SURAT THANI - A shop owner on Koh Phangan, where the Full Moon Party is held, was arrested for selling balloons filled with nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, without a permit.
Police apprehended Rangsiman Jaisamer, 29, at his shop on Haad Rin in tambon Ban Tai early Thursday morning for selling laughing gas-filled balloons to beachgoers.
Officers found two cylinders of laughing gas and several balloons believed to have been intended for retail sales in his shop.
Mr Rangsiman, who reportedly confessed to the crime, said that he had profited from the rising price of the gas as authorities intensified their crackdown on the illegal sale of nitrous oxide.
Nitrous oxide is a colourless, non-flammable gas used in surgery and dentistry for its anaesthetic effects. Better known as laughing gas due to the euphoric effects it produces after inhalation, the gas has long been used by partygoers.