The Electric New Paper (SG), via BoingBoing, reports:

THEY say that love is a drug.

But all it took was a kiss for a businessman in Thailand to be knocked out.

That kiss - with a transvestite - turned out to be just a ruse by a gang to drug and rob him.

The Bangladeshi businessman ended up losing more than 300,000 baht ($12,426) worth of cash and valuables earlier this month.

His holiday inamorata? A member of a transvestite gang whose mode of operation was to hide strong sedative pills under their tongues and spit them down the throats of their victims during
a kiss.

They would rob their victims when they passed out.

Their trick was revealed after three transvestites were arrested last week in Bangkok.

The businessman’s kiss-and-fell story began in a nightclub, where he was approached by the three attractive gang members.

He asked them back to his apartment and kissed one of them.

He then felt dizzy and lost consciousness, he told police.

The man woke up 10 hours later to find that his cash, watch, handphone and laptop had disappeared.

Police Lieutenant-Colonel Akachai Chaicharoen said: ‘One of the suspects confessed to investigators that she had concealed a tranquiliser tablet under her tongue and spat it into the mouth of her victim while they were kissing deeply. The victim quickly passed out.’

He said that the three had done the same thing to several other people.

The transvestites could face up to six years’ jail each for conspiracy to rob.

Thai police have long warned tourists against accepting food and drink from strangers because of the risk of being drugged and robbed.

‘But now we are adding one more warning for tourists: Don’t rush to kiss a stranger on the mouth or you will end up in a deep sleep,’ Lt-Col Akachai said.

Several years ago, members of another transvestite gang in Pattaya admitted to applying strong tranquilisers to their nipples to drug and then rob unsuspecting men. - AP.