Dozens of clubgoers tested positive for drugs after a raid on a popular pub in Muang district of Chon Buri early Saturday. Nine people, including a pub guard, were arrested for selling drugs.
A 150-strong team including police officers and officials from the Department of Provincial Administration raided Nasa Club in tambon Don Hualor at about 1.30am.
About 400 customers were inside the pub, many of them dancing to music at the time. Upon seeing the officials, some tried to flee, tossing sachets of illicit drugs on the floor or running into the restrooms to flush drugs away.
All customers were asked to undergo urine tests. Officials initially said that 105 people — 61 men and 44 women — tested positive for drug use. All were arrested.
At a subsequent news conference later on Saturday, Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said drugs had been found in the systems of 157 people — 68 men and 89 women. Eight pubgoers were below the legal drinking age of 20, he added.
Eight people were arrested on charges of selling drugs, along with another person wanted on an arrest warrant for drug offences, said Pol Capt Khetrat Charnsil, director of the Territorial Defence Volunteers Administration Bureau at the Department of Provincial Administration.
Officials also found one teenager under 18 on the premises, he added.
The owner of the pub, identified only as Ek, will face charges of operating without permission, selling alcoholic drinks beyond legal hours, allowing the sale and use of drugs, and letting a teenager aged below 18 inside, said Pol Capt Khetrat.
He said the pub would face closure for five years for violating an order of the National Council for Peace and Order, which passed a number of measures related to public order in the aftermath of the 2014 military coup. Many remain in effect.
Officials examine sachets of illicit drugs scattered on the floor inside the pub in Chon Buri. (Photo: Department of Provincial Administration)
A guard at Nasa Club, a popular Chon Buri nightspot, was one of eight people arrested for selling drugs. (Photo: Department of Provincial Administration)
Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, centre, attends a media briefing in Chon Buri following the pub raid. (Photo: Department of Provincial Administration)