Young men busted selling drugs online in Phuket, Phang Nga from their Twitter account

Two young Thai men are being held by police after their arrests on Monday for selling drugs online in the southern provinces of Phuket and Phang Nga, according to the Thai news blog Khaosod. The online drug trade is becoming an enormous business operating using common, everyday social media and delivery platforms.

The suspects, 16 and 20 years old, opened a Twitter account in 2019, which at the time of their arrest had more than 3,000 followers. They were using the account to openly market, discuss and sell frugs, for profit. The account shows photos of various drugs, which were then sent to buyers around Thailand.

The drugs business in Thailand is now high tech and booming, a bigger menace to Thai society than ever, according to Khoasod. Today’s drug pushers are online and impersonal, using accounts on messaging apps like Facebook, LINE and Twitter. Thai police chiefs are warning logistics and transport companies on their role and responsibilities in combating this new and growing means of promoting, selling and shipping drugs around the country.

Kanittha Thaikla, a Chiang Mai lecturer from the Research Institute for Health Services at Chiang Mai University claimed that in 2019 “most drugs bought and sold in Thailand are changing hands online”.

She noted in her report that no less than 200 Twitter accounts selling drugs where customers could order and pay for drugs online, and have their order hand-delivered by common delivery companies. Ms Kanittha highlighted the new “lingo” – code words used by drug gangs and their online followers to smoothly and effectively negotiate online purchases – top openly conduct their businesses under the noses of social company watchdogs and the Thai police.

SOURCES: Thai Residents | Thai Examiner