Ya bah busts yield 4,692 pills

KATHU: Thun Tong Police arrested two ya bah (methamphetamine) dealers on Saturday night in Soi Thida, Kathu, seizing 4,692 pills of the illegal stimulant.

An undercover officer, posing as a dealer, paid 20,000 baht for 100 pills from Somsak Lertprakit, 34, from Korat.

Once the sale was complete, officers led by Pol Maj Gen Theerachai Raktiprakorn of the Tung Tong Police and Pol Lt Col Thongchai Panjabut of the Office of Narcotics Control Bureau Region 3 Office, arrested Somsak, seizing 642 pills and 20,000 baht in cash found in his possession.

Somsak promptly rolled over, naming his source for the pills as fellow Korat native Somneuk Klaywong, foreman of a construction site on Soi Thida.

Police next arrested Somneuk, finding 3,950 ya bah pills in his Chevrolet pickup truck. They seized the vehicle, along with two mobile phones, a new motorbike, a book listing ya bah customers and two bank books.

Pol Lt Col Passakorn Sonthikul, Inspector of Tung Tong Police Station, said that the two men named their major supplier in Chiang Mai.

The Office of Narcotics Control expects to visit the supplier soon, he said.

Col Passakorn told the Gazette that there has been an increase in ya bah cases in recent months because the street price of the drug has risen.

“There are many dealers who [stopped selling but] are willing to take the risk again because the street price of ya bah is now around 600 to 700 baht a pill,” he explained.