Thai police arrest 3 Chinese nationals in a major vape bust; seize illegal products
Bangkok, March 31 (IANS) In a major crackdown, the Thai police on Monday arrested three Chinese nationals, two men and a woman, during a sting operation in Pattaya, seizing vape-pens and zombie-vape liquid. The suspects allegedly admitted to running the illegal activities with sales worth 2 million Thai baht a day, the media reported.
Patanasak Bupphasawan, commander of the Consumer Protection Police Division of Thailand, stated that the suspects admitted to daily sales of about 1,000 e-cigarettes to tourists and young people. They priced a vape at 2,000 baht, so they earned about 2 million baht a day.
“The arresting team also seized about 100 grams of powdered etomidate anaesthetic, e-cigarettes and equipment for mixing the anaesthetic and e-liquid to make zombie-vape fluid. The seized products were worth about 513,590 baht in total,” Thailand’s leading newspaper, Bangkok Post, reported, quoting Bupphasawan.
A few days ago, Thai police raided 10 locations in Nonthaburi province and seized about 260,000 smuggled Chinese-made vape pipes and related products, worth about 130 million baht in total.
Again last week, more than 64,000 vaping products valued at 12.6 million baht were confiscated in a crackdown by the Customs Department, the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), and the Royal Thai Police (RTP).
Speaking to the media, Theeraj Athanavanich, director-general of the Customs Department, said the products were seized during an inspection of eight unclaimed shipping containers at Laem Chabang port in Chon Buri province of Thailand.
A total of 64,397 e-cigarette products, both disposable and refillable, were seized as part of ongoing investigations into smuggling, particularly of prohibited goods such as vaping products.
Recently, the Thailand Prime Minister’s office announced cash rewards to citizens for reporting the use of e-cigarettes in an attempt to combat the rising trend of vaping and to address public health concerns.
Those whose information leads to the arrest of suspects stand to be rewarded with 60 per cent of the fine, while related government officials will also get incentives, the office said.
Meanwhile, those caught selling or possessing e-cigarettes with the intent to sell could face up to five years in jail and a fine of up to four times the value of the products stored.
Smugglers can face up to 10 years in jail and a fine of up to five times the value of the smuggled products.
Informants are advised to include photographic evidence when filing a complaint, which they can do anonymously, the PM’s Office said.
–IANS
int/pgh
