200 kilograms of Kratom seized in Hat Yai
Police arrested a 32 year old drug suspect and seized a stash of 200 kilograms of fresh kratom leaves and 2,000 bottles of cough syrup in Songkhla’s Hat Yai district today (September 11).
Following a tip-off, Hat Yai’s deputy superintendent Pol Lt Colonel Ranon Surawit led a raid on a rented house in Tambon Kuan Lang and seized 300,000 Baht worth of illicit drugs and arrested Anek Rattanapan, an alleged major dealer of kratom leaves.
Anek reportedly confessed to police that he rented the house for two months to store the drugs. He said he received kratom leaves from Malaysia and cough syrup from a Thai supplier, whom he contacted by phone.
He said he would make about 10,000 Baht profit from his customers.
Kratom has been controversial as it is used in other countries to make medicines, although it is listed as an illegal narcotic, preventing medicinal research in Thailand. Some academics have urged that the law should be amended to allow for kratom’s medicinal use.
More of the story with The Nation.
