Police raid bar selling laughing gas to tourists on Death Island

Police raided a bar selling laughing gas to tourists on Thailand's 'Death Island'.

Cops led by Police Colonel Sarut Khaewsopa, Commander of the Anti-Human Trafficking Division, swept into the purple neon-lit shop on Koh Tao island in Surat Thani province, and discovered several foreigners inhaling nitrous oxide, also known hippy crack, from balloons, on August 14.

The bar owner, Wansiri, 33, was arrested after authorities found at the scene three gas cylinders, 14 used balloons, 120 unused balloons, and 38 balloon exchange tickets.

Wansiri allegedly admitted to supplying the laughing gas - a general anaesthetic used by partygoers to induce euphoria and relaxation - for 80 baht a pop, or 200 baht for three balloons. She said she had been providing the drugs for around six months before the raid.

She was taken to the Koh Tao Police Station to be charged with 'manufacturing and selling dangerous drugs without permission'.

Nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas, is a colorless, non-flammable gas often used as an anaesthetic or analgesic in clinical settings. However, it carries risks of neurological damage if used excessively for reacreational purposes.

Koh Tao was dubbed Death Island following the murders of British backpackers Hannah Witheridge and David Miller in 2014. Dozens of other cases of tourist deaths have since emerged.

Authors, documentary makers and researchers have blamed corrupt Thai police and a powerful clique of local families that control the island for covering up the murders in order to protect the lucrative tourism industry.