Raid near university nets more than 10,000 illegal vapes

The campaign, dubbed “Vape Operation”, is a collaboration between the Office of the Consumer Protection Board (OCPB) and the Royal Thai Police to crack down on sellers of e-cigarette and vaping devices near schools and colleges in the capital, said Puangpetch Chunla-ead, Minister attached to Prime Minister’s Office, who led the operation on Wednesday.

She said the market, which is surrounded by student dorms, is well known for e-cigarette and vaping devices, prompting the OCPB to launch the campaign to stop the selling of illegal items to students and underaged persons.

Investigators reportedly found e-cigarette and vaping devices being sold at 14 stalls in the market and arrested 8 sellers, as well as confiscated nearly 6,000 vaping items found in these shops. They also tracked down the distribution network of these sellers to a factory in Din Daeng district and confiscated some 4,000 items. The total value of the confiscated items is estimated to be over 3 million baht.

“The threat of e-cigarettes on Thai adolescents has sparked concern among parents, as we have found first-time users as young as 13 years old,” said Puangpetch. “Furthermore, these devices can be easily purchased from shops close to schools and colleges, while some students even buy them in bulk for resale to their friends.”