Cigarettes seized worth B164m in Hat Yai raid

SONGKHLA: Two men were arrested and contraband cigarettes valued at 164 million baht seized during a raid on a warehouse in Hat Yai yesterday.

Officials from Songkhla Provincial Excise Office 9, supported by soldiers, searched the warehouse on Plakwa Road in tambon Khuan Lang.

They found stacks of plastic-wrapped cardboard boxes containing, in all, 77,250 packets of smuggled cigarettes of 12 brands. The goods were believed destined for delivery to agents in Songkhla and other southern provinces. Excise officials estimated the retail value of the seized contraband at 164 million baht.

Two men were taken into custody — Bancha Phutthasopha, 46, and Thawin Chanthurot, 47 — and a pickup truck seized as evidence.

The duo were charged with illegal possession of untaxed goods in violation of the excise law.

The raid followed a tip-off that a large quantity of smuggled cigarettes would be arriving from across the nearby Malaysian border.

Meanwhile, the Action on Smoking and the Health Foundation yesterday warned the public of an attempt to promote e-cigarettes via Twitter. It cited the result of US research on an analysis of geocoded content, context and sentiment regarding e-cigarettes on Twitter publicised in the Journal of Health Communication in July saying that among 973 random messages, 66% supported e-cigarettes and 54% said it was safer than normal cigarettes.

However, the research found that over 70% of these messages were sent by automatic programmes (bots) and were considered fake tweets, the foundation highlighted.