Thai man arrested for distributing crystal meth at 7-Eleven stores

Police arrested a Thai man yesterday for distributing crystal meth at various 7-Eleven convenience stores along King Kaew Road in Samut Prakarn province near Bangkok.

A witness filed a complaint with Bang Kaew Police Station after he suspected a middle-aged Thai man, aged about 180 centimetres tall, was a drug dealer. Police later identified the suspect as 39 year old Nattaphong and monitored his behaviour.

Police discovered that Nattaphong secretly hid crystal meth on product shelves and top-up kiosks at multiple 7-Eleven locations. He would then notify customers to retrieve the drugs from these hidden spots.

Police yesterday caught Nattaphong in the act outside a convenience store, where he was attempting to conceal a pack of drugs at a top-up kiosk. Three more packs were found in the pockets of his trousers.

Natthaphong confessed that he packed crystal meth in ziplock plastic bags and attached them with magnets to stick the packages on shelves of the convenience stores and the top-up kiosks.

Natthaphong was asked to reveal his hidden drug spots at each convenience store in the area. Some 16.37 grammes of crystal meth were recovered from various locations, including shelves stocking soda, jam, and dog food.

Nattaphong claimed he bought the drugs for 400 baht per kilogramme from a woman named Nun in Bangkok’s Khlong Toey district and sold them for 800 baht per kilogramme.

Channel 7 reported that police conducted a further investigation on Nun and managed to seize her assets worth more than 1 million baht.

In a related story, a British man was arrested outside a 7-Eleven convenience store in Koh Pha Ngan, an island in the southern province of Surat Thani, in April after he was caught begging and using drugs near the store.

Another Thai man faced a fine of 1,000 baht in March for drinking alcohol outside a convenience store. He was charged under Section 31 of the Alcohol Beverage Control Act: consuming alcohol in a prohibited area. The incident later sparked a debate over whether or not the man’s actions had broken the law.