Businessman Kan-anek Pachimsawat has been arrested and crystal methamphetamine seized during a raid at a hotel room in Bangkok’s Huai Khwang district
A police team led by Pol Col Khomsan Taengjui, chief of Sutthisan police, raided the room on the seventh floor of a hotel in Huai Kwang on Thursday and found Mr Kan-anek inside.
A bag of crystal methamphetamine, weighing about 1.07 grammes, and equipment used for taking drugs were seized from his room, said police.
The raid followed a tip-off from a police informant that a hotel guest rented the room to take illicit drugs.
Mr Kan-anek, 64, a real estate businessman, was asked to undergo a urine test for illicit drugs. He tested positive for drug use
He admitted to taking drugs. Police have charged him with possessing illegal drugs with intent to sell. He was handed over to Sutthisan police for legal proceedings. He was later released on bail after placing 350,000 baht as surety.
Mr Kan-anek, once hit the headlines for his remarks describing a bus driver and city bus staff as ''uneducated and low-class'' after his son Kanpitak ‘’Mu Ham’’ rammed his Mercedes into a crowd at a bus stop, killing one woman and severely injuring two other people following a quarrel with a bus driver on July 4, 2007.
The businessman came under heavy criticism over his inappropriate and insulting remarks. He later apologised to the bus driver.
Kanpitak was charged with premeditated murder, attempted murder and physical assault in connection with the July 4, 2007 road rage.
The lower court sentenced him to a prison term, but the Appeals Court reduced and suspended the prison term, ruling that Kanpitak could not be held responsible for his actions due to a mental disorder. The Supreme Court has still to rule on the case.
Kanpitak's mother is former Miss Thailand Sawinee Pakaranang.