Suspect suffers heart attack during police questioning
PHUKET CITY: A man arrested for possession and sale of ya bah (methamphetamine) pills is back in jail after being rushed for emergency medical treatment after a seizure suffered while in detention at Phuket City Police Station on Saturday night.
Pol Capt Thammasan Boonthong identified the suspect as 28-year-old Phuket native Boontham “James” Nuandaeng.
Following a tip-off by police informants that the suspect was selling ya bah to teenagers in and around Phuket City, Capt Thammasan and fellow officers moved in and arrested the suspect outside a home in the Jom Thong Thani housing estate, on Kwang Rd in Wichit, at about 6 pm.
A search of the suspect uncovered three ya bah pills and a fully-loaded .38 pistol, Capt Thammasan said.
After he was taken to Phuket City Police Station for processing and further questioning, Boontham suffered a sudden case of what police initially described as “shock” about 10:30 pm.
He was strapped onto a stretcher and rushed by emergency medical workers to nearby Vachira Phuket Hospital, where doctors stabilized his condition.
Capt Thammasan said the suspect, who has a history of cardiac trouble, suffered a heart attack and went into shock.
He is now out of danger and is being held in a cell at Phuket Provincial Prison, he said.
