Thread: Raid on junk shop suspected of recycling used face masks

Public health officials and police raided a junk shop in Wiharn Daeng district of Thailand’s central province of Saraburi today and seized tens of thousands used and recycled face masks.


According to Mr. Somsak Kaewsena, Wiharn Daeng district chief officer, many used face masks were found in a washing machine, thousands more were laid out in the courtyard and many more recycled masks were waiting to be packed, apparently for resale.


Six men found working in the junk shop, with some separating the used masks to be washed and the others packing the recycled ones, were held for questioning.


The owner of the junk shop reportedly told the district chief officer that she bought the used masks to extract the metal wire for smelting, but police suspect that she recycled them for resale because of the current shortage in the market.


The Internal Trade Department, meanwhile, has warned hoarders of face masks that they face prison terms of up to seven years and/or fines of 140,000 baht if they are caught overcharging for the masks.


The demand for face masks has increased five-fold since the COVID-19 outbreak began in China, which has eventually spread globally.


The department head, Mr. Wichai Potchanakit, said today that they receive a quantity of new face masks from the manufacturers each day, of which 150,000 are for state hospitals, 200,000 for the Government Pharmaceutical Organization, 25,000 for the association of drug stores, 18,000 for Thai Airways International and 200,000-300,000 for the Commerce Ministry.


The masks for the Commerce Ministry are repackaged in fours, for sale at 10 baht per pack at Blue Flag shops, convenience stores and other retail outlets.


Mr. Wichai said the Internal Trade Department is not responsible for the 750,000 masks allocated to private hospitals each day by the manufacturers, adding that he has no idea whether a portion of them are sold at a high profit.


Raid on junk shop suspected of recycling used face masks – Thai PBS World

The owner of the junk shop reportedly told the district chief officer that she bought the used masks to extract the metal wire for smelting, but police suspect that she recycled them for resale because of the current shortage in the market.

Yes, I would suspect that too.

I think tax suspects it too.

I suspect people think that new face masks have magical properties that are destroyed when they are washed or is it the monopoly

Originally Posted by taxexile

are there no depths too low that the squalid, odorous, wretched and repellent upcountry chickenhead will not happily plumb if in his dim witted and pin headed brain he thinks there is some profit to be gleaned from it.

half witted chickenhead scams are all too common in the thai newsfeeds, most of them comically amateurish and destined only for humiliating failure at the police re-enactment in front of the crowd of baying and toothless villagers and their bewildered urchins that these circuses attract, but this scam is unusually loathsome and hideously obscene in its shameless disregard for even an iota of decency as it preys on the understandable anxiety of people in the grip of the highly contagious and possibly fatal virus that has visited these lands.

fukcing scumbags.
.

Would never happen in the UK, huh?

The way the culprit offers up a ludicrously implausible tale in order to conceal the true nature of their loathsome money grubbing enterprise, conducted without any regard for the harm it may cause, is for me a vivid insight into the heart of darkness that is this society.
It's that potent blend of all-consuming avarice mixed with complete and utter imbecility that marks these people out from the norm here in Asia, and the wider world.

They really are a piece of work. The depths to which these savages will stoop to screw over their own people to make a buck is truly fathomless.

Originally Posted by TheRealKW

Would never happen in the UK, huh?

Of course it happens the world over but here it's the fucking system and anyone who has lived here longer than it takes for a Lonely Planeteer to get their head out of their arse knows that.

It takes a sour racist who needs to pack his bags to draw conclusions about 70 million people*, though.





*Oh, minus the wingman, of course.

So, what you are saying is that the entire budgetary infrastructure funding health, education and transport is not subject to systemic misappropriation denying a level of service to millions appropriate to their needs?

Originally Posted by cyrille

It takes a sour racist who needs to pack his bags to draw conclusions about 70 million people*, though.

Spotting a Thai who is not as bent as a 90 baht note is a lot harder than spotting a Thai who is.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Spotting a Thai who is not as bent as a 90 baht note is a lot harder than spotting a Thai who is.

I'm sure you've this keen ability, Harry....

What else to expect? It starts at schools, e.g a mathematics exercise about increasing profit by tampering with the items on sale (mixing fish sauce with water)... from what I've seen, cheating is considered as being smart here.

Considering the shortage risks, this might be turned in a SOP...well cleaned and ironed masks could be as effective as a new one if done properly (which I doubt it is in this instance), provided that they're not advertised and priced as brand new masks...

Recycle, re-use, reduce.

All good, innit.

Originally Posted by HuangLao

I'm a wanker Harry....

I know Jeff, I know.

Originally Posted by Farang Ky Ay

It starts at schools, e.g a mathematics exercise about increasing profit by tampering with the items on sale (mixing fish sauce with water).

Do you have further details on that?

C'mon, you know full well peer pressure in the cadre system of patronage dictates its own morality based on shared self interest and the entire phee-nong culture in itself ensures that compliance is prized above integrity.

The whole country is riven with the principle of good fortune has no shame and that means no fucker gives a flying toss how one became rich.

A rotten society but that's SE Asia for you.

It isn't racism, it's fact.

Originally Posted by cyrille

Do you have further details on that?

There's not much more to this story and being the wanker you are I doubt you're interested.

As I said supervising the nephew's homework I saw a maths exercise which stated "As a fish sauce seller, you get fish sauce at X b per liter, you can sell
Bottles containing Y cl at X b, what's your profit per liter considering you get the empty bottle at z b?
To increase your benefit you mix the fish sauce with 20% water, what's your profit?"

While the exercise is ok mathematically (primary school exercise), it also pass the idea it's ok to cheat customers. No wonder cheating is so ingrained her if they learn this at an early age.

End of story.