money and energy

will this have even the slightest effect on somebody abilty to obtain that drug?= no

will this stop others trying to supply this drug? =no

will this put people off trying to take drugs? = no

will this save the taxpayer money?= no,

will this cost the tax payer a huge sum of money? yes, and already has and will

will these polciys of having big police operatons and making big arrests and seizure in anyway stop the drug industry/ no, not at all, not even a tiny dent.

All of this is proven beyond question.Even one of USA heads of DEA has said this. The 'war" on drugs can never be won. Never has, never will.

Just a constant waste of resoruces.

And, yet, despite all the evidence, some still support this totally failed policys.

The big boys love them. Know that by supporting these policys you are supporting the big boys.

The whole thing is one big joke and I wonder where peoples mind is at.

"The whole thing is one big joke and I wonder where peoples mind is at."

Maybe you should wonder where your own mind "is at" if you seriously think that arrests and seizures such as these are a joke.

[Triplebank999]

No courts involved? No presentation of evidence? Sounds like more policing for profit, doesn't it?

No, not to any rational reader anyway.

Edited September 1, 2014 by Triplebank999

[h90]

100% total waste of the tax payers time money and energy

will this have even the slightest effect on somebody abilty to obtain that drug?= no

will this stop others trying to supply this drug? =no

will this put people off trying to take drugs? = no

will this save the taxpayer money?= no,

will this cost the tax payer a huge sum of money? yes, and already has and will

will these polciys of having big police operatons and making big arrests and seizure in anyway stop the drug industry/ no, not at all, not even a tiny dent.

All of this is proven beyond question.Even one of USA heads of DEA has said this. The 'war" on drugs can never be won. Never has, never will.

Just a constant waste of resoruces.

And, yet, despite all the evidence, some still support this totally failed policys.

The big boys love them. Know that by supporting these policys you are supporting the big boys.

The whole thing is one big joke and I wonder where peoples mind is at.

BUT:

It keeps the prices high

It makes the competition (who most probably gave the hint to the police) rich

It gives good news and a good show for politician and police

If they would want to get rid of it, they could do so in 3 month.

Just sell the narcotics in the pharmacy:

Clean quality: less die

brings tax money

makes the mafia poor. No need to make people addicted if they can buy it later in the pharmacy

crimes for money to purchase drugs: zero

Interesting for the kids because it is forbidden: No

Profit for politicians who are connected with the drug mafia: No and therefor it won't happen.

[mrowe1973]

100% total waste of the tax payers time money and energy

will this have even the slightest effect on somebody abilty to obtain that drug?= no

will this stop others trying to supply this drug? =no

will this put people off trying to take drugs? = no

will this save the taxpayer money?= no,

will this cost the tax payer a huge sum of money? yes, and already has and will

will these polciys of having big police operatons and making big arrests and seizure in anyway stop the drug industry/ no, not at all, not even a tiny dent.

All of this is proven beyond question.Even one of USA heads of DEA has said this. The 'war" on drugs can never be won. Never has, never will.

Just a constant waste of resoruces.

And, yet, despite all the evidence, some still support this totally failed policys.

The big boys love them. Know that by supporting these policys you are supporting the big boys.

The whole thing is one big joke and I wonder where peoples mind is at.

Well just think of all the smaller crimes associated with drug addicts: theft, assault, violence, misery. Maybe it will help stop some of this stuff...

It's a simple solution to stop the drug problem and meth is easy just ban the production of the key Ingerdient. It's mass produced in India for cold medicine.

America don't count because with the production of prescription pain pills we are the only country that turns are own population in to drug addicts and then they get sick and die. It's really good for the economy though because every cashes in on the in on it! What a joke our country has become!

[Bangmod]

So many pills and so little people....

