22 October 2023 at 13:14 PUBLISHED
PATHUM THANI: On Sunday night, 137 clubgoers tested positive for drugs during a attack on an entertainment facility in the Lam Luk Ka area.
Ansit Sampantarat, director-general of the Interior Ministry’s Department of Provincial Administration, led the 1.45 a.m. attack on MEM Exclusive Club, also known as MME Pub, on Hathairat Road in the Lam Luk Ka region. The Region 1 Office of Narcotic Control Board and regional defense participants provided assistance. Officers were not involved in the operation.
At the time of the attack, there were about 300 people inside the restaurant. Five of them lacked id cards, and many were younger than 20 years old.
Blood tests among the customers yielded 137 good results.
The pub owner and various managers were detained and accused of opening and running the establishment without a permit, selling alcohol to minors, doing so during off-limits hours, and inciting youths to misbehave.
The bar patrons who tested positive for medicines had to go through legal proceedings.
According to Mr. Ansit, the attack came in response to complaints made by locals to the Damrongtham Centre of the Interior Ministry alleging that the saloon had unlawfully permitted children under the age of 20 inside and that it had been used for drug sales and use. Additionally, according to the complaints, the restaurant was occasionally opened until 6 a.m.
He had given the city chief the go-ahead to deliver a statement to the provincial government that called for the establishment to be shut down for five years.
