Police raid hookah bar near Phuket university

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Police raid hookah bar near Phuket university
Eakkapop Thongtub


The officers found 11 teenage girls at the bar. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

PHUKET: -- Police took into custody a bar manager and seized 40 hookah water pipes after a raid last night (July 29) found 11 teenage girls smoking at the night venue.

Officials led by Aroon Sing-in of the Phuket Provincial Office and Phuket City Police Deputy Superintendent Chao Phomna raided the Sabaijai Bar on Kanjana-Uthit Rd, located beside the fresh market behind Phuket Rajabhat University, at 10pm.

The raid, comprising more than 30 police and officials, including civil defense volunteers, was instigated after a tip-off that the venue was providing illegal tobacco products and smoking paraphernalia.

In turn, officers seized 40 shisha, known locally as baraku, from the bar and took into custody the bar manager, Tanongsak Janmanee, 32, from Nakorn Sri Thammaratm who was taken to Phuket City Police Station for questioning.

The 11 teenage girls caught smoking at the bar were also found to have no identification among any of them at the time of the raid. Officers took their statements, then chastised them for smoking and explained the dangers of the habit to them before releasing them.

Prime Minister Gen Prayuth Chan-o-cha and the National Council for Peace and Order last year banned the import of the Middle-Eastern style hookah pipe, a device used to smoke baraku, a tobacco-type product.

The move, although criticised for its alleged lack of effectiveness, aimed to curb smoking or drug problems among teens. (See story here.)

The ban became effective on February 19, 2105, under the Consumer Protection Act, which stipulates that any persons found selling or providing baraku or liquid for smoking e-baraku, if found guilty, will face up to to five years in jail or a fine of up to B500,000, or both.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/police-raid-hookah-bar-near-phuket-university-53422.php


-- Phuket News 2015-07-30

[retell]

now hookah bars next hookah bars

[Deli]

And the Tuk Tuk and Taxi pricks run free, with their illegal vehicles...

[dageurreotype]

Police raid hookah bar near Phuket university

Too obvious. Must try harder

[NamKangMan]

Good to see officials are tackling Phuket's big issues.

[Halion]

As prostitution is also against the law why the hell are hey not raiding the hooker bars. They seem to just pick and choose which law suits their agenda of the week.

[Wasima]

Easy pickings...

[Reigntax]

5 years and 500,000 Bath fine? They could bash and mug 100 foreign tourists and get less punishment!

[Bulldozer Dawn]

Hmmm. Drunken thugs in a pickup threaten police volunteers at the Bangla beachside police box carpark and not a single REPEAT NOT A SINGLE police man can be found to assist.

And yet (MORE THAN) THIRTY 30 THIRTY 30 YES THIRTY police and other officials raid a bar where some kids were smoking tobacco through a water pipe.

Edited August 1, 2015 by Bulldozer Dawn

[inzman]

Obviously they have a keen sense of priorities. <deleted>? Hookah bars? Meanwhile serious crimes are commited daily with wild abandon.

[sgtsabai]

Good, that crap stinks.