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Thai Police Bust Major Drug Syndicate, Seize Over 300 Million Baht in Narcotics

Thai Police Bust Major Drug Syndicate, Seize Over 300 Million Baht in Narcotics

In a significant operation led by Deputy Commissioner Tor Sak Sukvimol and Assistant Commissioner Samran Nuanma, the Thai Police have successfully dismantled a major drug syndicate. This operation marks a major crackdown on drug-related activities in Thailand and is one of the largest drug seizures to date.

Seizure of Massive Drug Haul

During the raid, which took place in Nakhon Pathom, law enforcement officials seized a staggering quantity of narcotics. The confiscated items included 15 million methamphetamine pills, 443 heroin bars, 420 kilograms of crystal meth, as well as a substantial quantity of illicit substances known as “Happy Water” and “Five Five” drugs. The estimated street value of these seized drugs exceeds 300 million baht.

Arrest of Key Suspects

The operation also resulted in the arrest of four suspects who are believed to be key figures in the drug syndicate. Among them are 39-year-old Chalit Kiewpray, 38-year-old Apichat Ekajin, 38-year-old Charan Kiewpray, and 36-year-old Watchara Kiewpray. These individuals are now in custody and will face charges related to the possession and distribution of narcotics.

Government’s Commitment to Combat Drug Problem

Deputy Commissioner Tor Sak Sukvimol emphasized that this operation aligns with the government’s policy to intensify efforts in combating the widespread drug problem in Thailand. The National Police Office has been tasked with taking decisive action against drug syndicates and their illicit activities.

Smuggling and Distribution Network Unveiled

Assistant Commissioner Samran Nuanma revealed that the drug syndicate sourced its narcotics from a neighboring country and smuggled them into Thailand. Initially, they used a house in a neighboring province as a storage facility. However, after the arrest of a suspect named Warawut Inklai on money laundering charges, the syndicate relocated their stash to the house in Nakhon Pathom for distribution to smaller agents.

Legal Action and Ongoing Investigations

The initial charges against the arrested suspects include the illegal possession and sale of category 1 and 2 narcotics without permission. They will be transferred to the Anti-Money Laundering Office for further investigation and to uncover any financial links to their drug-related activities.

This successful operation under new leadership demonstrates Thailand’s commitment to tackling the drug epidemic, and it serves as a significant blow to the drug trade in the region. The Thai Police continue to work tirelessly to dismantle drug syndicates and safeguard the well-being of the community.

ORIGINAL STORY: Police in Thailand Seize a Record $8 Million Worth of Drugs

On Wednesday night, police in Thailand’s Nakhon Pathom province made four arrests and seized the greatest single haul of illegal drugs in Thai history.

On Thursday, 11.30 p.m., the police in the Muang district of Nakhon Pathom, under the direction of Deputy National Police Chief Pol Gen Torsak Sukwimol, raided a residence at 20/15 Soi Lamphaya-Bosco 2 Road.

Four males were arrested and a large amount of drugs were taken from the two-story home during the operation.

Apichart Ekchin, 38, Chalit Khiaophrai, 39, and his brothers Charan Khiaophrai, 38, and Watchara Khiaophrai, 36, were all named as suspects in the case.

Fourteen hundred and forty-three heroine bars, 420 kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine, 15 million methamphetamine pills, and an unknown quantity of “happy water” and “five-five” were among the drugs confiscated.

With an estimated 300 million baht in street value, Pol Gen Torsak called this the largest drug seizure in the country.

He claimed that after the initial arrest of a member of the gang, detectives spent around two years trying to track down the remainder of the gang.

According to Pol Gen Samran Nuanma, assistant national police commander, the gang moved their narcotics operation to the residence in Nakhon Pathom after the earlier arrest of Warawut Inkhlai, 36. He further said that the drugs were kept there before being given to less serious drug dealers.

Allegedly laundering money from the sale of drugs and illegal gun possession led to Mr. Warawut’s detention. According to Pol Gen Samran, the gang imported drugs from nations bordering northern Thailand.

