A travel vlogger posted a video on August 18, documenting men brazenly offering cocaine in broad daylight on Bangkok’s Sukhumvit Road, including while he walked with his 9 year old son.
GlobetrotterJulez decided to film the issue firsthand after saying he was repeatedly offered “Coke” on Sukhumvit the previous day while carrying his 4 year old daughter.
According to the vlogger, during one encounter, his daughter overheard the offer and thought the man meant Coca-Cola. He said he returned his daughter to their hotel before later confronting the man.
The experience prompted him to return to the streets with his Meta smart glasses the following day. This time, his 9 year old son accompanied him.
GlobetrotterJulez said there was no reason children should not be able to walk along ordinary Bangkok streets and set out to see whether having his son beside him would deter the approaches.
During the 30 to 40 minute daytime walk, several men approached or attempted to start conversations with him. He estimated at least 10 interactions, some unrelated to drugs and others involving apparent offers of cocaine.
His son’s presence did not stop the approaches. The vlogger said several men continued to offer him cocaine despite the child walking beside him.
No drugs are shown changing hands in the footage, but the repeated encounters raise bigger questions about the trade on Sukhumvit. Who is supplying the cocaine? Who is profiting from this? And how are sellers able to operate with such confidence in one of Bangkok’s busiest tourist areas?
There are no clear public figures showing the scale of street-level cocaine dealing on Sukhumvit, but research into Thailand’s wider cocaine market offers some clues.
The Global Organised Crime Index describes the country as a transit hub for regional cocaine trafficking, with domestic use remaining low but rising, particularly among affluent locals and foreign nationals.
According to the index, cocaine is mainly smuggled into Thailand from Africa and South America through airports and seaports. It says profits flow to both local and foreign criminal networks.
West African groups, particularly Nigerian networks, are identified by the index as prominent players in the trafficking market, alongside criminals of other nationalities.
That pattern has appeared in recent Thai police cases. In June, officers arrested the suspected Nigerian leader of a drug network in Bangkok, seizing cocaine and assets worth about 700,000 baht during an operation dubbed “Clipping the Wings of the Dodorima Gang Leader.”
The index also says cocaine-related arrests and treatment admissions have increased, while overall demand remains limited.
There is also the question of enforcement. The footage does not show police witnessing the encounters, but it raises an obvious question: what is being done to stop cocaine being offered so openly?
The index describes enforcement against cocaine trafficking in Thailand as “sporadic” and “reactive”. More significantly, it says corrupt facilitation sometimes plays a role in trafficking activities.
Cocaine is classified as a Category 2 narcotic in Thailand. According to the Narcotics Control Division, unauthorised production, import, export, sale or possession of Category 2 narcotics can carry up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to 1 million baht.
Where an offence involving a Category 2 narcotic is committed for commercial purposes, the punishment ranges from one to 15 years in prison and a fine of 100,000 to 1.5 million baht.
Despite these strict penalties, the men filmed approaching the vlogger appeared willing to do so on a public street, in daylight and, in some cases, with his young son beside him.
The footage alone cannot explain why the trade appears so open. But taken alongside evidence of established trafficking networks and a “sporadic” enforcement, it suggests that tough penalties alone are not keeping cocaine off Bangkok’s streets.
GlobetrotterJulez stressed that his video was not intended to target any race or individual, saying his criticism was directed specifically at what he had witnessed on Bangkok’s streets.
“This is not directed at any race or individual. It’s targeted at Bangkok streets specifically and how it’s changed,” he said.
The story Vlogger documents open cocaine offers on Bangkok’s Sukhumvit Road as seen on Thaiger News.
