"narcotics"

Police managed to hunt down and arrest a drug dealer after receiving a tip-off from DHL in Chiang Mai.

A meeting of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) approved a proposal to remove cannabis and hemp from the Category 5 narcotics list, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on Tuesday.

Narcotics Control Board (NCB) secretary-general Wichai Chaimongkhon chaired a meeting with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) on Thursday to hand over seized drug samples in a bid to create a database for investigation of international drug trafficking cases and improve the efficiency to detect drugs.

Two Pakistani nationals were caught at Suvarnabhumi Airport on Monday trying to smuggle in 30.6 kilograms of ketamine and 1.1kg of heroin. The total street value of the seized drugs came in at 95 million baht.

Though Thailand will legalise cannabis as of December 9, it will still be part of the category 5 narcotics list unless the Public Health Ministry decides otherwise.

Police officers seized 470,000 drugs worth over THB14 million on a Kukrit roadside in Songkhla’s Hat Yai district on Wednesday night.

Two people were killed and 195 kilograms of “ice” was seized on Friday after a gunfight with 15 armed men in Chiang Rai’s Doi Charakhae area.

A drug rehabilitation facility at a Kanchanaburi temple was ordered to close on Wednesday after the mother of one of its patients complained her son was tortured by facility officials.

Three pet dogs in Nonthaburi province have reportedly become addicted to kratom, a plant previously banned as a narcotic in Thailand, leading to the owners being warned that they could be charged with animal abuse.

Justice Minister Somsak Thepsuthin said on Thursday that people are allowed to consume, grow and sell kratom (Mitragyna speciosa), but cannot process the leaves into food, beverage or herbal concoctions for sale.

Police are interrogating a suspected Russian drug trafficker, 47, after arresting him at a house on Koh Samui, Surat Thani, yesterday.

The legalisation of kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) leaves on Tuesday saw thousands of prisoners being released and more than 10,000 escaping legal action.