A team of narcotics suppression police officers swooped in and confiscated 631 kilograms of crystal meth or “ice” and arrested seven suspects in Songkhla on Saturday.
Pol Maj-General Pornsak Surasit, commander of Narcotics Suppression Division 4, announced the raid at a press conference on Monday.
He said it is believed that the shipment was heading to Malaysia to be further shipped to Australia, where it would have fetched over 600 million baht.
The seven suspects arrested were identified as Lukman Cheduramae, 40; Wanida Asae, 41; Waemae Lomae; 38, Daki Mueli, 38; Alading Dingpo, 33; Mapaosi Salae, 24; and Nakarin Salae, 34. Six were from Narathiwat, while Wanida – the only woman – was from Pattani.
Pornsak said his team learned of the gang’s planned movements after a suspect was caught with 402,000 methamphetamine pills in Songkhla’s Rattaphum district on Friday night.
He said police had been monitoring the group until they received a tip-off on Friday that the group was planning to ship the haul to the deep South.
In the early hours of Saturday, police spotted two vehicles heading towards a highway police checkpoint in Ratthaphum district’s Khuha Tai area. Police also spotted a third vehicle trailing behind and stopped apparently to see the situation of the two other vehicles at the checkpoint.
Officers then searched the three vehicles, one of which was a pick-up truck, and found the drugs hidden in 14 bags. The seven suspects, including three drivers, reportedly said they picked up the shipment from Nakhon Pathom’s Bang Len district and were delivering it to a contact in Narathiwat’s Sungai Kolok district.
Pornsak said all seven were charged with illegal possession of illicit drugs with the intent to sell.
Police have impounded the three vehicles along with a plot of land with a house worth a total of about 5.1 million baht to find out if they were bought from the proceeds of drug trafficking.
Pornsak said the gang chose to smuggle the drugs by road after learning that security checks at airports and piers had been stepped up.
Thirty Miss Universe Thailand 2022 contestants participated in an activity to preserve Thai tradition and culture at Wat Benchamabophit in Bangkok’s Dusit district on Monday.
The contestants, clad in traditional Thai dress, offered alms to 30 monks at the temple and received blessings for prosperity in return.
The preliminary Miss Universe Thailand competition will be held on July 27 and the final on July 30 at Iconsiam.
Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan insists the government is working hard to make Thailand’s fishing industry – one of the world’s largest – sustainable.
Prawit was speaking on Monday at a meeting of the National Fisheries Policy Committee to review efforts to curb illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
The meeting focused on illegal fishing in Thailand’s largest inland fishery, Songkhla Lake, as well as efforts to preserve marine species at risk of extinction.
Only 14 Irrawaddy dolphins were found in the latest survey of Songkhla Lake, where overfishing has also severely depleted other marine species.
On Monday, agencies were ordered to follow the Marine Mammal Protection Act and action plans for conservation, especially reducing plastic waste in fisheries.
Thailand has made progress in curbing marine plastic trash, dropping from sixth to 10th on this year’s UN list of the world’s largest ocean polluters.
Monday’s meeting heard that Thailand’s three-pronged preservation strategy was to restore the ecosystem and biodiversity, integrate fishery resources and sustainably manage those resources.
Thailand announced this month it would no longer issue licences for bottom-trawling – the destructive practice of dragging heavy nets along the sea floor.
The country has also cracked down on human trafficking and other abuses that led the European Union to threaten a ban on Thai seafood imports.
However, Prawit ordered the Department of Fisheries and related agencies to cooperate with international organisations and the public sector in protecting labours and other fishing industry stakeholders.
Up to 851 medical staff and alumni of Mahidol University’s Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital joined forces in a campaign to close loopholes in the cannabis legalisation.
This move came after a statement on July 9, claiming that loopholes after Public Health Ministry’s removed cannabis from the list of narcotics on June 9 had impacted consumers, such as cannabis overdose and the use of herbs for recreation.
The statement also expected loopholes in cannabis legalisation to cause tremendous impact on the country in the long term, especially on children.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, Smith Srisont, head of Ramathibodi Hospital’s forensic unit, urged the government to close loopholes in the cannabis legalisation immediately and open hearings from related parties in order to tackle the issue properly.
