Drugs haul at Kalim Beach bar
KALIM: Undercover police armed with a warrant arrested suspected drug dealer Boonyarit Charnpraneet, 46, in the evening of April 7 following a tip-off from a member of the public.
The arrest took place at the bar – the name of which police declined to disclose to the Gazette – owned by Boonyarit at Kalim Beach.
The police also managed to gather up a couple of prosecution witnesses.
While the officers were watching Boonyarit’s bar awaiting his return, a couple – a Thai woman and a foreign man – approached one of the officers.
Taking one of the plainclothes officers to be an associate of Boonyarit, the couple asked him if they could buy marijuana from him, adding that they had done so previously from associates of Boonyarit at the bar.
The officer pulled from his pocket not a bag of grass but a Royal Thai Police identity card.
He told them that he would not arrest them provided they accompanied him to Kathu Police Station to bear witness against Boonyarit.
Boonyarit eventually turned up and officers searched the premises, recovering what they described as three marijuana cigarettes and an undisclosed number of ya bah (methamphetamine) tablets, as well as some 500,000 baht in cash.
Boonyarit was arrested for possession of controlled substances with intent to supply and taken to Kathu Police Station, but has since been released on bail.
