Thai authorities arrested a 51-year-old Lao national for attempting to smuggle a large quantity of a suspected illicit substance across the Mekong River into Thailand, according to Thai media reports.
Thai outlet 7HD News reported on 27 December that police in Bueng Kan district apprehended the suspect, identified only as Jut, while monitoring the Mekong River opposite Bolikhamxay Province in central Laos.
Officers spotted the man carrying a cardboard box near the riverbank. Authorities pursued him and later recovered two boxes from the river containing 526 sachets of a substance commonly known as “Happy Water.”
Police said the substance is suspected to contain gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), a chemical that affects the central nervous system. GHB affects the nervous system and can cause alertness, pleasure, and sexual arousal, but it is also widely misused to incapacitate victims, particularly in cases of sexual assault.
The seized drugs weighed approximately 27 kilograms, with an estimated street value of more than THB 1.5 million (USD 45,000). Police also confiscated the long-tail boat allegedly used in the smuggling attempt.
During questioning, the suspect told authorities he received the drugs from Laos on behalf of a Thai national based in Bangkok. He said he was instructed to send the shipment to Nonthaburi Province through a logistics company. The man admitted he had completed one previous delivery for THB 10,000 (USD 320) and was promised THB 35,000 (USD 1,115) for the current shipment.
Thai authorities said investigations are ongoing to identify other individuals involved in the smuggling network and to determine the exact composition of the seized substance.


