BANGKOK – On Saturday (Apr 11), on the island of Phuket in Bangkok, a 20-year old man entered the Wichit Police station at 11:30 in the morning to surrender himself. Mr Chayaphon Atdin, from the Songkhla Province, was carrying one pill of “ya bah,” a type of methamphetamine considered as an illegal drug, just so he could get some food.
Wichit Police Investigation Division chief, Lt Col Chatchai Chunu, said “According to officers at the police station, this has never happened before.” Mr Atdin told police that he wanted to be arrested because “At least in prison I will get three meals a day.”
Deputy Chief of the Wichit Police Station in Muang District, Mr Thammasant Boonsong, was surprised when Mr Atdin came into the station. Mr Atdin told him that due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, he had lost his job as an electrician and is currently without work and therefore, had no money to buy himself food. And due to the travel restrictions within the country, he can’t even go back to his hometown in Phatthalung to be with his mother.
In order to confirm his story, police officers called his mother. “She explained that her son was under considerable stress due to not having any work,” said Lt Col Chuni. “With no relatives or family members to take care of him, we felt we had to charge him for illegal possession of narcotic so we could take him into custody.”
In the end, the police ended up charging him with possession of illicit drugs. They also said that they will be monitoring him closely so that he doesn’t harm himself due to possible mental problems.
While this is the first time that something like this has happened, the police chief also said that they had no other option but to arrest the young man. He also said, “We feared that turning him away may have caused him even more stress and increased the possibility of him harming himself, so the officers felt they had no choice but to place Mr Chayaphon under arrest.” /TISG