Chiang Rai police raided a popular nightspot in the Muang district early on Saturday, finding more than 300 underage revelers inside the premises, which did not comply with security protocols.
According to a message posted on the official Facebook page of the Department of Provincial Administration (DPA)’s law enforcement operations center, all the fire exit doors in the pub were closed.
DPA officers joined the Department of Juvenile Observation and Protection (DJOP) to carry out an operation at Parclub, a nighttime entertainment venue located on Rat Bamrung Road. Officers broke into the pub around 2:00 a.m.
When officials arrived, many teenagers waiting outside to enter the pub fled on motorbikes. However, the team found a room full of underage patrons drinking and dancing inside Parclub.
After ordering the bar’s staff to turn off the music and turn on the lights, officers conducted a deeper inspection and found that 325 revelers were under the legal drinking age, as Thai law states that people must be at least 20 years old to consume alcoholic beverages.
The youngest patrons were 16, and at least 50 people did not have identification cards, the police report showed.
The DPA law enforcement operations center also said the pub had three fire exit doors, but all were locked. Parclub’s operator was accused of allowing minors to use its services, serving alcoholic beverages to people under 20 years, operating beyond legal hours, and other related crimes.
On Saturday afternoon, after the raid, the Chiang Rai police chief Pol Maj Gen Chinawich Wichaithanapat signed an order to transfer Muang district police station superintendent Pol Col Kittipong Sukwattanapan to an inactive post at the provincial police operations center, effective immediately.
The DPA and DJOP also revealed that they plan to propose to the Chiang Rai governor to revoke the pub’s license to operate and close the venue for five years.
DPA law enforcement operations center Chief Ronnarong Thipsiri, who led the raid, called on all entertainment venue operators to have a sense of social responsibility and refrain from breaking the law.
The Parclub raid came less than a month after Chon Buri’s Mountain B nightclub, which had blocked emergency exits, caught fire, killing 23 people.
