Thai teen admits ownership of heroin in hospital scandal

A 14 year old boy became the centre of a legal turnabout when he admitted that the heroin found in a ziplock bag belonged to him, claiming it was for a first-time sniffing. His confession came after an incident involving the boy being physically assaulted by the director of Mongkutwattana Hospital, Doctor Rianthong Nanna, who had also stripped him of his clothes for smoking in the hospital’s restroom. The boy’s mother has since given a different account of the events.

The case took a new twist when the mother of the 14 year old boy, accompanied by the Win Win Foundation and a member of the Move Forward Party, went to Mongkutwattana Hospital in the afternoon to reclaim the boy’s belongings.

Upon examining the returned items, a small ziplock bag containing a white powdery substance, a small tube, and a lighter were found amongst the clothes and mobile phone. The mother refrained from taking the possessions back, and the hospital staff immediately contacted the Thung Song Hong Police Station to inspect the suspicious contents.

The police took the items for further investigation, and the boy’s mother, visibly shocked upon discovering the bag with the white powder among her son’s clothes, expressed uncertainty about the whole situation. She had not spoken to her son yet but stated if the substance was proven to be a drug, she would take him for a drug test, reported Sanook.

The mother claimed to have no prior knowledge of her son’s involvement with drugs but was prepared to follow legal proceedings if her son tested positive for drug use.

The boy, meanwhile, admitted that the ziplock bag with the white powder was his, stating he bought the heroin for 50 baht (US$1.4) from a friend in the neighbourhood and was using it for sniffing for the first time.