Predawn raid at Bangkok’s drug dealing hotbed nets 13 suspects

BANGKOK: -- A combined force of 250 heavily armed commandos, narcotic suppression police and soldiers raided a large densely populated "Pensook" community, on Suthisarn road in Phayathai district of Bangkok before dawn Monday and arrested 13 criminal suspects and seized a number of drugs.

The community is said to be a hotbed of rampant narcotics dealing and other criminal activities.

It is where youth gangs use as their hideouts after using assault rifles to attack their rivals during the Songkran festival and remain at large.

The predawn raid involved the use of drones to make aerial observation of all escape routes, and sniffing dogs after the combined force encircled the community to conduct three suspected targets in the community which is located on Soi Intamara 10.

Narcotic suppression expert from Bangkok’s Office of The Narcotics Control Board also took part in the operation which began at 6 am after all routes to the community were sealed off.

Three targets are three wooden houses situated close together.

Thirteen drug suspects were apprehended from the three houses. Among them is Atiwat Apilertsirichai who was wanted for murder in 2014, small number of crystal meth and drug consuming equipment were seized.

According to ONCB drug specialist Ms Chanpen Jitwiwat, said the operation today was part of a campaign to clear Bangkok’s 2,030 communities of narcotics dealing.

The ONCB aims to make 499 communities clean and cleared of narcotics activities by September this year.

And by end of 2017, the ONCB expected to achieve the campaign to have all 2,030 communities saved from drug activities, she said.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/content/165289


-- Thai PBS 2016-05-30

good on them for busting some nasties.

but cleaning up 2030 communities and keeping them drug free, that needs a lot of manpower to raid them everyday.

good on them for busting some nasties.

but cleaning up 2030 communities and keeping them drug free, that needs a lot of manpower to raid them everyday.

Yes. People like drugs. Yes I understand police will try to stop the drug trade. But forget about actually stopping it. Only thing they can do is decrease the supply, which will weaken street level product and drive up price.

So many chopsticks in this bowl of rice...no way will they stamp out drugs.

good on them for busting some nasties.

but cleaning up 2030 communities and keeping them drug free, that needs a lot of manpower to raid them everyday.

Yes. People like drugs. Yes I understand police will try to stop the drug trade. But forget about actually stopping it. Only thing they can do is decrease the supply, which will weaken street level product and drive up price.

So many chopsticks in this bowl of rice...no way will they stamp out drugs.

yes, cut supply, drive up price.

maybe end up with 'tame' dealers in place.

war on drugs, talk about the unwinnable war.

So why is there no "force of 250 heavily armed commandos" to finally arrest that rogue abbot at Wat Dhammakaya or impound those tigers from that odious temple in Kanchanaburi (http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/921241-another-showdown-as-tiger-temple-blocks-1000-wildlife-officers/)?

"involved the use of drones"

when will the footage be on line i wonder ?

The ONCB aims to make 499 communities clean and cleared of narcotics activities by September this year.

And by end of 2017, the ONCB expected to achieve the campaign to have all 2,030 communities saved from drug activities, she said.

Blah...blah...blah.......

250 heavily armed commandos, too many for a photo shoot.

To win the war educate the users. I know another losing battle.

And how do the boys in brown make money now?

good on them for busting some nasties.

but cleaning up 2030 communities and keeping them drug free, that needs a lot of manpower to raid them everyday.

Yes. People like drugs. Yes I understand police will try to stop the drug trade. But forget about actually stopping it. Only thing they can do is decrease the supply, which will weaken street level product and drive up price.

So many chopsticks in this bowl of rice...no way will they stamp out drugs.

You are correct - the whole sham is corrupt nonsense. Recently in Iran every single male was executed in one community. A curse on the USA- The UK and The UN for so called war on drugs.

250 heavily armed commandos, too many for a photo shoot.

A fish eye lens might do the trick.

Maybe a better idea would be to flood the market with cheap drugs that would make the profit for the dealers very low. Drugs are readily available on every street corner in Thailand anyway and the motivation for the dealers is to make money. Take away the motivation and the won't find they won't find the risk worth it.

Simply legalize all drugs. That takes the profit out of it and makes the drug gangs extinct. If you want to buy- go to 7/11 and buy it. At the same time, launch a huge education program on why not to use drugs. If you choose to use- and overdose and die- the government will cremate you for free. Eventually, drug use will be manageable and decline dramatically. No more corruption; jails filled to capacity or a need for the narcotics police. The government will save billions.

good on them for busting some nasties.

but cleaning up 2030 communities and keeping them drug free, that needs a lot of manpower to raid them everyday.

Yes. People like drugs. Yes I understand police will try to stop the drug trade. But forget about actually stopping it. Only thing they can do is decrease the supply, which will weaken street level product and drive up price.

So many chopsticks in this bowl of rice...no way will they stamp out drugs.

yes, cut supply, drive up price.

maybe end up with 'tame' dealers in place.

war on drugs, talk about the unwinnable war.

You need to stop thinking in simple black & white terms when it comes to the "war on drugs", but you do hear the "unwinnable war" thing frequently from the drug trade's defenders (& users who think they're being clever). (It wasn't a great choice of words in the first place, but politicians have to "sell" things to an often pretty dumb-downed public and use phraseology the MSM can breezily parrot.) NO criminal activity is EVER wiped out; murder, kidnapping, rape, arson, terror(!)... So no "war" on any of them ever got "won" in your terms. Actual "winning" is not a matter of wiping out the drug trade completely; certainly that's not gonna' happen. But there's some measure of success in keeping the crap as inaccessible and legally dangerous to be caught handling as possible.

Edited May 30, 201610 yr by hawker9000

Haha, when I saw the headline ("Bangkok's drug dealing hotbed"), I half-expected it to be about Sukhumvit sois 3-5

I don't believe in anything until I see someone pointing at it.