Thailand to toughen rules on meth possession

Meanwhile, Experts worry that Thailand’s recent crackdown on methamphetamine possession, which labels everyone found with pills as a drug distributor, could roll back narcotics reform by putting punishment ahead of public health.

Possession of even a single methamphetamine or “yaba” pill is now considered to be that of a drug dealer rather than a user, and as such, could lead to harsh penalties, including incarceration, according to a regulation published by the Thai health ministry.

There is currently a maximum prison sentence of 15 years for drug dealers, and a sentence of between 2 and 20 years for those caught selling to minors. Small-time offenders may be eligible for therapy or rehabilitation instead of jail time.

The Ministry of Health proposed last year that only those in possession of more than 15 tablets should be considered dealers.

“The changes to the ministerial regulation are to address social problems in a definitive and effective way and to curb the spread of yaba pills,” stated Health Minister.

He also clarified that police officers could use their judgement on a case-by-case basis. The latest rulemaking is awaiting approval from cabinet.

In 2021, parliament enacted a bill emphasising prevention and treatment over punishment for small-time drug users; experts warn the new approach risks rolling back these improvements.

The government claimed that thanks to new laws, nearly 50,000 convicted felons had their sentences reduced.

According to Jeremy Douglas, UNODC’s representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, “if a one-tablet limit goes ahead, already overcrowded prisons will endlessly fill, there will be no space to hold the people classified as dealers.”

Meth is everywhere, now is not the time to roll down drug laws.

 

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Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding, But Still Accounting 48% Search Revenue

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Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.

According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.

Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.

google

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.

Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.

Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.

To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.

Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.

On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.

In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.

Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.

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Pixa Bay

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.

TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.

When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.

And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.

Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.

A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.

google

Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.

But today, it feels more like reality.

Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.

Could we remember Google in the same way that we remember Yahoo or Ask Jeeves in decades? These next few years could be significant.

SOURCE | CNN

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The Supreme Court Turns Down Biden’s Government Appeal in a Texas Emergency Abortion Matter.

Supreme Court

(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.

The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.

Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.

This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.

In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.

The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.

This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.

The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.

In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.

According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.

Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.

The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.

Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.

For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.

Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.

As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.

As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.

The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.

SOURCE: AP

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Supreme Court Rejects Appeal From ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli, To repay $6.4 Million

shkreli

Washington — The Supreme Court rejected Martin Shkreli’s appeal on Monday, after he was branded “Pharma Bro” for raising the price of a lifesaving prescription.

Martin appealed a decision to repay $64.6 million in profits he and his former company earned after monopolizing the pharmaceutical market and dramatically raising its price. His lawyers claimed the money went to his company rather than him personally.

The justices did not explain their reasoning, as is customary, and there were no notable dissents.

Prosecutors, conversely, claimed that the firm had promised to pay $40 million in a settlement and that because Martin orchestrated the plan, he should be held accountable for returning profits.

shkreli

Supreme Court Rejects Appeal From ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli

Martin was also forced to forfeit the Wu-Tang Clan’s unreleased album “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin,” which has been dubbed the world’s rarest musical album. The multiplatinum hip-hop group auctioned off a single copy of the record in 2015, stipulating that it not be used commercially.

Shkreli was convicted of lying to investors and defrauding them of millions of dollars in two unsuccessful hedge funds he managed. Shkreli was the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals (later Vyera), which hiked the price of Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per pill after acquiring exclusive rights to the decades-old medicine in 2015. It cures a rare parasite condition that affects pregnant women, cancer patients, and HIV patients.

shkreli

He defended the choice as an example of capitalism in action, claiming that insurance and other programs ensured that those in need of Daraprim would eventually receive it. However, the move prompted criticism, from the medical community to Congress.

shkreli

Supreme Court Rejects Appeal From ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli

Attorney Thomas Huff said the Supreme Court’s Monday ruling was upsetting, but the high court could still overturn a lower court judgment that allowed the $64 million penalty order even though Shkreli had not personally received the money.

“If and when the Supreme Court does so, Mr. Shkreli will have a strong argument for modifying the order accordingly,” he told reporters.

Shkreli was freed from prison in 2022 after serving most of his seven-year sentence.

SOURCE | AP

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