A couple have been arrested at a Bangkok condominium for growing “magic mushrooms” and selling them online, claiming they could help cure many diseases.
Police arrested the pair — identified only as Banyong, 40, and Amita, 36 — at their condominium room in Chatuchak district on Monday. They seized 181 plastic bags of hed khee kwai or psilocybin mushrooms, also known as magic mushrooms, weighing 117 kilogrammes.
The arrest followed a tip-off that the couple had been using the condominium room to illegally grow the mushrooms and were selling them online.
Mr Banyong said he had spent about two years learning how to grow mushrooms from YouTube, TikTok and Google. The couple eventually decided to grow psilocybin mushrooms, which they sold for 100 baht per gramme. They also provided courses on how to consume magic mushrooms, which they claimed could cure physical and mental illnesses. They charged learners 11,110 baht each.
The suspects also claimed that they had achieved nirvana and were gods with magic powers. They also claimed they had used the mushrooms to cure a small boy of an unspecified disease.
Police said the couple earned more than 100,000 baht a month selling the mushrooms and providing courses.
