Thai thieves caught stealing cannabis plants to start business
Police arrested four Thai thieves after they stole cannabis plants from a farm in the Isaan province of Nakhon Phanom to fulfil dreams of being cannabis farm and business owners.
The cannabis farm owner filed a complaint with Mueang Nakhon Phanom Police Station after thefts occurred at the farm. The thieves stole high-value cannabis plants worth about 30,000 to 40,000 baht, together with other well-known cannabis species, fertiliser, and planting tools.
Police investigated the case and reviewed security camera footage until they were able to identify the four thieves as 26 year old Ohm, 18 year old Safe, and two 16 year olds whose names were not revealed.
Officers successfully arrested them at a house in the Mueang Nakhon Phanom district yesterday, July 31. During the raid at the home, police found a small cannabis plot, 30 cannabis plants, 12 sacks of fertiliser, and planting tools. The total value of the equipment was over 500,000 baht.
Each suspect confessed that they stole plants and equipment to follow their dreams of running a cannabis farm for friends. They wanted to grow cannabis for personal use and to share it with teenagers in the community. They added that they did not steal only from this farm but also from others in the area.
Police charged them under Section 335 of the Criminal Law: committing theft at night. The penalty is imprisonment from one to five years and a fine from 20,000 to 100,000 baht.
In a similar report, a Polish man was arrested in the northern province of Chiang Mai last month after he stole LED grow lights worth about 370,000 baht from a cannabis farm in the province.
The farm owner claimed that the foreign man was once a farm consultant, but he was later removed from his position. The owner believed that the foreigner’s anger led him to steal the lights. However, the foreign suspect defended himself, saying he invested in these lights when he was in the position.
