A couple was arrested at a condominium in Bangkok for growing and selling “magic mushrooms” online, claiming they could cure various diseases.
Officers from the Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB) arrested the pair, identified as Banyong, 40, and Amita, 36, at their condominium in Chatuchak district on Monday. Authorities seized 181 plastic bags of psilocybin mushrooms, also known as magic mushrooms, weighing 117 kilograms, along with mobile phones, an air purifier, a humidifier, a drying machine, a scale, cleaning alcohol, a thermometer, and gloves.
The couple was charged with the illegal production, possession, and sale of Category 5 narcotics (psilocybin mushrooms), according to Pol Maj Gen Theeradet Thumsuthee, an MPB chief investigator.
The arrest followed a tip-off that the couple was using their condominium to grow the mushrooms illegally and sell them online. They reportedly shipped their products via private logistics firms. During questioning, Amita told police that she had previously worked as a manager at an entertainment venue in the Sukhumvit area. She said she quit her job to live with Banyong, who earned a living selling mineral stones, claiming they were moldavites, gemstones created by meteorite impacts. Moldavites are valued by those who believe in the healing properties of crystals.
Banyong said he had spent about two years learning how to cultivate mushrooms from YouTube, TikTok, and Google. The couple eventually decided to grow psilocybin mushrooms, which they sold for 100 baht per gram. They also offered courses on consuming magic mushrooms, claiming they could cure physical and mental illnesses, charging learners 11,110 baht each.
The suspects further claimed they had achieved nirvana and possessed magical powers. They said the stones they sold and the mushrooms they grew were interconnected. They also claimed to have used the mushrooms to cure a young boy of an unspecified disease.
Police reported that the couple earned more than 100,000 baht a month from selling the mushrooms and providing courses on their consumption.
