Chinese man arrested for selling laughing gas in Pattaya
Police arrested a Chinese man during a sting operation in Pattaya yesterday, March 12, for selling laughing gas to teenagers through online advertisements.
Officers from Immigration Bureau Division 3 said they received a tip-off that a Chinese national was promoting the sale of nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas, online, with teenagers in Pattaya listed as the target customers. Police said the adverts were widely shared online and appeared to show disregard for Thai law.
Immigration police said they investigated and identified the suspect’s accommodation, described as a two-storey house in central Pattaya. Officers said the suspect stored the items there and arranged to meet customers outside the property.
Police said they went to the house yesterday and found it closed and quiet. Officers then posed as customers and ordered a canister of laughing gas for 2,400 baht using a contact number shown in the advertisement.
Shortly afterwards, police said the suspect left the house with the order and handed it to officers, who then arrested him.
A search of the accommodation led to the seizure of a .38 firearm, 11 rounds of .38 ammunition, 58 rounds of 9mm ammunition, three shotgun shells, one Glock magazine, 30 bottles of vape liquid containing ketamine, and 17 laughing gas canisters, police said.
The suspect was taken to Mueang Pattaya Police Station for legal proceedings on charges including illegal sale of medicine (nitrous oxide) and illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Police said the arrest followed a series of crackdowns linked to nitrous oxide in Thailand. In September last year, officials at Bangkok Port in Khlong Toei seized 2,600 cylinders of laughing gas shipped from China.
In October, two Taiwanese men were arrested in Pattaya with six tanks of nitrous oxide, police said. In February last year, a French national was arrested in Phuket for selling the gas, with 23 canisters seized from his home. In January last year, six British suspects were arrested with 39 canisters of laughing gas and six kilogrammes of cannabis buds.
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