[toooa]

100% total waste of the tax payers time money and energy

will this have even the slightest effect on somebody abilty to obtain that drug?= no

will this stop others trying to supply this drug? =no

will this put people off trying to take drugs? = no

will this save the taxpayer money?= no,

will this cost the tax payer a huge sum of money? yes, and already has and will

will these polciys of having big police operatons and making big arrests and seizure in anyway stop the drug industry/ no, not at all, not even a tiny dent.

All of this is proven beyond question.Even one of USA heads of DEA has said this. The 'war" on drugs can never be won. Never has, never will.

Just a constant waste of resoruces.

And, yet, despite all the evidence, some still support this totally failed policys.

The big boys love them. Know that by supporting these policys you are supporting the big boys.

The whole thing is one big joke and I wonder where peoples mind is at.

Finally someone who has a clue about how this all works. Hermes, you're a clever one. Not like the cheer on stupidity team who frequent this forum.

And I'd like to further what you've said with an observation...

It was reported today in the Bangkok Post that about 70% of the Thai prison population were there for drug crimes. So we could extrapolate and say that somewhere in the vicinity of 70% of crime...actually more, because all of the victimless crimes remain un-reported....about 70+ of crimes are drug crimes. So if there were no drug crimes, we'd have 30% or less of the "crime" we now have. That would mean we'd only need 30% of the current law enforcement employees. That begs the question does it not....Is it in the interest of law enforcement to have a drug free country? This question can be applied globally.

Let's connect those dots people...it's not that hard.

[lvr181]

100% total waste of the tax payers time money and energy

will this have even the slightest effect on somebody abilty to obtain that drug?= no

will this stop others trying to supply this drug? =no

will this put people off trying to take drugs? = no

will this save the taxpayer money?= no,

will this cost the tax payer a huge sum of money? yes, and already has and will

will these polciys of having big police operatons and making big arrests and seizure in anyway stop the drug industry/ no, not at all, not even a tiny dent.

All of this is proven beyond question.Even one of USA heads of DEA has said this. The 'war" on drugs can never be won. Never has, never will.

Just a constant waste of resoruces.

And, yet, despite all the evidence, some still support this totally failed policys.

The big boys love them. Know that by supporting these policys you are supporting the big boys.

The whole thing is one big joke and I wonder where peoples mind is at.

The 100 million baht in confiscated criminal assets will appear on the other side of the ledger. This is not Mary Jane or Opium. It doesn't give people a pleasant high or send you to dreamland for a few hours This is Ya Ba, ("P" Crystal meth etc). It turns decent people including executives & business owners into dangerous maniacs and lunatic drivers. This stuff is a real danger to society and a huge driver of billions of baht worth of personal & property crime. I am not sure how you would suggest the authorities handle this drug. It is an extremely antisocial drug, in fact it is poison to society.

Have you written that correctly? I would have thought it should read...."Turns many decent people into executives, business owners, politicians, people in uniform, dangerous maniacs and lunatic drivers."

Or am I a cynic?

[belg]

i think each country has statistics about pseudoephedrine usage, should limit the amount of product that could be imported into countries like burma, or everybody has a cold, all the time overthere ?

there are only a few world suppliers of this product

[Mitker]

100% total waste of the tax payers time money and energy

will this have even the slightest effect on somebody abilty to obtain that drug?= no

will this stop others trying to supply this drug? =no

will this put people off trying to take drugs? = no

will this save the taxpayer money?= no,

will this cost the tax payer a huge sum of money? yes, and already has and will

will these polciys of having big police operatons and making big arrests and seizure in anyway stop the drug industry/ no, not at all, not even a tiny dent.

All of this is proven beyond question.Even one of USA heads of DEA has said this. The 'war" on drugs can never be won. Never has, never will.

Just a constant waste of resoruces.

And, yet, despite all the evidence, some still support this totally failed policys.

The big boys love them. Know that by supporting these policys you are supporting the big boys.

The whole thing is one big joke and I wonder where peoples mind is at.

BUT:

It keeps the prices high

It makes the competition (who most probably gave the hint to the police) rich

It gives good news and a good show for politician and police

If they would want to get rid of it, they could do so in 3 month.

