Three women arrested for selling “yaba’

PHUKET TOWN: On Sunday, narcotics police arrested three women from Phetburi in two separate raids for trafficking in amphetamines (yaba). The first raid came after undercover investigations revealed that yaba was for sale in the Talad Yai, Phuket Town’s central market, on Ranong Rd. During surveillance, they arrested a 19-year-old woman for possession of two pills. After questioning her, they visited and searched her mother’s fruit stall in the market and found a further 61 pills. The 42-year-old mother denied that the pills belonged to her – they were her daughter’s, she said. But police, noting that she had tried to destroy the drugs, decided to arrest her as well. Questioning of the two revealed that they lived in a rented house on Patipat Rd. Undercover police went there and were able to buy 10 pills from a third woman, aged 23. A subsequent search of the house turned up another seven pills. All three women were charged with possession of an illicit drug with intent to sell. The arrests bring to 25 the number of people arrested on yaba charges in Phuket during the past month. A total of 536 pills have been seized.