Authorities have arrested five people and seized nearly 70,000 contraband cigarettes during raids on four shophouses in Muang district of this island province.
A team of officials from the Phuket special operations team of the Department of Provincial Administration and defence volunteers raided the four locations following complaints that they were selling illegal cigarettes.
The operation was carried out from 11.30am on Wednesday to 5.30am on Thursday.
The team arrested two women and seized 170 packs, 4,000 loose cigarettes and 920 baht in cash during a raid on the first shop on Ratsadanusorn Road in tambon Rassada.
They then raided another house in the same tambon and arrested another woman with 3,345 packs containing 65,628 cigarettes, plus 8,020 baht in cash.
At the third location, officials apprehended a woman at a rented house on Prachasamakkhi Road and seized 977 packs of cigarettes as well as 5,700 baht in cash.
At the fourth location, the team arrested a man at a house on Karn Kheha Road with 16 packs of cigarettes and 1,600 baht in cash.
In total, the team seized 69,628 untaxed cigarettes from the four shophouses.
Officials said the total number of cigarettes seized did not match the number of packs because many packs were open and did not contain 20 cigarettes. The suspects were believed to be selling mainly small amounts of loose cigarettes to customers.
The five suspects were handed over to officers at the Muang police station for legal action under sections 203 and 204 of the Excise Act.