THAILAND: Troops Raid Pub In Bangkok, Discover Drugs And Under Age Revellers

Troops raided a pub in Bangkok’s Lat Phrao district early Friday and found some drugs and six drug abusers as well as two underage pub-goers.

The Kik Bar 2 on Soi Pukkasawek off Prasert Manoonkit Road was raided at 2.30am by 20 troops, led by Colonel Noppasit Sitthisophon, commander of the First Cavalry Regiment, and Banthit Leelapata, an officer from the Office of the Narcotics Control Board.

The troops found some 200 pub-goers still dancing when they raided the bar. Two of those in the pub were aged under 20 and six others tested positive for drugs, Noppasit said. They also found eight undocumented migrants.

A small quantity of ketamine wrapped in a Bt20 note was found on the floor.

Noppasit said he conducted the raid after his task force received complaints from the public that the pub violated the 2am closing-hour rule.

The officials also found that the pub did not have a licence.

The pub manger, Supawut Namkrut, 32, was arrested and charged with operating an entertainment place without a licence, violating the closing-hour rule, and selling alcoholic drinks outside the legal hours.

The undocumented migrants were charged with entering the Kingdom without proper documents.

Meanwhile, Metropolitan Police have set up a committee to investigate possible negligence at the Chana Songkhram police station following a raid by non-police authorities on a night entertainment venue in Bangkok’s Khao San area early yesterday.

A total of 59 customers were found to be under the legal age of 20, |while urine samples from 66 customers tested positive for illicit drugs.

The authorities involved in the raid also found a lot of equipment said to be used for taking drugs.

Metropolitan Police commissioner Pol Lt-General Sanit Mahathaworn said yesterday that he had ordered the formation of a fact-finding committee to determine whether any officers at the Chana Songkhram police station, which has jurisdiction over Khao San area, should be held responsible for negligence.

Anyone found to have been negligent in carrying out their duties would face disciplinary action, he added.

National police chief Pol General Chakthip Chaijinda yesterday thanked the various agencies from the Interior Ministry that were involved in the raid.

He said the Royal Thai Police had measures to take action against the responsible local police officials found to have been negligent.

Most of the authorities involved in the raid on the Zed Club nightspot came from the Local Administration Department of the Interior Ministry. The club is located opposite the Bowornniwet Temple in Phra Nakhon district.

Many of the customers rounded up during the raid were found to be below the legal age.

Twenty-five of them are aged under 18, with a few as young |as 16, according to the ministry.

Of those who tested positive for drugs, 25 people are under 18.

Drugs including ketamine and Ecstasy were found abandoned on the floor and in toilets.

The raid came after the authorities received complaints from parents that their children gathered at the club and took drugs.