Drug suppression authorities have begun targeting street-level dealers and addicts in a new bid to clean up scores of drug-plagued communities in Bangkok.
Office of the Narcotics Control Board secretary-general Permpong Chaovalit said on Friday the ONCB has changed tactics in weeding out illicit drugs from communities.
Authorities have targeted 200 drug-infested communities, with Suanson Hua Mak community at Soi 9 in Hua Mak area being the first to be raided.
He said eight out of 13 local drug dealers wanted on arrest warrants were apprehended on Friday. Fifteen addicts were detained, three of them youths.
Forty-eight speed pills, two packs of crystal methamphetamine or "ya ice", krathom leaves, which contain a stimulant, and bottles of a drug cocktail known as “4x100”, an illegal mixture of cough medicine and krathom leaves, were seized during the raid.
The raid followed complaints from members of the community about the level of drug abuse there.
‘’We have received many complaints that drug dealing and drug use are rampant here. Drugs are sold openly. Youths aged 15-16 are being used to deliver drugs,’’ the ONCB chief said.
Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NSB) commander Rewat Klinkesorn said Suanson Hua Mark was chosen first because illicit drug use had spread like wildfire in the community.
"Addicts hav easy access to drugs. Speed pills are sold cheaply at 37-100 baht each," said Pol Lt Col Rewat. "Dealers cut prices to meet sales targets."
During the raid, officers were shocked to see a woman feeding her two-year-old daughter with water mixed with boiled krathom leaves, he said.
He would lead a team to conduct drug tests on the entire community on July 10. If tested positive for drug use, they would be sent for rehabilitation treatment.
The community has about 500 people.
A source said the woman who fed her child water mixed with krathom leaves claimed her daughter liked it. The child looked intoxicated and was taken away for a health examination.