KANCHANABURI: Police have broken up a major online electronic cigarette sales ring following a raid on a warehouse where smoking kits and accessories worth about 3 million baht were seized.
A combined team of police, customs and excise officials raided the warehouse in tambon Ban Nua in Muang district and found 57 e-cigarettes, 2,849 bottles of e-liquid and 555 other smoking kits stored there.
The banned items, 3,461 in total, were seized and owner Trisak Sirichumsaeng, 45, apprehended, Pol Maj Gen Khamron Boonlert, chief of Kanchanaburi police, said during a media briefing yesterday.
Mr Trisak was a major online seller of e-cigarettes and smoking kits, according to authorities, having jointly invested in the sale of the banned products with a Malaysian partner. The seized items had a face value of 3 million baht, said police.
Authorities arrested two other men, Theerawat Rukapiban and Thitiwat Sirichoksuriyasuk, in Bang Khunthian district of Bangkok last month after an investigation found they had been involved in selling e-cigarettes online.
During the interrogation, police said, Mr Trisak allegedly confessed that he had sold the banned smoking devices via a Line chat group called "TK Gadget'' and a website. He said Mr Theerawat was the administrator of the website.
Under the existing tobacco law, only products made of tobacco leaves can be imported legally.
In Thailand, e-cigarettes and baraku or related products are banned from imports under Commerce Ministry regulations.
Last year the World Health Organization urged countries to restrict sales and promotion of e-cigarettes after its report indicated that e-cigarettes and similar devices pose threats to public health from toxic substances. But some health specialists think e-cigarettes are a lower risk.
