Shrimp farmer and mule netted in ya bah sting

PHUKET CITY: A joint sting operation carried out yesterday between Phuket City Police Station and Phang Nga police officers netted 1,100 ya bah (methamphetamine) tablets and two alleged dealers.

Phuket City Police Superintendent Col Paween Pongsirin told the Gazette that undercover officers met with shrimp farmer Sanan Pandej, 50, from Nakhon Sri Thammarat, outside the Imperial 2 Hotel on Luang Por Rd in the city center yesterday at 1 pm.

There, said Col Paween, the deal was struck and Sanan drove the officers in his Isuzu pickup to Phuket City Bus Station, to await the arrival of the alleged “mule” carrying the drugs.

Col Paween said that one Paison Tingson, 23, stepped from a Bangkok-Phuket tour bus with the 1,100 ya bah, then proceeded to Sanan’s vehicle and into a police trap.

Both men were arrested and the drugs were seized, along with some 12,350 baht in cash, a 10-baht (750-carat) gold necklace, Sanan’s pickup truck and two bus tickets.

According to the police, Sanan allegedly bought an undisclosed number of tablets at 80 baht apiece from Khmer drug warlords in Baan Rong Kreai, Sa Kaeo Province in the east of Thailand.

He would then sell the ya bah to other dealers at 150 baht a tablet, before they in turn would sell them on to users for 450 baht each.

Col Paween said that both men had confessed and were currently on remand in Phuket Provincial Prison, pending further inquiries.

“We will continue the investigation to find everyone involved in their chain [of drug dealing],” Col Paween added.