CHUMPHON COPS SEIZE COUGH SYRUP

>> Some 54,000 bottles of cough syrup have been seized in Chumphon in a crackdown on the smuggling of the medicine from Bangkok for use in concocting illicit drugs.

The cough syrup was seized late Thursday night from a truck in Chumphon during its journey to the deep South through Nakhon Si Thammarat, Pol Col Wachara Thipmongkol, deputy chief of the Narcotics Suppression Bureau’s Division 4, said yesterday.

The police detained Apinan Kueanoon, a Trang resident, who drove the truck carrying the medicine bottles, said Pol Col Wachara.

Prior to the crackdown, he said police had been tipped off by informants about the cough syrup being smuggled from Bangkok to Narathiwat.

Around 11pm on Thursday, the truck was stopped for a search at a police checkpoint on Phetkasem Road in Chumphon.

The seized items were 30,000 60-millilitre bottles of A-Chlordyl syrup, 20,000 60ml bottles of CePHENDRYL syrup, 2,000 60ml bottles of A-nadril cough syrup and 2,000 60ml bottle of A-wary syrup, he said.

The syrup was confiscated for inspection because the driver failed to produce delivery documents or official papers proving the products were legally owned, he said.

Seized along with the drugs were 450,000 baht in cash, one mobile phone and the truck, he said.

Mr Apinan was charged with possession of the potentially dangerous syrup with the intent to distribute, without a permit, and attempting to bribe state officials.

According to an informed source, while in police custody, Mr Apinan said a woman called Jeh Tim had told him not to worry about getting arrested, citing her connection with the police.

Jeh Tim called Mr Apinan on his mobile phone and when the man told her he was being detained by the police, she asked to speak to the police, said the source.

She allegedly offered the police 450,000 baht in exchange for freeing the driver and returning the syrup and the seized evidence, said the source.

Mr Apinan later confessed to being hired by the woman for 13,000 baht to deliver the syrup picked up from a company in Bang Bon district of Bangkok.

The seized cough syrup was intended for sale at inflated prices in the far South where local youths mix it with the juice extracted from kratom leaves and drink it as a narcotic drug, according to police.