• 
• 

Published on February 21, 2008

Yaba - known as "crazy medicine' - is a mixture of methamphetamine and caffeine in tablet form.

Sixteen drug convicted prisoners lined up to receive items their relatives submitted for checking under prison regulations which allow officials to cut open packets if their contents cannot be seen. All was well, except for the box sent to Samai Khumkan, who is serving a 20 year sentence.

Samai would not accept the box because he did not know the listed sender, a man from Tambon Nikhom in Kalasin's Sahatsakhan district, or if the items were legal. Officials opened the box and found a bar of soap, toothpaste, a towel and a tin of powder. They cut the tin in half and discovered 992 tablets of yaba.

Prison Director Somsak Rangsiyopas submitted the drugs to Prachacheun police station and informed the Narcotics Suppression Bureau for further investigation.

Somsak said the smuggling of illegal items into prison was a major problem because there were not enough officials to check on some 200 packages sent in every day.

He said that six mobile phones and five SIM cards were discovered recently and warned that relatives sending illegal items to inmates would be punished.

The Nation