Just sell the narcotics in the pharmacy:

Clean quality: less die

brings tax money

makes the mafia poor. No need to make people addicted if they can buy it later in the pharmacy

crimes for money to purchase drugs: zero

Interesting for the kids because it is forbidden: No

Profit for politicians who are connected with the drug mafia: No and therefor it won't happen.

Agree totally with the rationale except for the underlying premise it is based on.

I don't believe that mafias and other criminals will just start opening flower businesses once the drug trade is not lucrative anymore.

They will just switch to other criminal activities, being human trade, racketing or other nasty stuff. That's in their DNA

But once again, I do agree that what you expose is the most efficient way to cut down the drug problem by 95% in short delays.

[Robert2006]

100% total waste of the tax payers time money and energy

will this have even the slightest effect on somebody abilty to obtain that drug?= no

will this stop others trying to supply this drug? =no

will this put people off trying to take drugs? = no

will this save the taxpayer money?= no,

will this cost the tax payer a huge sum of money? yes, and already has and will

will these polciys of having big police operatons and making big arrests and seizure in anyway stop the drug industry/ no, not at all, not even a tiny dent.

All of this is proven beyond question.Even one of USA heads of DEA has said this. The 'war" on drugs can never be won. Never has, never will.

Just a constant waste of resoruces.

And, yet, despite all the evidence, some still support this totally failed policys.

The big boys love them. Know that by supporting these policys you are supporting the big boys.

The whole thing is one big joke and I wonder where peoples mind is at.

The 100 million baht in confiscated criminal assets will appear on the other side of the ledger. This is not Mary Jane or Opium. It doesn't give people a pleasant high or send you to dreamland for a few hours This is Ya Ba, ("P" Crystal meth etc). It turns decent people including executives & business owners into dangerous maniacs and lunatic drivers. This stuff is a real danger to society and a huge driver of billions of baht worth of personal & property crime. I am not sure how you would suggest the authorities handle this drug. It is an extremely antisocial drug, in fact it is poison to society.

Your outlook about meth is almost a pure regurgitation of standard media propaganda. My guess is you have no personal experience with the drug. I have some experience with it as I was a musician in my youth touring the USA for 12 years, I tried meth, I know hundreds of people that used it and 99.99% are now drug free adults leading productive lives with families and highly productive jobs/business. Would it be preferable to you that all these people be locked up in jail? I’m sure it wouldn’t, and I know you mean well and I’m not advocating the use of meth but good lord, have you ever taken Adderall? What’s the difference? Oh, I forgot the pharmaceutical companies sell that type of meth so it’s OK.

Drug abuse is a disease; some people for various reasons have a difficult time saying no to drugs and need help dealing with that personal weakness. Meth like alcohol or any other drug if too much is consumed is going to create a problem. The vast majority of the world’s population of alcohol users has a few drinks a week they don’t drink themselves into losing everything they own and become a danger to society. Do you think if meth was legal the world’s population would all become dangerous meth users? Would you run out and buy some if it were suddenly legalized? Of course you wouldn’t but decriminalized the benefit is that we at least have a chance to help these people change their habits. Meth abuse cannot be stopped, it’s impossible, until society changes its focus to helping these people deal with whatever it is that is making them want to live in a drug altered reality nothing will change.

Wouldn’t it be nice if some desperate meth head could just walk into a clinic and ask for some help getting off the drug, no jail, no fine just help? Oh I forgot that doesn’t generate any money, drug laws are there for a purpose to make governments money, and if you think there is even a passing concern for you or your safety let me tell you those priorities are not even on their list. We’re not going to stop meth users from using it and driving on it, and stealing to get money to buy it, with laws designed to primarily to provide income for governments.

It’s all about the MONEY, follow the money, the real purpose of these laws are on display right here in this article, “100 million baht assets seized”, nice bit of booty for the boys, the plan is working just fine, for them!