– More than 100 officers entered 10 derelict blocks in Soi Thepprasit at 5:36 a.m. on October 13th, after a tip that homeless people were living there and using drugs.
– They detained 24 people across the buildings, which are about six storeys and have stood empty for years.
– Twenty-three people tested purple on a urine screen, the field result for methamphetamine. Two were holding drugs. One was wanted on a warrant.
– All were sent to investigators. Police said they will check other empty buildings used as gathering points.
Pattaya and Region 2 police raided a row of abandoned buildings in Soi Thepprasit before dawn on Monday and detained 24 people, almost all of whom failed a drug screen.
Pol. Maj. Gen. Nantawut Suwannala-ong, deputy commander of Provincial Police Region 2, led more than 100 officers from the region, Pattaya City Police, tourist police, Chonburi immigration, and Banglamung district. The line-up at 5:36 a.m. on October 13th followed a national sweep ordered by national police chief Pol. Gen. Samran Nuanma. Also present were Pol. Maj. Gen. Nitthat Waenpradab, Pol. Col. Pathikorn Sornchai, Pattaya superintendent Pol. Col. Anek Sathongyu, and Banglamung district chief clerk Pichannon Thaweesuk.
After the briefing, teams moved on 10 empty buildings in the soi. Residents had complained that homeless people were sleeping there and gathering to use drugs. Officers found the blocks, about six storeys each and left derelict for years, occupied room by room. They detained 24 people. Of those, 23 returned a purple urine test, the standard field indication for methamphetamine. Two were in possession of drugs, and one was wanted on an existing warrant. All were handed to investigators. The warrant case was not named, and no weights or drug types beyond the test result were given.
Nantawut said the sweep is the current national police policy applied across Region 2’s 117 stations, with Pattaya as a priority. He said officers will move on to other empty buildings used by the same groups, to cut drug use and sales and to reduce the chance of theft. Soi Thepprasit has had this problem before: unfinished blocks behind the main road have been used as shelters and dealing points, and earlier raids have cleared them only for people to return. Monday’s operation did not say who owns the 10 buildings or whether they will be sealed.
Similar raids have been taking place in the Jomtien 2 and 3 area for some time, targeting homeless people, drug users, and crime.