Chiang Mai

Narcotics Control Board say they’ve prevented 300 million meth pills coming into Thailand

Published

3 months ago

January 30, 2019

The Thaiger & The Nation

Narcotics Control Board say they’ve prevented 300 million meth pills coming into Thailand | The Thaiger

PHOTO: Niyom Termsrisuk, ONCB secretary-general – The Nation

“During the period, the ONCB led officials to search 84,000 villages and arrested 90,000 suspects in some 80,000 cases.”

The Office of Narcotics Control Board says that it’s managed to prevent 300 million methamphetamine pills from flowing into the country in Q4, 2018.

The ONCB secretary-general Niyom Termsrisuk says the agency also continues to work with counterparts in Myanmar, Laos and China to form operational teams of more than 1,000 officials. He claimed that, together, they had also blocked the flow of 2 million tonnes of precursor chemicals (ingredients for the production of drugs) from being smuggled into the Golden Triangle region.

Narcotics Control Board say they've prevented 300 million meth pills coming into Thailand | News by The Thaiger

The precursor chemicals could have been used to produce another 30 million meth pills, he added.

He claimed that ONCB officials had managed to block around 300 million meth pills into the country via the northern border with help from the three countries during the same period.

The ONCB had collaborated with other agencies to suppress drug trafficking in the Kingdom during the three-month period and managed to seize 200 million meth pills and freeze assets worth 243 million baht from traffickers.

During the period, the ONCB led officials to search 84,000 villages and arrested 90,000 suspects in some 80,000 cases, he said, adding that 30,000 drug abusers had been sent to receive mandatory rehabilitation.

ONCB-assigned officers also waded through the sites of social media-based drug trafficking gangs and identified more than 10,000 such gangs for police action.

Many such gangs reportedly applied a method of supplying drugs first and collecting payments later and often resorted to violence when customers refused to pay, he said. The gangs also lured youths to be their drug runners, supplying them in advance with 200-1,000 meth pills at a time via the post, with the youths selling the drugs and then paying the gangs.

Niyom urged parents to monitor their children’s use of smartphones and social media to prevent them from becoming victims of the gangs.

The secretary-general said meth pills remained the most troublesome drug for Thailand, followed by “ice”, or crystal meth, although most of the ice was smuggled in for re-exporting.

The ONCB is also monitoring against ketamine which is widely used at Thai entertainment venues.

Narcotics Control Board say they've prevented 300 million meth pills coming into Thailand | News by The Thaiger

SOURCE: The Nation

Related Topics:drugs Golden Triangle Narcotics Thailand

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Air Pollution

Developer pulls the plug on 500 million baht retirement project in Chiang Mai

Published

1 day ago

April 17, 2019

The Thaiger & The Nation

Developer pulls the plug on 500 million baht retirement project in Chiang Mai | The Thaiger

PHOTO: Sunshine International Retirement Residence & Serviced Apartment, Hua Hin

Sunshine International, Thailand’s leading brand of retirement residences says that their project which was due to be constructed near Chiang Mai’s city centre has now been cancelled.

Sunshine International, a retirement property that included around the clock medical facilities, on site doctors and nurses, and state of the art facilities, was due to be built on a five rai site in central Chiang Mai.

But ThaiVisa reports that the company says, due to the problems the city is experiencing with poor air quality, smog and pollution, it has been forced to cancel the Sunshine International Retirement Residences project.

Andrew Stocks of Sunshine International said they had an increase in people contacting them saying they have been forced to leave Chiang Mai because of the smog.

He said that due to the negative impact the project is currently not viable.

Andrew said his company will now focus on its other retirement projects located in Hua Hin, as well as a soon to be announced project in Phuket. He said Sunshine International would consider returning to Chiang Mai again if the smog situation improved.

Andrew called on the authorities to step in to help protect the livelihoods of local people who rely on income generated by the tourism industry in the region.

