SONGKHLA: A retired school director has been arrested in possession of sacks of krathom leaves and bottles of a krathom cocktail after a car chase.
Ranot police chief Dusit Promsin announced the apprehension of Piphob Sri-on, 61, with 65 kiligrammes of krathom leaves contained in four sacks and 100 bottles of a krathom-based narcotic cocktail, known as 4x100, in his pickup truck on Wednesday night.
Mr Phiphob, a former director of Ban Mab Bua School in Ranot district, failed to stop his vehicle at a security checkpoint when signalled to.
Police and soldiers manning the checkpoint on Road 408 linking Songkhla and Nakhon Si Thammarat provinces set off in pursuit and found the vehicle abandoned in a soi off the main road.
Pol Col Dusit said the sacks and the bottles of 4x100 were found in his vehicle. A search of his house in Ranot uncovered boxes holding 23,000 empty bottles believed to be ready for filling with the cocktail.
The retired teacher said he was delivering the krathom and the bottled cocktail to customers in Songkhla's Ranot and Hua Sai district in Nakhon Si Thammarat, according to the police.
He told police he had turned to dealing because he had financial problems.
Krathom is on the prohibited drugs list. Possession of more than 10 kilogrammes of the leaf for sale carries a maximum penalty of a 1.5 million baht fine and/or 2-15 years imprisonment. Possession of the illegal cocktail carries a maximum fine of 20,000 baht and/or one-year jail term.
