Police seize THB200 million in vape raid, arrest 7 suspects

The Royal Thai Police, Metropolitan Police investigators and Provincial Police Region 1 jointly searched an e-cigarette storage warehouse in the Phraeksa area of Muang district, Samut Prakan, on Tuesday (April 28).

Police detained seven suspects and seized more than 20,000 e-cigarettes and related items worth over 200 million baht. The raid targeted what police described as a major online seller, with large numbers of orders found during the operation.

Pol Gen Nirandon Luamsri, deputy national police chief and director of the centre for preventing and suppressing offences related to e-cigarettes and tobacco products, said the warehouse raid had dismantled a major online e-cigarette distribution network.

He said Metropolitan Police investigators had discovered that e-cigarettes were being sold online through a website called Shisha Chic. Further investigation led officers to the warehouse, where they found the seized goods and detained seven suspects.

The suspects are being prosecuted under the Customs Act BE 2560 (2017) and the Consumer Protection Act BE 2522 (1979) on charges including jointly selling or providing e-cigarettes, and jointly helping to conceal, distribute, transport, purchase, pawn or receive goods they knew had been brought into the kingdom without completing customs procedures.

Initial questioning found that all seven suspects were merely employees. Their duties involved packing e-cigarettes according to orders placed through the website, before gathering the products and delivering them to parcel delivery agents. Police said a van was used to transport the seized goods every day.

The items found inside the warehouse had been stockpiled for online sales based on incoming orders. A check of seized computers found that the operation handled more than 1,000 items ordered and delivered each day, with daily cash flow amounting to several million baht.

Nirandon has instructed investigators to expand the probe in every aspect to take legal action against the masterminds and all remaining people involved in the network. He also ordered officers to consider action under the Anti-Money Laundering Act BE 2542 (1999).

He said the Royal Thai Police would launch similar operations nationwide to crack down on e-cigarette networks in all areas, including major distributors, online sellers and those secretly operating physical shops.

The aim, he said, was to prevent children and young people from accessing e-cigarettes and to cut off the spread of such products effectively, in line with government policy.

Nirandon also urged the public to report any information about e-cigarette sales, whether through illegal physical shops or online channels, by calling the 1599 hotline, which operates 24 hours a day.

In the future, tip-offs will also be accepted via the Police Care application, he added.