SOURCE: ThaiVisa.com

Chiang Mai

UPDATE: ‘Flight of the Gibbon’ ride in Chiang Mai temporarily closed

Published

3 days ago

April 16, 2019

The Thaiger

PHOTOS: Guruchiangmai

The ‘Flight of the Gibbon’ zipline ride in Chiang Mai has been ordered to temporarily shut down while an investigation continues into the death of a Canadian tourist on Saturday.

The Canadian tourist’s weight has been officially reported now as 122 kilograms after a lot of discussion in Thai media whether the man was over the 125 kilogram weight limit for the ride.

The 25 year old Canadian tourist, Donaldson Spencer Charles, fell to his death after safety lines allegedly broke on his zipline ride in Chiang Mai. He was traveling with a group, including his girlfriend, at the time. Initial investigations indicate that the young men fell shortly after launching off the treetop platform.

Read The Thaiger’s initial report HERE.

Guruchiangmai website report that the zipline has been order to temporary shutdown and the riding license has been withdrew

And Khaosod English reported yesterday that Chiang Mai’s Governor Supphachai Eiamsuwan has published the 25 year old Canadian tourist Spencer Donaldson’s weight as 122 kilograms. He was a resident of British Columbia.

No charges have yet been filed in the ongoing investigation.

Meanwhile, the management at the Flight of the Gibbon say they will take full responsibility and have offered extra compensation to the victim’s family, in addition to a 1 million baht insurance payout. At this stage their website is taking bookings and there is no mention of the incident.

Online, the tourist attraction claims it’s the “#1 zipline tour operator in Thailand,” and that it was established 12 years ago.

Flight of the Gibbon has been temporarily shut down before after three Israeli tourists were injured after colliding into one another and falling to the ground in 2016.

Another two Chinese tourists died in 2015 after falling from two separate zipline attractions, one operated by Skyline Adventure, the other at Flying Squirrels. There was also another Chinese tourist injured at the Flying Squirrels’ zipline attraction in 2016.

UPDATE: 'Flight of the Gibbon' ride in Chiang Mai temporarily closed | News by The Thaiger

Air Pollution

New fires in the North likely to be arson – Army

Published

3 days ago

April 15, 2019

The Thaiger & The Nation

New fires in the North likely to be arson – Army | The Thaiger

by Nathawat Laping

Some 1,000 combined professional and volunteer firefighters are battling a major forest fire in the mountainous area overlapping Chiang Mai’s Muang and Mae Chan districts.

The fire started on Sunday night in the Doi Jorakhe area of Tambon Tha Sud in Muang before spreading to Tambon Pa Teung in Mae Chan, a densely populated area and home to Mae Chan Hospital and temples.

As of this morning the fire had already devastated 1,000 rai of forestland and nearby plantations.

Mae Chan disrict chief Wandee Ratchomphu led the efforts by 800 state officials and volunteers to put out the fire and prevent it from reaching communities or more forestland in Mae Fah Luang district. A special coordination centre was set up at Wat Pateung to dispatch firefighters to the affected areas by first light, attempts to put out the flames in the heavily wooded mountainous area during the night considered dangerous.

Third Army Region deputy commander Major Buncha Duriyapan was also on the scene to help supervise soldiers joining the fire-fighting efforts. The Army brought in a helicopter to provide support to the Protected Area Regional Office 15’s chopper being used to carry water from the three-metre-deep Tham Sua reservior to douse the flames in hard-to-reach spots.

Buncha also ordered related agencies, especially the police and army, to investigate and identify the person(s) who started this massive fire, saying this was “a strange and unprecedented situation when wildfires erupted all over the province’s mountainous areas simultaneously”.

He said he was convinced that this was a case of arson and not a freak natural incident like a lightening strike.

The Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency’s fire monitoring system, as of yesterday morning, identified 521 hot spots in the North. Chiang Rai led the pack with 291 hotspots, followed by Nan (57), Lampang (46), Phayao (46), Chiang Mai (44), Tak (15), Mae Hong Son (14), Phrae (6) and Lamphun (2).

New fires in the North likely to be arson - Army | News by The Thaiger