Police take vow to battle drugs

PHUKET TOWN: Police and village representatives vowed today to fight drugs. About 60 officers from Phuket Town, led by Superintendent Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, joined 184 villagers to make the anti-drug pledge in front of the police station. Col Paween also revealed that in the first five months of this year, 24 people had been arrested for marijuana offenses, 85 for ya bah (methamphetamine) offenses, 100 for inhalants such as glue, one for heroin and one for ketamine (a powerful anesthetic known in Thailand as “ya K”). The villagers, who later joined police under a marquee for lunch, came from 16 villages that are part of the national government’s “strong communities” project.