He asked the university’s medical staff and alumni to participate in the campaign via Google Forms. He also asked people to participate in the campaign on Change.org.
As of 2.02pm on Monday, the campaign on Change.org had drawn more than 10,853 supporters.
Heavy rains last week have left 14 provinces inundated and cost two lives, but the situation has returned to normal, the government spokesman said on Monday.
Spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha met with National Water Resources Committee (NWRC) on Monday to discuss the heavy flooding in many provinces last week.
At the meeting, the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department reported that the provinces of Chiang Mai, Lampang, Uttaradit, Phetchabun, Phitsanulok, Phichit, Chaiyaphum, Khon Kaen, Nakhon Ratchasima, Rayong, Chonburi, Samut Prakan, Nonthaburi and Yala had been flooded last week. As many as 29 subdistricts, 63 villages and 392 households were affected, with two deaths reported in Chonburi.
The department said that as of Monday, the overall situation had returned to normal.
Thanakorn said Prayut has asked the department to coordinate with local authorities to monitor the situation and provide assistance to those affected. The PM has also instructed the department to prepare necessary equipment for flood prevention.
“Related agencies have also been instructed to clear sewers and waterways of garbage to ensure maximum drainage after heavy rains,” Thanakorn said.
“People living in flood-prone areas should move their properties to higher ground, ensure their home’s electrical system is safe and beware of poisonous insects and reptiles that come with floods.”
People have also been advised to keep up with weather updates from the Thai Meteorological Department or download the “Thai Disaster Alert” mobile app.
Meanwhile, the department said on Monday that Thailand will see less rain this week as the southwest monsoon over the Andaman Sea, the South and Gulf is weakening.
On Friday and Saturday, however, the southwest monsoon prevailing over the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand will strengthen, bringing more rain, with isolated heavy showers in the East and the South.
A top Thai virologist reckons that monkeypox is far too difficult to control or eliminate, and will soon become an endemic disease.
In a Facebook post on Monday, Dr Yong Poovorawan, chief of the Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology at Chulalongkorn University, pointed out that monkeypox is spread through sexual contact.
“Any disease that is spread via intimate touch is difficult to control or be eliminated. Venereal diseases have existed for hundreds of years. We have good medicine to treat them, but we cannot eliminate them,” Yong said in his post.
“Likewise, monkeypox will be difficult to control or eliminate. Unless we develop vaccines that provide immunity against all variants, which will cost a lot, we will just have to live with this disease.”
Yong said that since the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared monkeypox a global health emergency on Saturday, all countries should join hands to control and reduce the infection rate.
On Sunday, Thailand responded by upgrading its monkeypox alert to the national level after the public health minister called an emergency meeting with health agencies.
Yong said so far over 16,000 people in some 75 countries have been infected and five have reportedly died, though the WHO has not yet confirmed monkeypox-related fatalities. However, he said, monkeypox is normally not that severe and the fatality rate is as low as 3 in 10,000.
Thai taxi, tuk tuk and motorcycle taxi drivers were reminded that the point deduction system introduced to control their behaviour will go into effect from January 1, 2023.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, the Thai Taxi Driver Federation said the point system was to be introduced on December 1 last year but had to be postponed due to the pandemic.
A point system has been devised by the Department of Land Transport (DLT) to control the behaviour of public vehicle drivers and promote safety.
“Each public vehicle driver will start with 100 points, which will be deducted every time an offence is committed. Once all points are gone, the driver’s licence will be suspended,” the post said.
Offences that warrant point deduction are as follows:
Category 1 offence: 10 points
• Failure to display ID card
• Use of an unregistered vehicle
• Vehicle does not match registration papers
• Using a personal vehicle to pick up passengers
• Being a nuisance to passengers
Category 2 offence: 20 points
• Not using a fare meter or GPS certified by DLT
• Refusing passengers
• Taking unnecessary detours or using routes not agreed upon by passengers
• Abandoning passengers
• Displaying poor manners, being rude, insulting, sarcastic or aggressive
• Consuming alcohol or intoxicants while driving (less than 50mg per 100ml of blood)
• Using vehicles that have crossed their lifespan
Category 3 offence: 30 points
• Displaying obscene behaviour in the presence of passengers
• Driving recklessly that can cause damage or injury
• Tampering with the fare meter
• Consuming alcohol or intoxicant while driving (more than 50mg per 100ml of blood)
• Using an expired or suspended licence
• Demanding more fare than stipulated.
