Socialite dad of driver in notorious road-rage bus stop ram busted with meth

– Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community

PHUKET: Businessman and socialite Kan-anek Pachimsawat has been arrested for allegedly using the drug “ice” (crystal methamphetamine) and possessing it with intent to sell.

He was released on Friday on a bail guarantee worth Bt350,000.

Deputy national police chief Pongsapat Pongcharoen said Kan-anek admitted to using “ice” but denied all other charges.

The officer said he had ordered the inquiry into Kan-anek’s suspected wrongdoing be widened. He said Kan-anek’s assets would be seized if the charge of him selling “ice” proved solid.

Kan-anek married a beauty queen in 1983. His son Kanphitak made headlines in 2007 when drove his Mercedes-Benz into a bus stop, killing one person and injuring many others, in a road-rage incident after an accident with a city bus driver.

A team from Bangkok’s Sutthisan police station knocked on the door of an apartment on Thursday night and found Kan-anek in possession of “ice” flakes and drug equipment, they said. A urine test later showed a positive result for his use of the drug.

The “ice” weighed about 0.77 gram, which police said Kan-anek admitted was his.

— Phuket Gazette Editors