Bt100-million drug assets auctioned
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About 500 drug-case assets worth Bt100 million in total were sold at an auction yesterday in keeping with a pledge to auction off seized property linked to scandalous drug cases, the Office of the Narcotics Control Board boss said.
The secretary-general of the board, Permpong Chaowalit, said the number of drug-case assets auctioned had risen sharply as a result of Justice Minister Paiboon Kumchaya’s policy to come down hard on drug networks and try and prevent people from becoming users.
He said that after the new Act relating to drug suppression measures was enacted, 31,196 drug cases with assets of Bt17.3 billion were seized.
Permpong said the Bt1.7 billion seized from 3,705 cases would be allocated to the drug suppression fund following court rulings, while non-cash assets would be sold to help fund the recovery of injured police officers or provide relief to the families of dead officers.
Items auction yesterday included motorcycles, gold ornaments and jewellery.
Some of these assets were related to infamous drug scandals including the Orn Buathong case. Orn was the biggest drug producer in Loburi’s Khok Samrong district.
Also auctioned were assets formally owned by Kosin Chuchai such as a Mercedes-Benz E-Class and a Rolex watch.
Permpong said the wealth accumulated by drug dealers motivated them to take risks to make more money.
“Later on, that cash will be used to expand drug networks to become more complicated, which is hard for the police to cope with in drug suppression cases ” he said.
The secretary-general added that seizing drug assets was the key tool in demolishing drug networks because it cut the financial line for them.