“Some serious offences will result in all points being deducted immediately, including offences that that affect the country’s image or reputation, driving with no consideration to people’s safety and wellbeing, and causing accidents resulting in multiple injuries or deaths,” the federation warned.
According to DLT rules, licences will be suspended for 90 days once all points are deducted. Two suspensions in three years will see the driver losing their licence for 180 days.
To rebuild their points, all drivers must undergo DLT’s training courses and pass the exam. A two-hour course will win them 50 points, and a four-hour course 100 points. Drivers can undergo training once a year, and those who fail the exam can retake the test three times in seven days.
Passengers using the BTS Green Line extensions will have to start paying fares from next month, the Bangkok governor said on Sunday.
Governor Chadchart Sittipunt spoke to reporters after attending a meeting between the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) company Krungthep Thanakom and the Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTSC). The two sides met to negotiate the mountain of debt, estimated at 40 billion baht, BMA owes to BTSC for operating the Green Line extensions.
The Green Line extensions run from Bearing to Kheha in Samut Prakan (13km) and from Mo Chit to Khu Khot in Pathum Thani (19km).
The BTSC slapped the BMA with a lawsuit in September last year for 12 billion baht it says is owed for operating the Green Line extensions and another 20 billion for operation and maintenance costs.
Chadchart said that apart from looking into ways of paying off the debt, BMA also needs to look into charging fares for the extensions, which have been free for commuters so far.
He said BMA’s Traffic and Transport Department is studying the fare issue and should have a decision ready within next month. He said this new fare will be applicable until 2029.
“We need to rush on this issue as BMA has been paying billions every year for operations, and we are in debt because we did not collect any fares,” he said.
He said it was necessary to generate revenue, but the BMA needs to consider all options to ensure commuters are not burdened.
He added that the fare for the Green Line extension should not exceed 59 baht, because the 44-baht limit proposed by the Thailand Consumers Council would only create more debts.
Chadchart also said the BMA will take advertisement revenue into account when calculating the fares.
The Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) announced on Sunday that it received 2 million capsules of the anti-viral drug Molnupiravir on July 12 and expects another 3 million within this month.
Dr Sirikul Matevelungsun, GPO deputy managing director, said the government has tasked GPO with procuring 5 million 200mg Molnupiravir capsules from manufacturers at a price of no more than 1,000 baht per course of 40 capsules. The GPO has made deals with producers in India and other countries.
“These drugs will be delivered primarily to public health emergency operations centres across Thailand daily, including public holidays, to ensure all local units have enough drugs to treat Covid-19 patients,” she said.
Last week, the Thai Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that private clinics operating under the 1998 Health Facility Act can order and sell FDA-approved Covid-19 anti-viral drugs like Favipiravir, Remdesivir, Molnupiravir and Paxlovid.
Public Health permanent secretary Dr Kiattiphum Wongrajit said recently that the ministry plans to make Covid-19 drugs and treatment more easily available as steps are being taken to declare the disease endemic.
Currently, not all Covid-19 patients need anti-viral drugs, as those with mild or no symptoms can take fah talai jone tablets until they are cured, Kiattiphum added.
He said police had been monitoring the group until they received a tip-off on Friday that the group was planning to ship the haul to the deep South.
Officers then searched the three vehicles, one of which was a pick-up truck, and found the drugs hidden in 14 bags. The seven suspects, including three drivers, reportedly said they picked up the shipment from Nakhon Pathom’s Bang Len district and were delivering it to a contact in Narathiwat’s Sungai Kolok district.
Pornsak said the gang chose to smuggle the drugs by road after learning that security checks at airports and piers had been stepped up.
SootinClaimon.Com 