Police seized over 30,000 items of vaping hardware worth ten million baht after a raid at a storehouse in Chiang Mai, Thailand's Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) reported on Monday.
The raid was prompted by the government enforcement actions against widespread vaping among young people.
The investigation team found an e-cigarette store ‘Yai Vape’ selling many types of products through its website by contacting customers via the Line application.
Police from the Consumer Protection Division conducted a raid on Aug 15 at a house in San Sai district used to stock the products. Police seized 31,790 vaping devices including disposable and refillable vapes, e-liquid, pods and vape tanks, altogether worth about 10 million baht.
The owner of the store was identified only as Mr Saranyu. He was charged with selling illegal products according to the Consumer Protection Act and hiding illegal imports according to the Customs Act, police announced at the press conference on Monday.
Police said the vapes were usable multiple times and were produced to have milk or candy flavours to attract young people. Moreover, they were created in trendy designs, such as cartoon shapes, enabling young people to disguise them from their parents. One vaper was found to be a girl aged just twelve, police added.
The products were found to be illegally imported from outside the kingdom, so import restrictions must be more strictly enforced since e-cigarettes are still banned in Thailand, police said.
Police raid a house storing vaping products in Chiang Mai, Thailand on Aug 15. (Photo supplied)
