Phuket ‘making good progress against drugs’ – police chief


Gen Patchara: The street price of meth is going up, which means police are winning.

PHUKET: -- The island’s police chief says is confident that serious headway is being made against the illegal drug trade in Phuket, and that more progress will be seen soon with arrests of more key suppliers.

Talking with The Phuket News after the arrests of four dealers and the seizure of 19,000 methamphetamine pills (ya bah) on Monday (November 17) in Phuket, Pol Maj Gen Patchara Boonyasit said, “Now, we have information about the majors dealer and their networks in Phuket. But there is some information we don’t know yet.

“We are ready to pounce on them but we have to wait until they take large deliveries so that we have the evidence to put them away. We have to be patient.

Police action is having an effect already, he said, with street prices of meth rising as demand begins to exceed supply.

“Methamphetamine is not so easily available in Phuket as it is elsewhere in Thailand. We can tell from the street price. If ya bah is selling for B80 a pill that means that policemen are not being effective – they are not working hard enough.

“But, if the price goes up to between B100 and B120, we know that we are having an effect.”

Police are now working out how to catch Jae Na, the Bangkok wholesale supplier identified after last week’s major bust. “We will not stop working on it. I have already set up a team to follow up on that specifically.”

Asked whether police were involved in dealing in drugs – a common assumption in Thailand – he laughed, then said, “Anyone can say what they want to. But police officers are watched by their superiors so it’s really not possible [for them to deal in drugs].

“The proof will be visible in how effective we are in eradicating drugs. I am serious about this; drugs must be eradicated in Phuket.

“If you don’t believe me, just look up my record.”

Apart from last Monday’s round-up, police under Gen Patchara stopped another drug ring on October 12 and seized nearby 2.4 kilos of crystal meth. Interrogation identified the supplier of that haul as another woman wholesaler, a Ms Bee, believed to be doing time in Nakhon Sri Thammarat jail.

On October 29 a courier carrying an estimated B2 million in ya bah was caught before he could deliver to a client in Phuket, whom Gen Patchara declined to identify but described cryptically as a person “who loves to read newspapers” and who is now being watched by the police.

The recent big busts are in contrast to action during the terms of previous police chiefs, when only low-level dealers seemed to be caught.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-%E2%80%98making-good-progress-against-drugs%E2%80%99-police-chief-49755.php


-- Phuket News 2014-11-21

Which news came in first?

• Fake Phuket monks used donations for partying and drugs
• Phuket 'making good progress against drugs' – police chief

“We are ready to pounce on them but we have to wait until they take large deliveries so that we have the evidence to put them away. We have to be patient."

Hope you're a very patient man--methinks you'll now have quite a long wait

I believe the police here in most cases run the drugs biz...i have even seen the delivering.

They are artificially raising the price to make more profit, get it.

“If you don’t believe me, just look up my record.” - I wouldn't mind looking up your "record" of assets, most likely in another family member's name.

For me, that is the most important "record" of your work.