Pattaya News: Meth Suspect Rams Gas Station, Flees Police

Officers from the Chonburi provincial investigation division, led on the ground by Pol. Maj. Sorasak Pinthong and Pol. Maj. Prasit Boonprasit, were working on a tip that a dealer was supplying methamphetamine to young people around the city. They arranged a controlled purchase at a fuel station on South Pattaya Road, a busy spot where a pickup stopping to refuel would attract little attention.

While the Isuzu D-Max was being filled up, an informant signalled that it was the target vehicle. As the team closed in, the driver put the truck in reverse and slammed into the station office, damaging the building, before speeding off. A station attendant told reporters that staff had been moved to safety and no members of the public were inside at the time.

Police shouted for him to stop and used their own vehicles to block the exits, but the pickup pushed through the cordon. Officers then opened fire at the tires. The truck kept going anyway, swerving along Sukhumvit Road past the North Pattaya traffic lights and heading toward Bangkok, narrowly missing other vehicles, until the rubber was gone and the rims could carry it no further. It stopped about six kilometres from the station.

This is not the first chase of its kind this month. On 3 October officers in Banglamung fired at a sedan’s tires; that car travelled more than ten kilometres before a tire failed, and police reported finding ice, yaba pills and a handgun inside. Stray rounds hit a school wall, though no one was hurt.

Shooting at a moving vehicle on a public road is a last resort, and in a busy resort city the risk to passers-by is obvious. Police argue the alternative is letting armed or drug-carrying suspects disappear into traffic. Readers following our earlier coverage of a meth-fuelled hostage standoff in Nong Prue and an American drug lab arrest will recognise the pattern: methamphetamine remains the drug behind most of the city’s violent incidents.

The tip that started this operation, a dealer supplying young people, is the part local families will care about most. Pattaya’s nightlife gets the headlines, but much of the meth trade runs through ordinary neighbourhoods and fuel stops rather than Walking Street.

For most visitors, nothing about this story changes a holiday. Operations like this are aimed at dealers, and the vast majority of tourists will never see one. Still, any Thailand travel guide should say plainly that drug laws apply to visitors exactly as they do to residents, and that a few grams in a vehicle or a bag can mean months in detention.

Pattaya has plenty of better uses of an evening. Popular things to do in Pattaya include island hopping to Koh Larn, the Sanctuary of Truth, night markets and Thai food crawls, and golf. Budget travel Thailand fans find the city cheaper than the capital for a beach stay, while anyone thinking about living in Thailand should read our Thailand visa and immigration guide before signing a lease.

The best time to visit Thailand for cooler, drier weather runs from November, and Thai festivals such as Loy Krathong, which Pattaya is preparing for at Lan Pho Park and Koh Larn, add extra reasons to come. Bangkok is under two hours away for travellers adding things to do in Bangkok or Bangkok food to the itinerary, and Thailand islands further afield are a short flight. Our Pattaya guide collects the essentials.

Ratchata remains in police hands while investigators trace his supplier and buyers, and formal charges are expected once the file is complete. Expect questions, too, about how the pickup got through a police cordon and how many rounds were fired. We will update this Pattaya news report when police release more details.

Tourists in trouble can reach the Tourist Police on 1155.