The deaths are being linked to a drug cocktail popular among younger drug users and teenagers which mixes ketamine, methamphetamine, heroin and sleeping pills. Officers at Wat Phraya Krai Police Station are leading the investigation.
At least six drug users died in central Bangkok on Sunday coinciding with reports of a popular drug cocktail causing other users to become homicidal. The disturbing news has led to an investigation launched by the Metropolitan Police Commissioner which is being treated as a criminal enquiry.
Bangkok’s top cop, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Phukphong Phongpetra, consulted with senior officers on Monday after a spate of deaths were discovered in the centre of the city linked with known drug addicts.
The police chief revealed that police officers in the Wat Phraya Krai Subdistrict of the Bang Kho Laem area of Bangkok were investigating the deaths of five drug users including three men and two women as well as another reported death in the Sutthisan neighbourhood of the city where police discovered the body of a young woman.
Popular drug cocktail believed to be responsible
All those found deceased are reported to be between 21 and 34 years of age.
Police have not officially clarified which drugs are believed to be responsible for the deaths but sources suggest that it appears to be a well-known combination of several substances in a drugs world that has increasingly been known to experiment.
A reliable source suggests that a local drugs mixture known locally as ‘K Nompong’ was found at the scene of one of the deaths which police are treating as a crime. The mixture or cocktail of drugs involved in the product includes ketamine, methamphetamine, heroin and a sleeping pill mixture known as ‘Rose’.
The drug is known to have the characteristics of milk powder which in Thai translates to ‘nompong’.
Reports of users on Sunday going berserk with homicidal tendencies and unprovoked attacks
The discovery of the deaths also coincides with an outbreak of unconfirmed reports from Sunday where regular users of ‘K Nompong’ were said to have developed homicidal tendencies with several unprovoked attacks.
Police are only confirming for now that all those found deceased had a prior history of drug-taking.
A full investigation has been launched which will begin with interviews of relatives and friends of the deceased.
Police have underlined that they are treating this as a criminal enquiry and their investigation will approach the tragic deaths in a disciplined and professional manner.
Those who died had close social connections
Some reports also firmly suggest that the victims may have had close social connections
Initial reports from medical examiners suggest that all those who passed away suffered cardiac emergencies and died of acute heart failure.
Wat Phraya Krai Police Station has initially released the names of five of the six people who died in the last 24 hours as police appeal for those with any information to come forward to assist their enquiries.
They are Ms Panipak Chantawarawarak, Mr Nitithep Maphaet, Mr Warut Nuchaiyaphum, Mr Thongchai Hoksun Heng and Ms Lalita Thensaket.
Join the Thai News forum, follow Thai Examiner on Facebook here
Receive all our stories as they come out on Telegram here
Further reading:
Gamblers and hosts at illegal gambling dens are being jailed as massive crackdown proceeds apace
Sadistic murderer ‘Ice Metal Casket’ sentenced for rape of a woman at gunpoint in latest conviction
Ministry asks Covid-19 unit to halt travel from the UK over new ‘Kent’ strain found among a family
Top Thai and US drug suppression officials warn of the use of cryptocurrencies in the drug trade
Drug police put retraction behind them to smash billion baht Myanmar drug operation in Bangkok raid
Use of cocaine and cannabis is still highly illegal in Thailand with very serious legal consequences
One of the biggest drug dealers in the South flees home as Thai police and army move against him
Thai man burns down his family home: Thailand’s drugs problem is still a very real threat to society
