Pattaya police early Sunday arrested 29 foreigners and Thais smoking shisha and playing pool at a bar claiming to be a restaurant on Soi 7.
The 12:30 a.m. raid took place at an Indian restaurant where the bottom three of the five floors were closed. Banglamung police said it was an effort to conceal the fact the bar and pool hall was secretly open, as confirmed by an undercover officer.
Banglamung District Chief Amnart Charoensri and Pattaya police chief Col. Phisit Poonsap led the raid of the top two floors where they found 29 people sucking on hookah pipes, drinking alcohol and playing pool. Eighteen more shisha pipes were found in another room.
Of the 29, 11 were foreign nationals from India, Cambodia and other countries.
All the party people were charged with violating the emergency decree and Communicable Disease Act, using illegal baraku tobacco and shisha pipes.
No owners or managers were identified initially, although it won’t take long for police to discover who was behind the operation.
