Cops hit vape shops eyeing students

Cops hit vape shops eyeing students

Cops hit vape shops eyeing students
In a police attack on five stores close to universities and localities in Bangkok on Friday, some e-cigarettes were seized. ( Photo supplied/Wassayos Ngamkham )

Authorities in Bangkok have seize 10,000 e-cigarettes for three million baht after conducting a search of five e-cigarette stores close to universities and community centers.

Prime Minister’s Office Minister Puangpet Chunlaiad on Friday   worked with Lat Phrao police station officers and the Office of the Consumer Protection Board ( OCPB) to raid the five Lat Phrao and Ramkhamhaeng stores.

A total of 10,000 different types of e-cigarettes, including regular-shaped ones and toys pens, which look like comic figurines, were seized, worth a total of 3 million baht.

In the vicinity of a renowned personal school, Soi Lat Phrao 107, which is the largest of the raided retailers, is located.

The factory was run by two people, aged 22 and 23. They asserted that they were unaware of the owner’s identity.

The store’s customers were mostly college students, and they made about 10,000 baht per time selling e-cigarettes. According to the team, it did not sell its goods to people under the age of 20.

According to Lertsak Raktham, assistant director of the OCPB’s Special Operations Center, all the shop owners will get arrested.

In addition, Dr. Prakit Vathesatogkit, the executive director of the Action on Smoking and Health Foundation, stated that he is monitoring whether the state implements e-cigarettes as Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin just gave a mandate to various organizations to do so for the first day.

There are currently authorized rules in place that prohibit the sale of toy pods in foreign countries like England, France, and Belgium, according to Dr. Prakit.

He added that a study of Thai individuals revealed that the Northeast is the place with the most juveniles who smoke e-cigarettes, followed by the South, North, and Central regions.