Ya bah dealer arrested

PHUKET TOWN: The owner of an air-conditioner repair shop on Chao-Fa Nai Rd was arrested on Tuesday for selling ya bah (methamphetamine). Pol Lt Col Preecha Klaewtanong of Phuket Town Police Station said the police had received a report from an informant that Piya Watana, 27, had been selling ya bah from his shop, Piya Air, for several months. An undercover officer posing as a drug user went to the shop and bought 20 tablets of ya bah from Piya. After the transaction had been completed, the policeman identified himself and arrested the man for possession and trafficking. A subsequent search of the house turned up seven more tablets in the bedroom. Between March 1 and 25, police records show, 37 people were arrested in Phuket for ya bah offenses, and 586 tablets of the drug were confiscated.