Phuket officials bag six kratom, dope peddlers in 24 hours

PHUKET: A Rassada village headman busted five men for possession of kratom and marijuana on Saturday – and yesterday, in concert with the Phuket Internal Security Office (PISO), arrested a man bringing kratom leaves to Phuket by bus.

PISO deputy chief Thammarong Chuayaksorn and Baan Bang Chi Lao village chief Sangkom Sinthupradit, acting on a tip-off that kratom would be arriving on a bus from Trang, went with their officers to Phuket Bus Terminal 2 yesterday and boarded a bus that had just arrived from that province.

“We found a suspicious-looking man on the bus, so we asked to search his bag and found 4kg of kratom inside,” said Mr Sangkom.

Sittiporn Karnjul, 25, was charged with possession of a category 5 drug with intent to sell, and enrolled in a drug-treatment program before being handed over to Phuket City Police, Mr Sangkom confirmed.

Previously, on July 26, PISO chief Thammarong made another bus-station bust when he arrested two men at Phuket Bus Terminal 2 after they picked up a 10kg package of kratom leaves sent from Chumphon (story here).

And Mr Sangkom on Saturday seized 86 kratom leaves, two grams of marijuana and drug paraphernalia from five men on Soi Kiatsin 2 in Rassada.

“We are staging more raids because we want to reduce drug use in our area,” Mr Sangkom said.

All five men were charged with possession of a category 5 drug, he said.

Kratom busts are continuing in Phuket despite the national-level debate about decriminalizing the leaves (story here).

— Kritsada Mueanhawong