PATTAYA, Thailand – A 42-year-old American man of Chinese descent has been arrested after police uncovered a suspected drug-mixing operation at a house in Nong Prue, Bang Lamung district, Chon Buri, seizing roughly 60 grams of MDMA and ketamine that officers allege were being prepared for sale to foreigners in Thailand and overseas.

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Identified only as Mr Liu, the suspect was taken to Nong Prue Police Station for legal action. The raid, reported on 26 September, was ordered by Central Investigation Bureau commissioner Police Lieutenant General Natsak Cheawanasai, with Consumer Protection Police Division officers working alongside Immigration Bureau Division 3 investigators.

Acting on information that Liu was allegedly manufacturing and selling drugs to foreign buyers at home and abroad, officers obtained a court warrant to search his Pattaya-area residence. Inside, they found a room with fully sealed windows that had been converted into a mixing area, with powder and crystal-like substances on a table alongside two digital scales, an aluminium mortar and pestle, a heat bag-sealing machine, measuring glassware, beakers, syringes and numerous 5x7cm zip-lock bags. Officers also discovered ingredients allegedly used to make drugs resemble sweets or drinks, including caffeine, glucose, sucralose, pineapple flavouring, coffee powder and milk-flavour powder.

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Light-brown MDMA crystals weighing more than 60 grams, according to police, were allegedly hidden in a sink behind the house near the kitchen and in a safe. A check of the suspect’s phone reportedly found notes listing mixing ratios of MDMA, ketamine and caffeine by number of users, said to match the items found, as well as names and delivery addresses in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Liu admitted the seized items belonged to him but claimed they were for personal use, an explanation police rejected given the quantity of drugs and equipment. He faces charges of possessing MDMA for commercial sale, possessing ketamine, and using methamphetamine.

-Thailand News (TN)