A major Israeli drug dealer, who operated out of the restaurant he owned on Koh Phangan, was arrested on Friday with narcotics worth over 50 million baht.
Shai Alfasi, 42, had been selling drugs on WhatsApp, police said.
After clients ordered via the app, drugs hidden in black socks were dropped off at designated locations, with pictures of the sites sent to buyers.
They paid for their orders by replacing the drugs with cash in the same socks, according to police.
Police agents posed as buyers and arrested Mr Alfasi as he arrived at the location on a motorbike to collect the money.
Mr Alfasi was the owner of the Lola bar and restaurant in the Hat Hin Kong area of the southern tourist island.
A search of his luggage and hidden compartments uncovered a variety of illicit drugs, including cocaine, ketamine, MDMA, LSD, heroin, magic mushrooms and Labubu-shaped ecstasy pills. Their estimated value was over 50 million baht, police said.
