In the early hours of Sunday, police raided a nightclub in the Lam Luk Ka district, and 137 patrons tested positive for narcotics.
Ansit Sampantarat, director-general of the Interior Ministry’s Department of Provincial Administration, was in charge of the 1.45 a.m. raid on the MEM Exclusive Club, or MEM Pub, on Hathairat Road in tambon Lat Sasai, Lam Luk Ka district, with assistance from the Region 1 Office of the Narcotic Control Board and territorial defense volunteers. The operation did not involve any cops.
At the time of the raid, there were about 300 patrons in the bar. Five of them did not have identity cards, and many of them were under the age of twenty.
137 of the customers had positive findings from urine tests.
The owner of the bar and several managers were detained and charged with operating the establishment without a license, serving alcohol to minors, selling alcohol after curfew, and encouraging underage behavior.
The patrons of the tavern who tested positive for narcotics had to go through the legal system.
According to Mr. Ansit, the raid was the result of complaints made by locals to the Interior Ministry’s Damrongtham Centre about the pub’s illegal admission of minors under the age of 20 and its usage as a drug-dealing and -use hub. The accusations also claimed that the establishment would occasionally stay open till 6am.
He had given the district chief instructions to report to the province governor and recommend closing the facility for five years.
Front Picture credit …..About 300 customers were inside MEM Exclusive Club, or MEM Pub, in Lam Luk Ka district, Pathum Thani when it was raided by a team of Department of Provincial Administration and anti-narcotic officials in the small hours on Sunday. (Photo: Pongpat Wongyala)
