Police have seized more than 200,000 e-cigarettes, with an estimated retail value of about 100 million baht, in coordinated raids on five rented warehouses and five houses in Nonthaburi province.
Pol Lt-Gen Samran Nualma, the assistant commissioner-general, said today that the seizure was one of the biggest ever undertaken by the police. Accompanied by Nonthaburi’s governor and senior provincial administration officials, he inspected one of the raided warehouses today.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra also inspected the warehouses, stating that the authorities will continue cracking down on illegal networks as well as officials found to be corrupt and enabling these operations.
Samran added that that all the contraband, which was illegally imported from China via Laem Chabang deep-sea port in Chon Buri, is believed to belong to one person, who is believed to be in Thailand.
Before the coordinated raids yesterday, police had investigated the case for about eight months and undercover officers had posed as potential buyers of e-cigarettes from this network.
Two men were taken into custody, but both claimed that they are just warehouse watchmen, who were paid 20,000 baht a month each.
Police claim that this network’s e-cigarettes are sold to order via online channels.
Possession, sale and use of e-cigarettes in Thailand remains illegal.
